My spouse has a shirt from the library where she works proclaiming, "I geek books." It seems some folks hereabouts are using "geek" as a synonym for "like" or "advocate." Has this spread elsewhere?
It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society. -J. Krishnamurti
Interesting. I've never seen it used that way. I looked for more information about it and found this Facebook page. When I click the link on the bottom Website, I found this site. Clearly there is a library campaign for using "geek" as a verb.
I guess I'm waaaay out of the loop! Per arnie's comment, I had heard of "tweak" as the ramifications of excessive amphetamine use, but I'd always thought of "geek" as a socially inept technophile.
The word story part on that link, Geoff, was interesting. I rather like "adorkable" and plan to use it. I also thought it funny that they rated "dork," "geek" and "nerd" in terms of intelligence; the poor "dork" came in last.
Geoff, I think the common use of "geek" is just how you described it. Think of the "Geek Squad."
[Edited for typo]This message has been edited. Last edited by: Kalleh,
Dork is a verb internally at my current job. It's actually a practice that is banned by IT and security. It started before I got there. When we leave our computers, we are supposed to lock them, so you need to type in your password to unlock them and use the computer. In years gone by, if somebody noticed and unlocked computer with nobody sitting at it, they would fire up email and send out an email to everybody with the subject line dork. As time went on, the dorkings became quite elaborate: people carried around thumb drives with sarcastic poems and such to add as the body of the email.
It's actually a practice that is banned by IT and security.
I'd have thought they'd approve. After all, the emails are shaming the dorks into remembering to lock their computer in future. It's probably more effective than official warnings could be.
I suppose it might slow up the email servers by sending everybody an email, though. And it does smack a little of vigilante justice...
Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
So did I, but aas it was explained to me what the person is doing is impersonating the dork, and that's a security breach/risk. Ah, well. Now we just lock the station and leave a PostIt.
When we leave our computers, we are supposed to lock them, so you need to type in your password to unlock them and use the computer. In years gone by, if somebody noticed and unlocked computer with nobody sitting at it, they would fire up email and send out an email to everybody with the subject line dork. As time went on, the dorkings became quite elaborate: people carried around thumb drives with sarcastic poems and such to add as the body of the email.
Wow. That is taking it far! Do people still leave their computers unlocked?
We're supposed to lock our computers, too, when we leave, but what on earth can happen when you're just in your own organization with people you know and work with? I'd be dorked all the time at your place, z!
what the person is doing is impersonating the dork
Ah! I see! I hadn't realised they used the dork's computer to send the email. That makes a lot of sense now.
I first started working in a bank and it was strongly impressed upon us never to leave our positions with the till drawers unlocked. Later the practice was applied just as much to the computer workstations. Now I'm in my current job I automatically lock the computer even if leaving it for a short trip to the printer or similar. Several colleagues are far more lax and, while no disciplinary action has been taken, several have had tellings-off for lax security. That's despite people needing an electronic pass to a) enter the building and b) enter our floor. Not that we've anything particularly top-secret going on, although some information could be sensitive.
Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
My wife was bookkeeper at the local zoo for many years. When she first started there, the cashier's booth was very close to her office, so it was a short walk to bring in the gate receipts. But the zoo expanded and the cashier was put in an office at the far end of the zoo. One day I was in my wife's office when the gate called over the radio, "We're ready to bring up the money. Is that OK?" I couldn't believe it since the radios were not on a private frequency and anyone could intercept the message. To make it even worse, the girl bringing up the thousands of dollars in receipts had to walk alone along a path bordering railroad tracks separating us from a very bad neighborhood. Anyone could lie in wait for her there without being seen. I discussed this lack of security with management but they didn't seem too concerned. Luckily, no one ever robbed them so I never got the opportunity to say "I told you so".
That is amazing, proof. You wouldn't do that in Chicago!
quote:
tellings-off
Hmmm, we talk about "getting told off," but I've never heard "tellings-off."
If a company has good security (like ours and like you describe, arnie), and people off the street don't amble through the offices (all visitors to our offices have to wear a badge and be okayed by our reception desk), then I don't get the obsession with the computer screen. To me, it means the business/organization/whatever just doesn't trust their own employees.
After thinking about it, I realized that some unscrupulous nursing student might want to steal the answer key for the tests they administer, so... forget I wrote that, Kalleh!
It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society. -J. Krishnamurti
Well, our organization develops the licensing exam for all nursing graduates, so that's one reason. The security protecting that exam is huge. Plus, if a student fails that exam, he/she can't work so I suppose an angry student could come to our offices. However, since I've been there that hasn't happened. When I was in academia, on the other hand, it happened several times.
A big reason our offices have so much security (You can't get into our elevator without a pass. I hired a statistician once who never could get past our reception desk and had to go back to his university!) is that the Israeli Consulate is in our building. So there are a lot of reasons.
