Geek Code: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 04:59, 19 November 2018

Revision as of 15:14, 8 December 2018

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The '''Geek Code''', developed in 1993, is a series of letters and symbols used by self-described "[[geek]]s" to inform fellow geeks about their [[personality psychology|personality]], appearance, interests, skills, and opinions. The idea is that everything that makes a geek [[individual]] can be [[Code|encode]]d in a compact format which only other geeks can read. This is deemed to be [[Algorithmic efficiency|efficient]] in some sufficiently geeky manner.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mgw7-M7t63MC |pages=10–20 |title=The cultures of computing |author=[[Susan Leigh Star]] |year=1995}}</ref>

It was once common practice to use a geek code as one's email or Usenet signature,<ref name="wapo">{{cite news |last1=Romenesko |first1=James |title=The Code of the Geeks |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1996/05/17/the-code-of-the-geeks/764cb760-d6f4-4ba2-860c-e1d1bcc69919/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.31fe75377dc0 |accessdate=14 November 2018 |work=Washinton Post |date=17 May 1996}}</ref> but the last official version of the code was produced in 1996,<ref name="geekcode"/> and it has now largely fallen out of use.

==History==

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==Encoding==

===Occupation===

The code starts with the letter <code>G</code> (for Geek) followed by the geek's occupation(s): <code>GMU</code> for a geek of [[music]], <code>GCS</code> for a geek of computer science etc. There are 28 occupations that can be represented, but <code>GAT</code> is for geeks that can do anything and everything - and "usually precludes the use of other vocational descriptors".<ref name="geekcode"/>

For geeks with multiple occupations, a slash or slashes are used: <code>GMD/TW</code>, for instance, for a geek of medicine and technical writing.