Barb’s Burblings

Did you know that even though we refer to him a lot as “Farmer Ted,” Anthony Michael Hall’s character in Sixteen Candles was officially “The Geek”? That popped into my mind when I read an article about girl geeks on Jezebel. It made me think about different types of geeks. (And David Tennant.)

For example, why is it more socially acceptable to know random trivia about baseball (e.g., name the starting lineup of the 1961 Yankees) than to know random trivia about the Civil War or Star Trek or role-playing games? And there really are so many types of geeks about there, it’s hard to lump us all together.

I did like the notion that being a geek doesn’t make you superior. I understand that the sense of superiority comes from being pushed down or ignored in school–it’s a defense mechanism, the “When we’re older, they’ll see!” thought. But, as Ronnie on Big Brother this summer showed us, being a geek doesn’t make a person smart, much less better than anyone else. (Though he would disagree.) Because you know what? Being geeky about sports isn’t inferior to being a geek about more traditionally geeky things.

…You know, I meant to be more put together here, have more of a thesis. But then I started searches for David Tennant pictures, and it was all just downhill from there.