Geeks

Let’s talk geek. For those of you not in the carnie know:

Geek was originally an early 20th-century term for a carnival worker who was so unskilled that the only thing the worker could do at the carnival to entice an audience was to bite off the heads of live animals (Ed. note: usually chickens or snakes). (source)

Just FYI, I was NOT a geek during my three years with various shows nor did I meet any.

You hand in your ticket
And you go watch the geek
Who immediately walks up to you
When he hears you speak
And says, "How does it feel
To be such a freak?"
And you say, "Impossible"
As he hands you a bone.
~ Bob Dylan, Highway 61 Revisited

More broadly, outside the world of traveling carnivals, a geek is a skeevy, icky person who lacks social skills and smarts. You know, a fucked up nitwit. NOT someone you’d invite to your birthday party.

Examples?

Don Junior
Marge Traitor Grease
Boobert
Gym Jordon
Elise the trump-asslicker Stefanik
Paul Nazi-admirer Gosar

And the list stretches beyond the horizon.

Why are ex-prez Cheeto and RFK jr not on this list? They’re grifters not geeks. There’s a difference. Both Cheeto and Junior are slimy narcissistic nitwits who, if not for their rich daddies, would assuredly be selling broke-ass used cars in a shifty lot in the desert outside Reno (OR biting the heads off chickens at a Texas sundown town carnival). With their family cabbage though, they were able to buy degrees from fancy schools. This gave them their starts as high octane con artists.

You may well be wondering, WHY the fuck you have geeks on the brain this morning, Donna? Well, ya see…Jen’s headed to a big-ass family reunion down in Connecticut today. She’ll be gone ALL damn day which means no tea time (which means NO Star Trek and prosecco for yours-whiny-truly). I suggested, in a joking tone (because I’m only trying to help and am NOT a monster!), that if she gets tired of all the socializing she can tell her cousins and aunties that, since the last gathering, she’s renounced vegetarianism and has become a side show geek.

That’s kind of a conversation stopper, no? Eh, maybe not. Possibly I’ve given advice that will make her the absolute center of attention, the toast of the fête. This would defeat the whole purpose of getting her home in time for “tea.”

Oops.

I only mention it but language shifts and evolves. Britannica Dictionary defines geek as:

1: a person who is socially awkward and unpopular : a usually intelligent person who does not fit in with other people

     and

2: a person who is very interested in and knows a lot about a particular field or activity

So, no more dead chickens. 

Also, NO chickens were killed in the making of this morning's post.