Musing on geekitude

[cjsmith]

Yesterday I noticed a round hole in the drywall of a marketing person's office at work. I mused about what various types of people might do with such a thing, and along the way I found a difference in how I use the words "nerd" and "geek". Here are my offerings. Feel free to add your own!

- An "engineer" would fix it.
- A "nerd" would ignore it.
- A "geek" would use it for something creative, eg, mount a periscope to show who's outside the door.
- An "artist" would hang something interesting-looking in front of it (despite the fact that it's at waist height an inch from the doorframe), or might paint sunflower petals around it.

Based on these observations, marketing persons are "nerds". ;-)

Comments

[dizzdvl.livejournal.com]

Ya think they are cool enough to be nerds? Our marketing department is their own little worthless category. :)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Heh, I'm just saying this gal hadn't fixed the thing, hadn't decorated or hidden it, and hadn't used it for anything. I'm not necessarily ready to commit to her being a "nerd" in any other sense of the word. ;-)

[kuangning]

That's dovetailing nicely with my discovery last night that "nerd" and "geek" are synonymous to some people. Specifically, David. I met RedHat's CEO (while wearing a shirt that proclaimed "Chicks Dig Unix", go me!) and his wife, while attending the RHAT's Christmas party. They were attended upon by the nerdiest man I have ever met in my life. When I asked David, as we descended the escalator, who the nerd was, he laughed and said "he's the least geeky of us all." But I didn't say "geek", I said "nerd." This led to some discussion. And I believe enlightenment was achieved by both.

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

*chuckle*

In a completely off-topic way, I work for Red Hat in Westford (otherwise known as 'not Boston'). Which makes me wonder who you are, that you were at (what I assume to be was) the Raleigh Christmas party! :)

small world? ;)

[kuangning]

My SO is gandalfgreyhame, who works Global Support Services in Raleigh. :)

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

Hee! Very small world. :)

[gandalfgreyhame.livejournal.com]

Hi. :) As aio has said, I'm her significant other, and I'm a support monkey for Red Hat - one of the ones they just recently hired back in June. My nick on the company IRC server is usually "dwa" or "davida", in case you're ever paying attention there.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

most apt usericon! :)

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

'support monkey'. :)

I'm shillman on IRC, and I don't recall having seen you. But then, I don't think I hang out on any channels you're likely to be on (#boston,#westford,#qa - mostly).

Also, hi!

[kuangning]

This is true. *hugs.*

[gandalfgreyhame.livejournal.com]

Guh. Let's try again, without the horrible grammar.

Just because I said he was the least geeky doesn't mean that I was implying he's not a nerd.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

*nod*

They were synonymous to me for quite a while, but I think they're each growing little offshoots in my brain. This musing about the hole in the wall was my first concrete realization of any way in which the words are different for me.

[lkeele.livejournal.com]

Philosophers and people who think too much ponder the hole...
Computer geeks post about it in their livejournal....

;)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Perfect! :-)

[joedecker.livejournal.com]

A modern artist would stick something gross into the hole.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Mmm, definitely.

[lkeele.livejournal.com]

Gross or mundane, but definitely 'challenging'.

[just-cyd.livejournal.com]

Based on these observations, marketing persons are "nerds". ;-)

true, and not. Marketing people are off in their own little fantasy world where reality doesn't exist, and they feed solely on numbers and projections and useless meetings and innane requests that drive their staff crazy. (says this Marketing Department Secretary).

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

So you're saying a marketing person, asked after she'd been in that office a year, wouldn't KNOW there's a hole? ;-)

This particular gal seems cool and observant, but that characterization could still be pithy enough for a stoopid list like the one I was building.

[just-cyd.livejournal.com]

So you're saying a marketing person, asked after she'd been in that office a year, wouldn't KNOW there's a hole? ;-)

oh, she'd know it was there, but it'd be out of her scope of duties. it'd fall under Not My Problem and get ignored until either someone else pointed it out (at which time, support staff would get dragged into it) or the department was re-aligned to include Wall Holes in that person's roster of duties.

some days i can't believe the people i work with.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

or the department was re-aligned to include Wall Holes in that person's roster of duties.

Oh man. I've worked with EXACTLY THOSE PEOPLE! Except several of them were engineers, there were a few managers, etc etc. And they were in California. But otherwise, exactly those people. :-)