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would you call a geek - a workoholic?? i mean, can i use these word instead.. cause the meaning isn't the same..
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Many very bright people lack social skills. Their resentful intellectual inferiors jealously
invent pejorative appellations for them. "Geek" is just one of many
I'm not bright enough to be classed as a geek. My social skills are only moderate..
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not all geeks are workaholics, and not all workaholics are geeks.
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here is the Word Detective: http://www.word-detective.com/back-g.html#geekOriginally, to be a "geek" was to have fallen so low as to be willing to do anything for a living, no matter how disgusting the task. Only in the last few years has it been used as a synonym for "nerd."substitute "long hours of technology-based work" into his formula and I guess you could make the case.
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What is a geek? Merriam-Webster's Dictionary offers the original definition of "a
carnival performer often billed as a wild man whose act usually includes
biting the head off a live chicken or snake," as well the more modern, slangier
meaning, "a person often of an intellectual bent who is disapproved of." (No
dictionary that I've yet consulted - not even the relatively "hep" American Heritage
College Dictionary - mentions the current computer-affiliated sense of "geek".)
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bill, OneLook.com lists six (6) technology-based ("Computing") resources for geek. http://onelook.com/?w=geek&ls=a
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well, I'm not programatically savvy enough to be a geek, but on some forums I habituate, geek is a term of pride.
formerly known as etaoin...
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i understand, but it's not exactly what i wanted to know :) i'm not sure how to express that.. in poland a geek (after my dictionary :)) is a student learning very hard. it's rather pejorative. but you won't call an employee working hard a geek but a workoholic. would you call a student a workoholic meaning it in negative sense?? (i mean only that one particular situation)
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>would you call a student a workoholic meaning it in negative sense?
the goof-offs might, in a sarcastic way, hoping to vindicate their own laziness.
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would you call a student a workoholic meaning it in negative sense??
yes, you could. I would think that workaholic is almost always used in a negative sense.
<edit> good point, tswum.
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...geek is a term of pride.I warned you about that 'pride' stuff! 
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now, i'm confused.. who's a goof-off  ??
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well, it depends on whether you think that all students should be hard working. if you do, then it wouldn't be nice to call a hard working student a workaholic, because that has negative connotations. goof-offs are the students who don't work so hard at school, but probably enjoy themselves a bit more. they would call a hard working student a workaholic because then the goof offs would feel better about not getting their work done. or something like that. 
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From my children, who are both infinitely hipper than their dear old dad, I learn that Geekness may be subdivided into classes, by the attachement of a modifier, indicating the locus of geekhood, e.g. cyber-geek, techno-geek, etc.
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The crowd cheered, but it was all Geek to me.
(Apologies to WS)
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Perhaps the last entry proves that wofahulicodoc
is a "noso-geek"?
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Dear rav, never you mind (don't pay any attention to) all these people; *I'll answer your question. A goof-off is anyone who does other things, usually easier or more fun things, than what he is supposed to do. If, before a big test, a student goes to parties and does not study, he is goofing off. So am I, right now, from my housework (chores)!
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I love my new antlers!
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Now dang it, you ol' pronghorn, I didn't think yours was clear enough for a non-native-English speaker--so there!
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Gnothi seaton - but I don't and it's all geek to me ...
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There was a term we used when I was back in college in the 60s for students who studied constantly and had no social life. I've forgotten the term.
It certainly wasn't workaholic, since as has been suggested above, that would more readily apply to someone actively in the work orce.
It wasn't geek since the only geeks anyone ever referred to would have been the carnival geeks wwh pointed out above.
It wasn't drone, but it was something like drone, which makes me think it may have been drudge.
Can anyone think of the term that I've forgotten? We generally applied it to those students who did not have any outstanding intellectual ability, but worked so hard in preparing for courses that they appeared to have more to work with mentally than they actually possessed in terms of original thinking.
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From my children, ... I learn that Geekness may be subdivided into classes ... indicating the locus of geekhood, e.g. cyber-geek, techno-geek, etc. ~ Father Steve
We used to have 'propeller heads', when did they vanish from the vocabulary?
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Ok, so propeller beanies got associated with computer people when I wasn't looking. That'll teach me to try and stay more current...on the other hand, maybe not.  Thanks, though.
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The propeller beanie certainly predates the computer geek. I wanted a propeller beanie when I was a wee tad. By the time I got it I was too old (and too young) to wear it.
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dictionary.com gives the following synonyms for 'nerd,' (the meaning of which includes a part of the definition that Wordwind mentioned...)
nerd
n : a student who studies excessively [syn: swot, grind, wonk]
Source: WordNet ® 1.6, © 1997 Princeton University
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journeyman
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Dictionary.com (again!) gives an interesting peek at the origin of this word, and that of some others...
"Our Living Language: Our word geek is now chiefly associated with student and computer slang; one probably thinks first of a computer geek. In origin, however, it is one of the words American English borrowed from the vocabulary of the circus, which was a much more significant source of entertainment in the United States in the 19th and early 20th century than it is now. Large numbers of traveling circuses left a cultural legacy in various and sometimes unexpected ways. For example, Superman and other comic book superheroes owe much of their look to circus acrobats, who were similarly costumed in capes and tights. The circus sideshow is the source of the word geek, “a performer who engaged in bizarre acts, such as biting the head off a live chicken.” We also owe the word ballyhoo to the circus; its ultimate origin is unknown, but in the late 1800s it referred to a flamboyant free musical performance conducted outside a circus with the goal of luring customers to buy tickets to the inside shows. Other words and expressions with circus origins include bandwagon (coined by P.T. Barnum in 1855) and Siamese twin."
Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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thanks, anchita! I never knew that about Superman, never would have guessed. and I love the word ballyhoo; it'd be a great name for a band.. not sure I ever welcomed you to the board; Welcome!
formerly known as etaoin...
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journeyman
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Thanks etaoin, and all who have welcomed a 'stranger' like me, individually or on the behalf of the forum... I was pleasently surprised to receive the attention and welcome that I've been given, (and am sure others of my category are given too.) Great place to be in, and an encouraging, if rare, trend in the otherwise dog-eat-dog world...
Thanks again :)
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Chopped liver, headed out, stage left ...
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Can anyone think of the term that I've forgotten? We generally applied it to those students who did not have any outstanding intellectual ability, but worked so hard in preparing for courses that they appeared to have more to work with mentally than they actually possessed in terms of original thinking.
May I present one more offering: the person who works so hard that s/he gets much further than one would have thought based solely on apparent inherent ability:
overachiever
And that should be a compliment !
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Chopped liver
I was still trying to figure out: Gnothi seaton...
is that some of that funky Latin?
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know thyself (to be human and follow the god)
-joe (medan agan) friday
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Taking up tsuwm's implied challenge, a bit of Googling on 'medan agan' shows this expression, like 'gnothi seaton', to be an inscription on the walls of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi (and probably other places). If I have understood correctly, although it is commonly taken to mean 'nothing in excess' it is probably closer to 'moderation in all things', or 'follow the median path', recognising the human (or Dionysian) need for celebration of all there is to enjoy but calling for balance, not obsession.
How'd I do?
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dxb - A classic case of overachievement... well done!
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For the sake of completeness and just to confuse rav a little more, I might add that in England a common term for anyone who is highly involved in their hobby can be prefixed or suffixed with trainspotter. Trainspotting, i.e. the collecting of endless info on trains, is of course the archetypal nerd hobby, bar linguistics :-) So, for example, those who go to clubs and spend all night looking over the DJ's shoulder at the records played are called 'trainspotter clubbers' and someone who is obsessed with the Queen would be a 'Queen trainspotter'.
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a common term for anyone who is highly involved in their hobby
To confuse still further, such people are also often termed 'Anaracks'.
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Can anyone think of the term that I've forgotten? We generally applied it to those students who did not have any outstanding intellectual ability, but worked so hard in preparing for courses that they appeared to have more to work with mentally than they actually possessed in terms of original thinking. Old-fashioned, but I've read of that type of student being called a grind. I would say that Dr. Bill's Merriam-Webster's Dictionary offers the original definition of "a
carnival performer often billed as a wild man whose act usually includes
biting the head off a live chicken or snake," and anchita's “a performer who engaged in bizarre acts, such as biting the head off a live chicken.” most definitely fit tsuwm's Originally, to be a "geek" was to have fallen so low as to be willing to do anything for a living, no matter how disgusting the task. Thanks, anchita, for that info. on circuses.
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