geek

Everyone is a geek about something.

People geek about their children, cars, sports, and lawns. There are entire big box chain stores devoted to geekery in home renovation, pet care, and home electronics. You’d have to be a pretty unenthusiastic human being to live an entirely geek-free life?

So why don’t we call everyone “geek”? Or, better, why doesn’t everyone self-identify as one? Maybe because many of their geek-out pastimes are popular. They are acknowledged, mainstream pursuits. They have infrastructure and the aforementioned superstores to support them in their geekery.

I posit that it’s specificity that makes the true geek. Their great love and obsession isn’t easy to pursue. While their neighbor enjoys lawn care, they are obsessed with a specific kind of grass. While their husband loves movies, they love sub-titled action movies.

Or not. It’s not like the geek label really gets us anywhere in life, aside from finding other geeks as friends and scoring occasional “geek cred” when one of our favorite things hits the mainstream. Yet, there is something compelling about it. I proudly label myself a geek about blogging, social media, music, X-Men, and a host of other topics where I have made it a point to be the most obsessed one in any given room.

I have yet to receive my laminated geek card for all of my geekery. However, I am Philadelphia’s Geek of the Week, as determined by Geekadelphia – who are really the geeks of geekery in Philly.