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Sarah Johnson
April 15, 2010
Psychology and Sociology, Block 3

Geek Subculture
There have always been strange, awkward people walking among us, but ever since the

dawn of the Technology Age in the 1980¶s, geeks and geek subculture has become an

indispensable and valuable fixture in industrial society. In popular culture, there are two distinct

types of geeks: the chunky thirty-year-old who lives with his mother and plays Dungeons and

Dragons while not working at the comic book shop, and the skinny guy wearing big glasses, a

starched white shirt, and a pocket protector, who has every physics theorem in existence

committed to memory and will rattle them off in under thirty seconds. Neither type is portrayed

as having good social skills or good hygiene.

While there¶s no denying that these stereotypes are true of a visible minority of the geek

subculture, they are by no means the norm. Many, if not most, geeks are charming, articulate,

well-groomed, and, since the IT explosion, financially

successful individuals. In many cases, it would be

difficult to identify these people as geeks without

getting to know them. Despite the integration of the

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geek subculture into mainstream society, the element of
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subculture in the geek community is present. It

manifests itself in language, values, and behaviors.

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The language geeks use is often indicative of how deeply they are immersed in the

subculture. There are several features of geek language that make it difficult to understand:

vocabulary, references and quotations, and in the written form, the pidgin language known as

l33tspeak. Even the first level of peculiarities in geek language can present difficulties to the

average observer. Conversation between two geeks often involves highly specialized language

that renders it nearly incomprehensible to the average person. Here is a discussion of a math

riddle from the XKCD forums to illustrate how perfectly grammatical conversation can be

difficult to understand:

O

Y Interestingly the sum of the reciprocal of all square numbers is finite (in fact
n=11n2=6 2 ) also the sum of reciprocals of the powers of two (and hence the sum of
reciprocals of powers of any integer great than two) is finite (in this case n=112n=2 ).
There are others but these are two easy examples.

O

 Huh, funny.

(XKCD)

For my part, I cannot even hope to understand what the second poster found funny about

the first post. When the obscure references geeks love to make are added to the mix,

comprehension becomes almost impossible. The addition of l33tspeak makes geek conversation

completely incomprehensible to the casual observer. (BBC) L33tspeak evolved from hacker

culture and was later adopted by gamers. It derives its name from the word ³elite,´ which was

shortened to ³leet,´ at which point the E¶s were substituted for the numeral 3. Other grammatical

oddities further complicate the language. A sentence as simple ³I am an elite hacker´ becomes ³1

4m /\n 1337 h4x0r.´

Though geeks can be impossible to understand, their social values are mostly aligned

with the norms of mainstream society. Being intellectuals, they put a higher value on
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intellectualism and look down those they feel to

be ignorant. They occasionally fall into the trap

of scorning those who they judge to be ignorant,

uninformed, or attention-seeking. It is these

kinds of judgments²that rare lapse into

pretension²that give geeks a reputation for

being arrogant.

Geeks have an interesting perspective on

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the value of romantic love. A large segment of the geek

population is skeptical in the extreme when it comes to the notion of romantic love, believing the

concept to be a fabrication. Another segment of the geek community consists of hopeless

romantics. Both views are represented in the cult-classic geek show µThe Big Bang Theory,¶ a

show about four geek roommates. One of the characters becomes romantically involved with

their neighbor across the hall, Penny. Though there are many sweet moments between the two of

them in the course of the show, they are ruthlessly mocked by Sheldon, the geekiest of the main

characters.

Behavior within the geek subculture is as rich and complex as behavior in mainstream

society, but a large part of what defines geek subculture is turning everything up to eleven.

Geeks are unabashedly, unreservedly and unashamedly enthusiastic about everything. This

enthusiasm manifests itself into some of the geekiest areas of geek culture: going to conventions,

attending midnight movie openings in costume, or watching Star Trek for thirty-six hours

without a break. Getting over-excited about something is called µgeeking out.¶ Charlie Ross, the

creator of the One-Man Star Wars Trilogy, had this to say on the subject: ³Part of being a geek in
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my mind is actually loving something so much, being unabashedly in love with it, in a way that it

opens yourself up to ridicule.´ (How Things Work)

This aspect of geek culture has led to a new wave of mainstream acceptance of geek

culture called µgeek chic.¶ When technology got cool, so did geeks. Slowly, geeks stopped

apologizing for being geeky. Now there is an undercurrent of pride and confidence among the

geek community. More and more, geeks present themselves as quirky, passionate, and intelligent

individuals rather than as socially-backward losers. The future is bright for the geeks of the

world. It¶s cool to do what you love. Even if you love Dungeons and Dragons.
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WORKS CITED

XKCD forums: http://forums.xkcd.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=59017

Picture of Randall Munroe: http://laughingsquid.com/randall-munroe-working-with-

breadpig-on-book-of-xkcd-comics/

Leetspeak: http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A787917

XKCD comic: http://xkcd.com/23/

How Things Work: http://people.howstuffworks.com/geek-chic.htm/printable