Let’s Define Geek or Geeky for Spot.Ph and Preview’s Sake
For context, read Spot.ph’s article on the “geeky” celebrities who attended the Preview Ball.
And yes, before you comment, we know that the event’s theme is GEEK ON FLEEK. Now before I proceed lets lay down a couple of certainties…
- Some of these celebs are actual geeks in their own right. They travel, probably own console games, collect toys or comic books and subscribe to more than one fandom. That we cannot question. Our contributor Meaghan tells me that Paulo Avelino’s an otaku as well; cried when the Naruto manga ended or so the story goes.
- Preview knows their stuff. They know fashion and would probably laugh at me when I mistake a Kariman from a Karimadon. They have featured Star Wars apparel before.
- Let us stick to the topic and not bring things like “Celebrity A is a collector”; we know, we are directing our comments on the actual link and the actual article. More impWag nyo na butasan.
- I’d be a hypocrite if I deny wearing glasses but I never went out with glasses with matching megaphones proclaiming I’m a geek; because this is what the Preview article did.
So there, allow me to present my argument on why the article was wrong.
“The article and the social media link insinuates that geeks or to be geeky, one must need to be spotted wearing glasses.”
That is totally wrong. That is totally false.
A geek is described on Wikipedia as:
The word geek is a slang term originally used to describe eccentric or non-mainstream people; in current use, the word typically connotes an expert or enthusiast or a person obsessed with a hobby or intellectual pursuit, with a general pejorative meaning of a “peculiar person, especially one who is perceived to be overly intellectual, unfashionable, or socially awkward”
Here’s another definition for “Geek” from Merriam Webster:
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a person who is socially awkward and unpopular : a usually intelligent person who does not fit in with other people
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: a person who is very interested in and knows a lot about a particular field or activity
And my personal favorite, from Urban Dictionary:
The people you pick on in high school and wind up working for as an adult
I, for one, am not too thrilled that the mainstream is appropriating “geekdom.” Thanks for this article! 🙂