With Geek Pride Day (GPD) almost upon us once again, geeks from all over the world are preparing to celebrate their own special day, in their own geeky ways.
GPD, on the 25th May, is the day for geeks everywhere to declare their geekiness for all to see, and hear. Over the years, GPD has grown to become a worldwide celebration of geek culture in all its sophistication, complexities, and er… nerdiness.
If geekdom had it’s own geek flag, the 25th May would be the day to hoist that flag and announce loudly and proudly, to anyone listening, “I am a Geek!”.
Great, geeky facts and stats to share with your friends on Geek Pride Day
Tim McEachern started geek pride with “The Geek Pride Festival” at the Big House Brewery in Albany, New York in 1998.
Spanish blogger German Martinez was the first person to set the date for Geek Pride as 25th May, in 2006, when he established Día del orgullo friki (Spanish for Geek Pride Day). The day was celebrated by hundreds of geeks in Madrid, Spain.
There is also a geek manifesto, (again, created by German Martinez) which declares geek’s rights and responsibilities. That manifesto included a wide range of vitally important rights and responsibilities such as the right “not to like football or any other sport” and a responsibility to “do everything you can to show off your geeky stuff as though it were a “museum of geekiness”.”
A GPD survey, undertaken by US tech recruitment consultants Modus (PDF), revealed that:
Geeks were considered by a majority of respondents to be ‘hard working’, ‘loyal’ and ‘confident’.
However, around 1 in 8 geeks hid their personal passions due to embarrassment.
Of those who hid their passions, most hid them from friends, family, and co-workers. One in three also hid their passions from their significant others!
Some good news! Nearly 7 out of 10 people who participated in the survey consider geeks to be dateable! W00t W00t!
5 Ways you can celebrate GPD in style
Carry a towel – As any self-respecting geek knows, GPD falls on the same day as Towel Day. Geeks worldwide carry a towel on this day to remember the life and works of author Douglas Adams who wrote the internationally acclaimed “trilogy in five parts”, The Hitchhiker’s Guide To the Galaxy.
Wear a sprig of lilac – In writer Terry Pratchett’s Discworld fantasy fiction novels ‘The Glorious 25th May’ is the day when it is traditional to wear a sprig of lilac (Syringa vulgaris, obviously). Discworld fans worldwide wear a sprig of lilac on the 25th May each year, to commemorate Pratchett’s writing.
Organise a Star Wars themed party – As any geek will tell you May 25th is also the anniversary of the premiere of the original Star Wars movie released on May 25th, 1977 (retrospectively subtitled Episode IV: A New Hope). It was the first in what was to become a long-running and very successful movie franchise.
Visit a comic convention – Spend the day with like-minded people by visiting a comic convention. If you are struggling to find your nearest one, the AnimeCons.com website (http://animecons.com/events/) lists comic-cons from all over the world on the 25th May and throughout the year.
Watch the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (HG2G) movie – The movie, released in 2005, starring Martin Freeman, Yasiin Bey, and Sam Rockwell, is considered a masterpiece by geeks everywhere. What better way to mark GPD than by watching HG2G? Well, for mega geeks there is something that is even better! Watching the original 1981 television adaptation of HG2G produced by the BBC in Great Britain. Wow!
Art credit: Geek Lover by Lais Oliveira and I’m Geek by beveronik. Creative Commons.
