h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The term "geek" has many shades of meaning now. Originally it referred to a person with a deformity who earned a living by being a side-show exhibit. The word has gone through many transmutations since then, and at the present time in America it properly means a person who has a profound obsession with some endeavor, be it technical, artistic, or otherwise, to the point where it begins to be regarded as slightly abnormal. In a secondary sense it can refer to a person who is socially inept and unaware. Among computer addicts, the term is regarded almost as a title, and the more technically proficient, the more admirably geeky. There are also grammatical derivatives of the term, such as "geekoid", "geekhood", and "geekitude".