Geek, 现在似乎是一个非常流行的词汇。国内有人翻译为”奇客”, 也有人翻译为”极客”。
虽然很多次看到文章介绍 Geek，但还是有些模糊。究竟什么是 Geek ,什么人算是 Geek 呢?
先看看金山词霸的”美国传统词典”中收录的定义:
1)An odd or ridiculous person.(畸形人，怪人一个奇怪或不可思议的人)
2)A carnival performer whose show consists of bizarre acts, such as biting the head off a live chicken.(疯狂的杂耍演员一个狂欢节的表演者，表演内容包括奇怪举动，如把活鸡的头咬下来)
词源起于中世纪日耳曼方言”Geck”和”gek”.
很明显，金山词霸没有与时俱进，这个含义不是我们想要的。查看一下手边的《韦氏词典》，
a personal often of an intellectual bent who is disapproved of
哦 ,这本韦氏是 96 年世界图书出版社在国内的第一版……
还是看《黑客大辞典》(Mirror)中的定义吧
A person who has chosen concentration rather than conformity; one who pursues skill (especially technical skill) and imagination, not mainstream social acceptance. Geeks usually have a strong case of neophilia. Most geeks are adept with computers and treat hacker as a term of respect, but not all are hackers themselves — and some who are in fact hackers normally call themselves geeks anyway, because they (quite properly) regard ‘hacker’ as a label that should be bestowed by others rather than self-assumed.
One description accurately if a little breathlessly enumerates “gamers, ravers, science fiction fans, punks, perverts, programmers, nerds, subgenii, and trekkies. These are people who did not go to their high school proms, and many would be offended by the suggestion that they should have even wanted to.”
Originally, a geek was a carnival performer who bit the heads off chickens. (In early 20th-century Scotland a ‘geek’ was an immature coley, a type of fish.) Before about 1990 usage of this term was rather negative. Earlier versions of this lexicon defined a computer geek as one who eats (computer) bugs for a living — an asocial, malodorous, pasty-faced monomaniac with all the personality of a cheese grater. This is often still the way geeks are regarded by non-geeks, but as the mainstream culture becomes more dependent on technology and technical skill mainstream attitudes have tended to shift towards grudging respect. Correspondingly, there are now ‘geek pride’ festivals (the implied reference to ‘gay pride’ is not accidental).
这里定义的大致意思说, Geek 是非主流的，边缘人，追求技术、技巧能力与想象力，因为他们在技术方面的能力有的时候被当作黑客(很明显，与黑客是不同的)。Geek 可能包括游戏玩家、放荡不羁者、科幻迷、朋克、固执者、程序员、Nerds、Subgenii 或者是 Trekkies.(从这一点上看，Geek 的范围要比 Nerds 大，另，上面最后两个词我也不知道啥意思). Geek 最初是贬义，现在逐渐是中性词。
在 Google 中通过 define 语法查找的Geek 结果如下：
# A term similar to nerd, but slightly less pejorative in tone.
(类似 Nerd, 通常贬义)
# To quote from The New Hacker’s Dictionary, a computer geek is “one who eats (computer) bugs for a living. One who fulfills all the dreariest negative stereotypes about hackers: an asocial, malodorous, pasty-faced monomaniac with all the personality of a cheese grater. Cannot be used by outsiders without implied insult to all hackers. A computer geek may be either a fundamentally clueless individual or a proto-hacker in larval stage. Also called ‘turbo nerd’ or ‘turbo geek. …
这也不知道引用什么时候的《黑客大辞典》. Geek 就是专门 Debug 的?
# In computers and the Internet, a geekis a person who is inordinately dedicated to and involved with the technologyto the point of sometimes not appearing to be like the rest of us (non-geeks).Being a geek also implies a capability with the technology. Although historically,computer and Internet programming and hacking has been a male thing, thereare now many “girl geeks.” The term “hacker” generally connotes competence more strongly than “geek” does. …
www.infoprovider.com/infobase/g.html
(女 Geek 也是有的，Hacker 的计算机”功力”要比 Geek 强.)
# The sort of person who would get really excited at the prospect of using a text editor on a 900 megahertz workstation to write out the definitions of technical terms.
www.scotsmist.co.uk/glossary_g.html
(在功能强劲的计算机工作站上用文本编辑器定义技术术语的那些家伙)
# An intellectual who is bent on a particular profession; especially within the computer feild. Social interests are deeply rooted in Sci-Fi.
www.cem.uvm.edu/util/html/definitions.php
(那些智力挺高，某方面知识挺牛–尤其是计算机领域，深受科幻文化影响.)
# Short for computer geek, an individual with a passion for computers, to the exclusion of other normal human interests. Depending on the context, it can be used in either a derogatory or affectionate manner. Basically, geek and nerd are synonymous.
www.angelfire.com/anime3/internet/programming.htm
(计算机 Geek , 对计算机有激情, 对别的没兴趣, 可褒义，可以贬义)
# Traditionally, someone whose fascination for technology overwhelms all other pursuits, with all the negative stereotypes this implies; in short, a NERD.
www.research-hosting.co.uk/data/hosting-terms/web-hosting-terms-g.asp
(迷恋技术超过其他,与 Nerd 同义)
# Traditionally a term of derision, geek has come to have a more positive connotation in this computer age. Technically adept people now frequently refer to themselves as geeks, in a mixture of self-deprecation and pride.
www.websightsolutions.com/faq_gloss.html
(老 IT 一般叫自己 Geek ? 一半自贬，一半自豪)
# a carnival performer who does disgusting acts
# eccentric: a person with an unusual or odd personality
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
(这个在金山词霸中看到了)
# A geek is a person who is fascinated, perhaps obsessively, by technology and imagination. Geek may not always have the same meaning as the term nerd (see nerd for a discussion of the disputed relation between the terms).
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geek
(Wikipedia 的介绍，干啥迷啥，尤其是迷恋技术、想象力。几乎与 Nerd 同义. 个人感觉这个定义太保守了)
维基百科中文中没有”奇客”的词条，倒是有”极客”的词条：
极客是英文单词 “geek” 的音译。这个词在美国俚语中意指智力超群，善于钻研但不懂得与人交往的学者和知识分子，含有贬义。但近年来随着互联网文化的兴起，这个词在保留了智力超群和努力的本意的同时，又被用于形容对计算机和网络技术有狂热兴趣并投入大量时间钻研的人。其贬义成分也正在慢慢减少。
这个要比维基百科英文词条灵活了一些。
看了这么多，虽然有点晕，不过基本上算是搞清楚了。我的理解是，判断一个人是 Geek 而不是 Hacker ,看看他对技术是否有抵达本质的理解与精通。判断一个人是 Geek 而不是 Nerd , 看他对一件事情的迷恋程度。 Nerd 可能只对某种东西过度痴迷，而 Geek 可能会对一切新鲜玩意儿都弄来搞搞。Nerd 可能个人形象不那么好, Geek 看起来或许会好一点。
Nerd 会在 Slashdot 流连忘返，而 Geek 或许每天都看 Engadget。Hacker 呢? IRC 里去找找看, 运气好你能碰到一个，但那些自称是 Hacker 的，其实都不是。
埋头写 Linux 上的驱动程序的人，可能是一个黑客; 明明很别扭，也要用 Linux 而不用 Windows 的人，可能是一个 Geek; 那些正利用 Linux 进行复杂数学运算的，大多数是 Nerd .
在国内，Geek 这个词正在逐渐让人厌烦(或许就像 Hacker 这个词的命运), 很多商业站点开始打造什么 “Geek 一族” 的活动，无疑会给 Geek 文化带来很大的混淆。
用不了多久，很多人会因为太反感而说出来：”你说谁是 Geek ? 你才 Geek，你们全家都 Geek呢!” 之类的话。尤其是当你看到陈天桥、丁磊、张朝阳、汪延…等也被人叫做 Geek 的时候。
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另：车东关于 Nerd 的一篇 Blog 。
