The Etymology of Geek
Geek has had three lives.βββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββ The first is German: Low German 'geck' (fool, freak) entered English dialect as 'geck' or 'geek' meaning a simpleton. The second is American carnival: in the late 19th century 'geek' came to mean a sideshow performer who did repulsive acts β biting the heads off live chickens was the canonical example β and the word carried that grim flavour into the early 20th century. The third is the modern reclamation. From the 1950s onward American teen slang used 'geek' for the unfashionable, awkward, obsessive student, and from the 1980s tech culture turned it into a badge of pride: a geek is someone who knows their subject deeply and cares about it loudly. The transformation is one of the most complete semantic rehabilitations in recent English.