[ih] Re: The 20th anniversary of the Internet

[Craig Partridge]

In message <200212161545.gBGFjVg24202 at gungnir.fnal.gov>, Matt Crawford writes:

>The word goes back much, much longer, but not exactly in the modern
>sense.  A geek was a circus performer who would do disgusting things,
>like bite the head off a live chicken.

And the word is derived from late ME "geck", which is derived from a Low
Dutch word meaning simpleton or fool.

Craig