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Nowadays it becomes more and more common to call people with a strong focus on computer science a "geek". Most sources (and people) associate some negative meaning to the word, but actually are we not all geeks in one or another area of life?

Let's take a look at the definitions of some of the prominent dictionaries on this word ...

1. MSN Encarta Dictionary
   1st: awkward person: somebody regarded as unattractive and socially awkward (insult)
   2nd: obsessive computer user: somebody who is a proud or enthusiastic user of computers or other technology, sometimes to an excessive degree (informal)
2. AskOxford Dictionary
   1st: an unfashionable or socially inept person.
   2nd: an obsessive enthusiast.
3. Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
   1st: a carnival performer often billed as a wild man whose act usually includes biting the head off a live chicken or snake
   2nd: a person often of an intellectual bent who is disliked
   3rd: an enthusiast or expert especially in a technological field or activity
4. Cambridge Dictionaries Online
   1st: a person, especially a man, who is boring and not fashionable
   2nd: boring and not fashionable

Most sources indicate that the word "geek" has a strong negative tone attached to it. However today I only hear it as the term for the "computer-minded". And this is the place where I'd object against the negative meaning.

There're many professions that use a lot of lingo (law, medicine, various sciences), some of them are even a lot more "distant" to the average man, than computer science is. Then why the distinction? Why should anybody have any negative feelings towards computer enthusiasts? Are doctors (with their tons of latin), lawyers (with the tons of laws paragraphs) or mathematicians, etc. any better?

The only difference is that computers spread over the world (and our life) in a "second" and people face geeks a lot more often, than representatives of any of the other professions. But geeks are not "worse" by any little than any other kind of enthusiasts/specialists.

And no ... it's not a mere coincidence that the one writing this post (which happens to be me ) considers himself a geek as well.