My girlfriend has a question....

[TheClone]

I'm glad jbear has a sense of humor...I've seen rugby guys get their ears torn off, and I like mine where they are!

IME, gaming only really has the geek albatross hanging around its neck in the USA. Many of my gamer buddies in other countries (both "furiners" and Americans abroad) have told me that gaming overseas doesn't have the same kind of stigma there as here.

Nope. If you say "roleplaying" in Germany, people will mostly look like you've just eaten a cockroach. Surely that depends on the audience.

A colleague ofm ine once called me "a computer scientist that drinks beer", because I am able to communicate without using a keyboard. I don't know what that qualifies for, but I liked it

Back to topic: We're geeks, because we love our hobby. Independent of what everyone thinks or current fashions wants us to do. And we do play rugby. With dice.

 

[Fridayknight]

Yeah, they do haha. But I've played all three sports and I've been spear tackled (basically picked up and dumped on your head) but I've never been in so much pain as when I was tackled in soccer with studs exposed.

So I guess it's all relative.

That may be true that you get studded but you can get studded in Rugby as well as spear tackled, and dont even talk about collapsed scrums.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Having played hockey (in a gym, with no pads, as the goalie), football, rugby and soccer at some level, I can say that the roughest sport is: Aussie Rules Football- those guys are NUTS!

 

[Fridayknight]

I dont know, i havent played american football and when i played hockey i was goal-keeper (with the pads i basically filled the goal).

 

[gloomhound]

What was the name of that racing car driver who dumped Danny Minogue so he could concentrate more on his D&D.

Jacques Villeneuve

 

[Otterscrubber]

That's rude. Ask her why all her clothes make her look really fat.

That'll show her!

I should also put it out there that rugby is a geeky sport. Here we have a game called League which is considered a man's game while geeks play rugby and football (soccer) as to avoid getting hurt.

Well, I don't think being a geek is demeaning so I wouldn't want to offend her by asking that, also, she is very good in shape so it just wouldn't make sense. Also, I've known and played rugby and would not classify them as geeks (usually) who are trying to avoid getting hurt.

 

[Pig Champion]

Well, I don't think being a geek is demeaning so I wouldn't want to offend her by asking that, also, she is very good in shape so it just wouldn't make sense. Also, I've known and played rugby and would not classify them as geeks (usually) who are trying to avoid getting hurt.

Sorry, perhaps if you read my post with ~~ lines around everything, the joke will jump out at you.

But if you want to be serious. Despite your definition, geek is not a word people use kindly, unless they are one. It represents that a person is strange, an oddity, doesn't belong and socially inferior.

So she's being rude, per societal meaning. You should return the favour.

 

[TarionzCousin]

But if you want to be serious. Despite your definition, geek is not a word people use kindly, unless they are one. It represents that a person is strange, an oddity, doesn't belong and socially inferior.

So she's being rude, per societal meaning. You should return the favour.

Not necessarily. "Rudeness" is defined by one's local culture, and the OP's girlfriend may be from a different culture than yours. In fact, by most definitions of "culture," she undoubtedly is.

Cultures include different nationalities and ethnicities, but can also be as small as a neighborhood, a county, or a family.

For more information on rudeness as it relates to culture, see here and here.

 

[Pig Champion]

Not necessarily. "Rudeness" is defined by one's local culture, and the OP's girlfriend may be from a different culture than yours. In fact, by most definitions of "culture," she undoubtedly is.

Cultures include different nationalities and ethnicities, but can also be as small as a neighborhood, a county, or a family.

For more information on rudeness as it relates to culture, see here and here.

I know what rudeness is dude. I'm not even going to go into word implications.

Let's just say I was being indignant, mainly because I was clearly joking and move on.

 

[Neonchameleon]

She wants to know why we are all geeks? Wondering what I should tell her......

Because we care about stuff*, because we find it interesting, and because we like playing with ideas.

More to the point, ask her why she isn't one.

* And it doesn't matter what stuff. Amateurs study tactics, diletantes study strategy, professionals study logistics. And it's caring about the minutae - i.e. the logistics - that makes a geek.