 If I knew how many days it took, on average, in between hailstorms in my area, would I know my hailing frequency? Hi internet, I'm Josh and this is Thunk. First things first, I'd like to talk a little bit about the difference between geeks and nerds, maybe clear up a little bit of controversy. The word nerd was first used in 1950 in the Dr. Seuss book If I Ran the Zoo, which is kind of a weird place for slang to come from. It shortly became a slur for people previously described as squares, that is, people who only did what society expected them to do. In an academic setting, society expects you to study a lot and not go to parties. So, nerd was used to describe people who were bookish, intelligent, and obsessed with some sort of technical or academic subject, the meaning that it still has today. As for geeks, you've probably heard that the word geek was used to describe circus performers who bit the heads off of chickens. If you hadn't heard that, I'm sorry, but it's true. Those performers were called geeks, but the word itself is actually much older than that, originally meaning fool, freak, or jester. More recently, the term is used to describe people who are obsessed with a particular subject or media, whether it's the Renaissance Pleasure Fair or Dr. Who, to the point that they're a little bit weird. So to recap, nerds know things, geeks are excited about things. A geek would take you to the Renaissance Pleasure Fair and dress up in costume. A nerd could tell you that the hat that you're wearing for the Renaissance Pleasure Fair is from the wrong century. There's a lot of overlap between the two groups, because people who are really excited about something tend to learn a lot about it. And you might have a different set of definitions for those words, but that's their etymology. Today, the term geek has evolved from being a negative term for a group of outcasts to a sort of mainstreamed term that people used to describe themselves and their hobbies. Like, it's a relatively common thing today to hear a conversation where a normal looking person who isn't wearing a Spock t-shirt or carrying a copy of the Simerillian will say, oh man, I'm such a geek. That's quite a transition. How did that happen? Where did that changeover occur? Well, here's my theory. Around 2001, the internet was getting into full swing as broadband DSL lines allowed people access without having to listen to this. Sweet nostalgia. At this time, there was a huge spike in internet usage. Just to give you some idea, in 2002, the bandwidth was 400 times the bandwidth of 1998. Before that time, the internet was populated almost exclusively by people who worked in academia and more specifically in highly technical fields like computer science. In other words, geeks and nerds. After the internet exploded and became an important facet of culture, normal people found themselves on a network that was populated by geeks and nerds where fitting in meant liking Star Wars and playing video games. So, it became trendy to call yourself a geek if you were into some of these now popular pastimes. But then, there was the inevitable backlash. What backlash? Well, the fact that a lot of people have started to call themselves geeks does not sit well with some people who really defined themselves that way before it was cool. In case you're wondering, yes, I'm saying that geeks can be hipsters too. I mean, check this image macro out. This is self-proclaimed Star Trek geeks making fun of other self-proclaimed Star Trek geeks for not being geeky enough. And it's not just Star Trek. This phenomenon is found in almost every fandom imaginable. A group of so-called real geeks making fun of others who lack the same depth of knowledge about the subject. And you know what? I kind of think I know why there are jerks about it. You see, when you have an intense interest in something like a geek or a nerd does, it's not really socially acceptable to talk about it in the depth that you're used to with somebody who's not savvy. Like if somebody at a party mentioned Star Wars and you start talking about Grand Admiral Thrawn, unless you're at my kind of party, you're probably going to get some weird looks. Usually, you have to do a little social dance before you can flash your geek card in public. Calling yourself a geek sets an expectation for your familiarity with the subject, so other people who are obsessed about it as you are can feel safe talking about it. Once the threshold value for calling yourself a geek was lowered, geeks had to start doing the same little social dance that they did before the internet. Kind of like this. I'm a Star Wars geek. I'm a Star Wars geek, too. What was your favorite movie? Empire Strikes Back? Did you read any of the books? Yes. Yes, and I hated how they dumbed down Mayor Jade. Me, too! Like I said, I understand why some geeks are upset when people with just a passing interest in something claim to be geeks. It sucks to be lulled into a false sense of security and then judge for your interests. But that doesn't justify being a jerk to people who have a genuine interest in a subject just because they don't know as much as you do. At some point in our lives, we're all beginners. Nobody is born with a canonical knowledge of Gundam or Doctor Who. It's not a bad thing to be just getting your feet wet in a subject. I think the geeks who shame people who haven't learned all the trivia or made their own super accurate cosplay costumes should think about how they would fare if they were the ones just starting out. Personally, when I was just getting into Star Trek, I was a fragile shell of insecurities held together with Scotch tape and fantasy novels. If someone had made fun of me for not knowing the difference between Vulcans and Romulans, I would have broken down sobbing and never touched it again. Now today, I still don't know a lot of Klingon, but I do know the shield modulation frequency for the Enterprise D off the top of my head. I think that if somebody wants to call themselves a geek, they're expressing an interest in these very cool and multifaceted subjects. If you know a lot about a subject that people are interested in, you should share your enthusiasm and knowledge of the subject with people who maybe don't know as much as you do. Because there's enough room in Geekdom for everyone. Like, can you imagine what it would be like if the next Doctor Who convention was... everywhere? What do you think? Is the term geek overused? Was the internet the primary reason that it became popular? Also, WTF Big Bang Theory. Leave comments, let me know what you think. Thank you for watching. 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