Understanding Geeks is Hard for Non-Geeks

Sprechen Sie Geek? When you’re a geek — no matter what it is that might give you proper focus to obsess over something to the degree that the label “geek” is placed upon you either as a badge of honor or a mark of shame — people who aren’t geeks don’t really get you. And when you get together with another geek to talk about your common point of geekosity, woe unto the innocent bystander not inducted into the secret language that gets bantered back and forth between geek one and geek two while the non-geek can only yawn, clear his or her throat, or express discontent in a language that’s more… universal.

We’ve all seen and heard the way that children perceive grown-ups in Charles Schulz’s Peanuts comics and cartoons. Aside from being so tall that their faces are never seen, the grown-ups blather on in meaningless nonsense (represented by a trombone in the animated stories, or simply variations of “wah, wah, wah” in written interpretations). The children may understand and respond to this nonsense, but they’re generally not all that interested in it. It’s just background noise that serves to interrupt them from time to time between episodes of “real” life (that is, the life that the children really care about). To you, the object of your geekiness is obviously the most interesting thing in the world, whether it’s computers, history, science, Doctor Who, sports, politics, Empire Avenue, comic books, architecture, Star Wars, music, movies, art, cars, dinosaurs, UFOs, Star Trek, LEGOs, math, literature, wine, or early 20th century dime store facades, you can rest assured that someone who doesn’t share your fascination with that obsession is only going to hear “wah, wah, wah” spilling from your mouth; as you wax upon the things that make you a geek, the non-geek’s attention will surely wane. Keep this in mind when those in your company start to get that glassy, faraway look in their eyes. Let them change the topic and find out what makes them geek out — maybe your geekish interests intersect. Because, after all, aren’t we all geeks about something?

This post was written while the author was geeking out to Punch the Geek by Soulside.