Geek humor

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Geek humor is a rather diverse comical field, probably due to its wide definition. A geek can be considered a person who is preoccupied with a detailed or obscure area of knowledge or interest (i.e.: technology, the universe, Starfleet's ranking schema, etc.).

1 Definition
2 Practical examples
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Definition

Geek humor is the branch of humor that preoccupies itself with whatever knowledge domain a particular geek or geeks have interested themselves in. No form of humor, be it the classic pun, the observational variant, and so on, is beyond the reach of the geek.

Geek humor most commonly contains "inside jokes" understood exclusively or mostly by that particular branch of geek. This is due to the jargon that is commonly used in puns, "play on words" jokes, and other styles of humor used by these geeks.

Also characteristic of geek humor is often the complete lack of empathy along with the ability to find amusement in certain events of human suffering such as wars, random acts of violence or accidents.

[edit] Practical examples

The topics which the geek find enticing are generally not subjects embraced by the masses. A stereotypical geek may be interested in computers, Star Trek, comic books, Star Wars, Magic: The Gathering cards, etc. Although these pursuits find mass appeal, they are not the stomping grounds of the masses. Thus, humor generated from within a geek circle becomes just as obscure as the geeks themselves. Indeed, the very need to isolate and identify geek humor as a separate branch of the comical lexicon is due in large part to the fact that a good number of people simply do not understand it. In fact, most geeks do not understand humor from other geek circles, unless they are "over lappers" (geeks that migrate between, or have multiple areas of interest).

For example, the following joke enjoys popularity in certain geek circles: "There are only 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary and those who don't."

A second joke, only funny to those familiar with the IP network addressing scheme, is "There's no place like 127.0.0.1".

Another joke popular with certain types of geeks is:

"Doctor Doctor, I feel like an alpha particle"

"Are you sure?"

"I'm positive!"

Persons familiar with basic atomic physics will see the pun.