# The Moment You Knew You Were A Geek **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 29, 2002, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moment-you-knew-you-were-a-geek/100779 "2002-03-29T17:10:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2002, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moment-you-knew-you-were-a-geek/100779/41 "2002-03-31T07:09:51Z")
The moment a huge troll pointed just at me as his biggest nemesis in the Straight dope message board: (Paraphrasing) - “Don’t pull stuff like that to me boy! Compared to you, everybody else in this board is an angel” – _troll name withheld_ Many in GD know who he is, I realize now that he even called **SPOOFE** and **sofa king** angels 😉 , as they were also in the melee against that troll (why do I feel like Gandalf? 🙂 ) After a moderator reprimanded him for the boy insult, the troll looked at his watch and soon after that, left the tread. But he is still . . . somewhere . . . out . . . there . . . That day I knew that I could get under the skin of even a troll by using my Geeky Google Powers [sup]TM[/sup] and Truth, Justice and the SDMB way. (I admit I was a little bit over the top but I did it without ever launching an insult at him.) ---
**Author:** ![Cougarfang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c67d28/32.png) [@Cougarfang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cougarfang)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2002, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moment-you-knew-you-were-a-geek/100779/42 "2002-03-31T07:16:25Z")
When I realized that not even my Science Teacher could understand what **Wind Sorceress** and I were discussing _for fun_ (about black holes and “general” stuff about astronomy, actually) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Mad\_Hermit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5ac83/32.png) [@The\_Mad\_Hermit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Mad_Hermit)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2002, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moment-you-knew-you-were-a-geek/100779/43 "2002-03-31T17:23:30Z")
My geek moment came at the age of seven, when I was picked on by the other 2nd graders for reading the encyclopedia instead of the Curious George books. Taking my Star Trek communicator and tricorder models to school didn’t help much, either. One teacher loved to tell the story of seeing me talking into the communicator. I was ahead of my time. ---
**Author:** ![Tracie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/90db22/32.png) [@Tracie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tracie)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2002, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moment-you-knew-you-were-a-geek/100779/44 "2002-04-01T02:42:52Z")
> [@](#): > > I suppose my geek-epiphany came to me when I resigned myself as being the only kid in the neighbourhood who played Tradewars and Legend of the Red Dragon (good times those were…) I used to play those! I even met Seth Able a couple years ago when we sold him an Amiga over eBay. Turned out he lived just across the river from us so we delivered it to his apartment. He gave us a copy of another game he wrote called Dink Smallwood. 🙂 Um, my hubby is the geek though. I just follow his lead. Yeah, that’s it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![paperbackwriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@paperbackwriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/paperbackwriter)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2002, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moment-you-knew-you-were-a-geek/100779/45 "2002-04-01T02:47:43Z")
In the late 70’s (before dinosaurs were a really popular subject), a publishing company was considering a new series of books about dinosaurs aimed at “young readers”. Because my family lived in northern NJ, and my teachers knew I was interested in the subject, the company sent 2 representatives as part of their pre-press marketing research. I distinctly remember telling them it was “too easy” and that there were mistakes in the text. –I was in 3rd grade. _That_ is an early geek epiphany ---
**Author:** ![Magickly\_Delicious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magickly\_Delicious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magickly_Delicious)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2002, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moment-you-knew-you-were-a-geek/100779/46 "2002-04-01T03:45:50Z")
When I had to sit through a lecture that explained the Lorentz transformation really badly in a general education class (one of those that tries to teach you the whole world, in only 3 credits’ worth of time :rolleyes: ), then went to discussion class afterward. My discussion leader (a music teacher) said, “Now what did he say was the speed of light again?” and without thinking about it, I blurted out “Three times ten to the eighth meters per second!” She then stared at me google-eyed and asked “In units I can understand, please?” :o ---
**Author:** ![Palve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a698b9/32.png) [@Palve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palve)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2002, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moment-you-knew-you-were-a-geek/100779/47 "2002-04-01T05:10:58Z")
Geobabe:rocks::Palve:languages I’m a language geek. I love languages. I’m learning four of them. I think about them every day, and for hours at a time. I lull myself to sleep thinking about them. I dream about them. I’m making one of my own. My conlang has 21 consonants (all pulmonic) and 6 vowels. The phonemic inventory is pretty symmetrical, but has a few gaps. It has a unique orthography as well as a Roman transliteration scheme. It has VSO word order, not unlike Welsh or Gaelic. Its morphology is mostly agglutinating, but has some inflectional aspects (pun intended, if you caught it :)). Syllable structure is limited to (C)(S)V(S)(C) where S is a semi-vowel, that is, /j/ or /w/. V of course means vowel, and C consonant. I’m also part math geek. I know 100 digits of pi from memory (even tho’ I haven’t practiced in over a year). I prefer to do arithmetic in base-12 rather than base-10, and I created algorithms for converting between bases 2, 10, 12, and 16 when I was in middle school. On occasions too numerous to count, I have caught my math teacher using about 10-20 more lines than necessary to come to an answer. When I show him (and the class) how to do it much quicker, I invariably am the recipient of many strange looks that seem to say (“Dayum kid, you are a geek extraordinaire!”). However, unlike many of the geeks who have come out of the geek closet here, I do not and have never watched Star Trek or Star Wars nor have I seen/read anything of Tolkien’s. You’d think a conlang enthusiast like me would like to see Tolkien’s and Okrand’s works in action, but for some reason I don’t. But if somebody made a movie in Lojban or Verdurian or my own Arteq… 😉 I will conclude my post with a quote by Robert A. Heinlein, the Geek God: “The three-legged stool of understanding is held up by history, languages, and mathematics. Equipped with these three you can learn anything you want to learn. But if you lack any one of them you are just another ignorant peasant with dung on your boots.” ---
**Author:** ![Wolfian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ea924/32.png) [@Wolfian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolfian)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2002, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moment-you-knew-you-were-a-geek/100779/48 "2002-04-01T07:53:54Z")
The day I mocked the show Pokemon mentioning something that only avid watchers would know. Fortunately, I was alone. Still mocking animated characters alone is rather dorkish. ---
**Author:** ![Legomancer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/779978/32.png) [@Legomancer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Legomancer)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2002, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moment-you-knew-you-were-a-geek/100779/49 "2002-04-01T13:47:51Z")
[http://slithytoves.sytes.net/~dave//photo/DisplayImage.php?PHID=41](http://slithytoves.sytes.net/~dave//photo/DisplayImage.php?PHID=41) By the way, since SOMEONE will ask…when I took the picture, I had a cold. Hence, the roll of toilet paper. ---
**Author:** ![Hamadryad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6de8d8/32.png) [@Hamadryad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamadryad)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2002, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moment-you-knew-you-were-a-geek/100779/50 "2002-04-01T14:47:45Z")
I can’t remember NOT being a geek. My mom pulled me out of Kindergarten after six weeks because the teacher said I was “belligerant.” I read “LOTR” in its entirety when I was 9. I’ve always wanted a pet snake AND a pet goat. In 4th grade I hated that the “prize” for finishing work quickly was the chance to play dodge-ball with the 5th graders…I would rather have read. In 6th grade I spent an entire unit of math class ignoring the teacher and playing calculator games. From 6th grade to graduation I was the only person I knew with a computer in my house. My first french kiss was from a BBSer. I married a SysOp. I mean, come on…the only person I know personally with more Geek Cred than I have is my husband, and that’s because hes got a 12 year head start on me. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Earthworm\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f07891/32.png) [@Earthworm\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthworm_Jim)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2002, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moment-you-knew-you-were-a-geek/100779/51 "2002-04-01T14:54:35Z")
I was thinking it was the various star wars parephenalia…then I was thinking Bender. But no, my vote is for the Yamato (or Argo, depending on which you prefer). I see I’m not the only one 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Earthworm\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f07891/32.png) [@Earthworm\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthworm_Jim)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2002, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moment-you-knew-you-were-a-geek/100779/52 "2002-04-01T14:55:57Z")
And of course, that last post was directed at **Lego** s picture. ---
**Author:** ![Legomancer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/779978/32.png) [@Legomancer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Legomancer)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2002, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moment-you-knew-you-were-a-geek/100779/53 "2002-04-01T14:58:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Beelzebubba \* > \*\*I was thinking it was the various star wars parephenalia…then I was thinking Bender. > > But no, my vote is for the Yamato (or Argo, depending on which you prefer). > > I see I’m not the only one 😃 \*\* Before you submit your final answer, I should point one thing out. The bins with the labeled drawers on them are Star Wars figures. One per drawer, usually. The Mrs. calls it “The Star Wars Morgue.” ---
**Author:** ![Earthworm\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f07891/32.png) [@Earthworm\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthworm_Jim)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2002, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moment-you-knew-you-were-a-geek/100779/54 "2002-04-01T15:23:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Legomancer \* > \*\* > > Before you submit your final answer, I should point one thing out. The bins with the labeled drawers on them are Star Wars figures. One per drawer, usually. The Mrs. calls it “The Star Wars Morgue.” \*\* Be that as it may (and, mind you, it is **mighty** geeky), I think I’m sticking with the Argo…I mean, Star Wars was a cultural event akin to a religious movement. Star Blazers, on the other hand… ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2002, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moment-you-knew-you-were-a-geek/100779/55 "2002-04-01T15:58:53Z")
Hm. I’d have to say… gods, early 80s. Hunting down the tape deck for my TI-99/4a that my mother kept using for Jane Fonda’s workout, because I was trying to debug a Hunt the Wumpus game. No, earlier. First grade. Being timed to read a thousand words in thirty seconds. Gabba gabba one of us one of us. And darn proud! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2002, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moment-you-knew-you-were-a-geek/100779/56 "2002-04-07T00:07:30Z")
Like Ino I was in denial for a long time. Then, in November I was excited to be doing [this](http://www.geocities.com/theevilwriter/mulderscreek.html) and finally admitted to myself that yes, I am a geek. But I’m happy, dammit! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moment-you-knew-you-were-a-geek/100779.md?page=2)