Nerd's, Geek's and Dorks.

[Shawn Sommers]

A good friend of mine, and a fellow Nerdfighter recently posted a discussion on facebook about the differences between Geek's, Nerd's, and Dorks and how people associate with the title. My question is Do you fellow Nerdfighter's think that their is a difference between being a Geek, Nerd, or Dork, and what are some of the differences between the groups ie: personality traits, social acceptance etc etc.

In my opinion I don't think that there are too many differences. Everyone can be dorky at times, but that is just human nature. Anyone who has a unique personality or finds something funny that others don't can be considered dorky. Geeks and Nerds are almost one in the same. They usually share common interest in technology,comics,games, etc etc. so what is it that really sets them apart ?

http://www.goingthewongway.com/208/difference-between-nerd-geek-and...

In this post, the man describes what he thinks to be the differences between the 3, and as I read I kinda looked at this as a very stereotypical way of putting things. Now I know he ment no harm, but it seems that he based this article solely on his opinion, not on any significant research. If you made it this far, and read the article, do you have any thoughts or opinions on the article itself, and do you agree or disagree with the article.

thanks for your time and thoughts

[Mark Todd]

I'm under the firm belief that since these words have very recent origins (nerd and geek...*shrug* to dork), and since those origins are not absolutely certain, they mean whatever the hell the user wants them to mean. To me, a nerd and a geek are seamlessly indifferent. When I call someone a geek or a nerd, it just means they do something specific extensively and put great pride in it. I may be more likely to put geek in the technology category but that's just out of habit. Plus, the words have been until recently been meant to be derogatory at least by most popular standards.

I would almost certainly contest your opinion of nerds and geeks being interested in "technology, comics, games, etc etc." But this again has to do with what YOU mean when you say nerd or geek. But, if you restrict nerds to the aforementioned, many of the members of this site would not be nerds. Some enjoy music theory to the point where their verbiage becomes damn near foreign language to me. Others thoroughly enjoy specific sets of movies to the point of starting whole communities behind them.

*shrug*, to each his own I guess.

[Shawn Sommers]

"They usually share common interest in technology,comics,games, etc etc." I was not restricting Nerd's and Geek's to any said category of the aforementioned, I was merely stating some of the similarities that they share. If i were to mention all common interest I might as well write a book as opposed to a forum reply. This also doesn't imply that I think All nerds and or geek's share common interest, it was merely a basis for my discussion. That being said, I agree that the term Nerd/Geek was generally dubbed a derogatory term for those who did not go with the popular flow, or socially acceptable.However the words themselves have transformed and taken on new meaning in today's society, I personally see nothing wrong with being labeled as such, because when it comes down to it Nerds/ Geeks make the world go round. I merely want to gather a difference of opinions and view points on the subject.

[Elijah Joseph Donnelly]

I disagree on the subject of "Nerd". I am not found in libraries, hunched over books, or wondering aloud about my surroundings. I also don't believe that "Nerd" should mean smart. I'm sure not every nerdfighter isn't a straight A student with a 5.0.

Also, I am contempt with just using my computer( I don't want to learn everything about it...).

I think "Nerd" follows along the lines of just being extremely interested in something.

Anyway, I'm pretty tired right now, so I probably missed more that I disagree with..

[Mark Todd]

Good to hear I'm not the only one :)

[Bryan Rosander, FL]

I think nerd is more about focusing on "academics" than being about smart or hardworking. Being extremely interested in say, science fiction would mean that you were more geek, unless you took an academic approach to science fiction. Meanwhile, geek seems general enough that it could include nerd as well.

[BDKR]

First things first, I am not down with the assertion (from the article linked too) that cool and nerdy or geeky are somehow mutually exclusive. However, I suspect implied assertion was accidental.

Beyond that. what the writer sites as differences between a nerd and a geek are profound. Honestly I had never considered it, but there is some merit to it on a preliminary level. Perhaps my being a programmer causes me to identify wıth what he is saying to a certain degree.

Personally, I always liked the geek moniker as it seemed to me to speak of what the writer is calling nerds.

And BTW, where does the 'Revenge of the Nerds' movies fall in all of this?

I have raced motorcycles, built and run turbo cars, worked in a prison, been on 4 different continents (lived on 3), majored in Music, grew up playing in punk bands, grew up skating, and I work out 4 days a week now, in addition to my historical research on Empire and efforts as part of a Business Development group. So does that make me a nerd or cool or just confused?

Knowledge is cool! Ability is cool! Everything else is mediocre.

And have any you wondered how this fits in wıth Myers / Briggs temperament types? (I have gone back and forth between INTP and ENTJ over the years).

[Shawn Sommers]

Now that you mention Myers/Briggs, is that more a reference to rational/ irrational or using the dichotomies to describe the subject at hand ? I've always saw myself as ENTP

[Bryan Rosander, FL]

Do you mean Judging / Perceiving? Meyers / Briggs doesn't have a Rational / Irrational dichotomy.

[Shawn Sommers]

Carl Jung proposed the existence of two dichotomous pairs of cognitive functions: The "rational" (judging) functions: thinking and feeling and The "irrational" (perceiving) functions: sensing and intuition. One in the same my friend

[Bryan Rosander, FL]

Ok, reasonable. I prefer to use the judging and perceiving terms myself.

Off-topic, Socionics uses a lot of the same dichotomies (Thinking / Feeling, Extroverted / Introverted, and Intuitive / Sensing), except that it uses Rational / Irrational (also based on the Jungian definition) instead of Judging / Perceiving and there isn't a reliable one-to-one mapping because of it. I like Socionics more, so I don't consider them the same.

[Shawn Sommers]

I had to look up a reference for socionics lol, but i now see what you are saying

[JimmyKeepCool]

My understanding is that the difference between a geek and a nerd is that a geek isn't necessarily 'intelligent', but being a nerd implies above average intelligence (whatever intelligence is... though it is different from receiving good grades). A dork was originally slang for dick, though now it seems to just refer to someone who is silly.