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On Towel Day, Hitchhicker's Guide to the Galaxy fans slam 'Geek Pride Day'

May 25th is a huge day for people who self-identify as "geeks" with annual celebrations dedicated to author Douglas Adams, the 1977 release of Star Wars, Episode IV: A New Hope, and Terry Pratchett's Discworld novel Night Watch taking place both online and off.

But does loving sci-fi literature or an incredibly popular film franchise automatically make someone geeky? If not, what does? Is "geek culture" even a thing anymore in 2015 outside of network TV shows and consumer trend reports?

These are but a few of the many questions that have been popping up about May 25th in recent years — particularly since 2008, when the first-ever "Geek Pride Day" was celebrated in the U.S.

This unofficial geek holiday was reportedly created by Spanish blogger Germán Martínez in 2006 to commemorate the anniversary of the first Star Wars film's release.

Because the film hit theatres on May 25, 1977, Geek Pride Day was naturally placed on May 25th — a date which already held some serious sci-fi significance.

Towel Day

Towel Day was first celebrated two weeks after The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy author Douglas Adams' death on May 25, 2001 by fans honouring the iconic book's assertion that "a towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have."

D Clyde Williamson proposed the initial event in the Binary Freedom forum just two weeks before it took place, writing:

"Douglas Adams will be missed by his fans worldwide. So that all his fans everywhere can pay tribute to this genius, I propose that two weeks after his passing (May 25, 2001) be marked as 'Towel Day'. All Douglas Adams fans are encouraged to carry a towel with them for the day. Make sure that the towel is conspicous- use it as a talking point to encourage those who have never read the Hitchhiker's Guide to go pick up a copy. Wrap it around your head, use it as a weapon, soak it in nutrients- whatever you want!"

Towel Day now inspires tens of thousands of people to post photos of of themselves and their towels online each year to celebrate Adams' legacy.

This year, ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti got in on the fun by publishing a Towel Day video from International Space Station.


The Glorious 25th of May

The Glorious 25th was first celebrated in 2008, one year before Geek Pride Day hit Canada, following British author Terry Pratchett's diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease.

Fans of Pratchett's cult fantasy series Discworld wear a lilac on May 25th each year to honour characters within the book Night Watch (which took some inspiration from Les Miserables,) as well as Pratchett and others affected by Alzheimer's.

As The Daily Dot notes, this is the first Glorious 25th in which Pratchett is no longer living, making it a day of both awareness-raising and remembrance.

How Geek Pride Day swooped into the mix

Towel Day and The Glorious 25th both differ from Geek Pride Day in that they were created for fans to honour individual authors and their works.

While originally pegged to the anniversary of Star Wars, Geek Pride Day has instead been shaped by the online masses (and those who sell them things) to encompass many aspects of "geek" culture beyond the world of George Lucas' space saga — which, for the record, already has its own "day" on May the 4th.

Whereas hashtags for Towel Day and The Glorious 25th are constantly filled with tributes to Adams and Pratchett, #GeekPrideDay more often seems to inspire tweets from people professing their own geekiness while tech brands try to capitalize.

And yet, despite their differences, the three days of observance are increasingly clumped together by mediaoutletsunder Geek Pride Day's banner with Towel Day and, to a lesser extent, The Glorious 25th, being cited as sources of inspiration for (or facets of) the larger event.

This does not sit well with some Adams fans, who well-remember celebrating towel day before "geek pride" was even a term.

Others are annoyed with the number of corporate social media posts promoting #geekprideday in the midst of other commemorative days such as Africa Day, Missing Children's Day and Memorial Day, which falls on May 25 in the U.S. this year.

Most of the Geek Pride Day backlash on Twitter, however, seems to be from people who are simply fatigued with the term "geek" — specifically its use to describe what, in many parts of the world, has become straight up popular culture.