Geek to the root of it The word "GEEK" is believed to have come from the word "geck" or gecke" in the 16th century. Then, it originally referred to crippled circus performers who would shock audiences by killing and eating live animals in front of them. In the 1970s and 1980s, the term came to refer to obsessed, socially inept to technophiles. Other words coined during the same era include "dorks", which was used almost interchangeably with geek, and "nerd" -- a particularly intellectual but still socially inept person. 
| Take the Geek Test I empathise with: - A. Susan Mayer of Desperate Housewives
- B. Willow Rosenberg of Buffy The Vampire Slayer
- C. Dr Gilbert "Gil" Grissom of Crime Scene Investigation
- D. Lieutenant Commander Data of Star Trek: The Next Generation
I want to marry and have children with: - A. Angelina Jolie
- B. Xiaxue
- C. Any Digital Life reporter
- D. Yuna from Final Fantasy
At home, I have: - A. A calculator
- B. An Apple iMac
- C. Gigabit Ethernet hooking up my digital cable box to my Xbox 360 and media server
- D. A server farm
I enjoy books by: - A. David Eddings
- B. Tom Clancy
- C. Arthur C. Clarke
- D. Dr. Stephen Hawking
The ERP is: - A. The road gantry that deducts money from my cashcard on the way to work
- B. Some system my company forces me to apply for leave with
- C. A system that collets all the relevant information generated and used by a company into a single database
- D. Something I install for Fotune 500 companies
For fun, I: - A. Dress up my characters in the Sims
- B. Kill other players in CounterStrike
- C. Slay "gods" in epic 24-person, 8-hour long EverQuest raids
- D. Create virtual worlds
In school, my extra-curricular time was spent: - A. In the library
- B. In the audio-visual club
- C. In the computer club
- D. Hacking the school system for full marks in all ECAs
| When the Star wars Episode 1 finally came out, I : - A. Queued up overnight for tickets
- B. Created a website to analyse the characters and the storyline
- C. Dressed up as Luke Skywalker to watch the movie. pew, pew, pew!
- Cried
I surf: - A. Blogs
- B. Web forums
- C. Usenet newsgroups
- D. The Matrix
How good am I at assembling computers? - A. Don't all computers come pre-assembled like my Dell?
- B. Good enough to add more RAM and change the graphics card
- C. I can do it with my eyes closed and both arms tied behind my back
- D. Real geeks build their own microprocessors
I speak English, Singlish and: - A. L3wtsp3ak
- B. HTML
- C. Java
- D. Machine code (and Klingon)
I hang out with my friends ... - A. Over a latte at Starbucks
- B. Arguing over what the best motherboards are at Sim Lim Square
- C. Over some virtual ale in World of Warcraft at 3am
- D. What do you mean "real" friends?
How to Score: - Score one point for every A answer; two points for B, three points for , and four point for D.
Your Rating: - 12-20: WANNABE GEEK: Don't fake it, babe. Ain't nothin' like the real thing!
- 21-29: TRY-HARDER GEEK: The force is with you, sometimes. But you gotta work it out.
- 30-39: EXTREME GEEK: You've got th grooves. So, turn on the moves.
- 40-48: GEEK GOD: What can we say? You move mountains with a mouse. Sigh.
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