This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
Tabby: A friend said something about one of my fan projects that I think merits recording here, although I'm blanking on how to integrate it into the main entry: "This is beyond dorky, this is geeky. Dorky is obsessive and a little sad; geeky is obsessive and a little sad with talent."
Idle Dandy: As a child in the mid-80's, I was taught that a geek was a nerd who didn't "wear the nerd uniform" of taped glasses and a pocket protector. I think that definition has evolved over the last 20 years, but it was serviceable at the time.
Lale: A "geek" is someone who's uncool. A "nerd" is someone who's uncool and a genius. Both can be worn with pride, especially if "cool" means the Jerk Jock or the Rich Bitch.
Fast Eddie: pulled ...
- "I'm not a nerd, nerds are smart!" — Milhouse, The Simpsons
and i quote "bill gates is a geek, urkle is a nerd, bill gates is rich, urkle got cancelled"
Fast Eddie: Huh. Lale's definition is the exact opposite of what is defined in the entry. My personal definition is "Geek are smart and sometimes nerdy, nerds are not socially adept, and sometimes smart".
Shay Guy: http://www.venisproductions.com/angelmoxie/archives/0/1/018.html
Red Fox: The way I understand it:
- Geek: Specialist knowledge. Generally not a lot of social grace, though not necessarily horrible at it. The geek's knowledge is something useful to other people (though not necessarily widely so). A geek may be a specialist but a specialist may not be a geek. It is somebody who finds genuine delight in some subject, and studies it beyond the required level out of enjoyment. Geeks have a liberal dress code, often disregard rules, and may actively try to find ways to twist them to their benefit.
- Nerd: Like a geek, specialist knowledge, but of an useless to the general population sort. A movie geek may manage to start an enjoyable conversation with a normal person, but a nerd's knowledge is in subjects like chess, math and D&D which usually mean it's hard to find common ground. They can't apply their knowledge to most normal situations. Generally less social grace than geeks. If D&D suddenly became cool, a nerd might turn into a geek.
- Dork: No social graces. Somebody who reacts inappropiately, has a very odd sense of humor, laughs like a horse, dresses inappropiately, or has some other trait of the sort that makes having them around embarrassing. This of course means they don't get much practice.
Example geek: Richard Feynman. Knowledgeable in technical subjects like radio repair (which was useful at the time). Wasn't very concerned about rules: When somebody stole a dorm door as a prank, he stole the other one, under the assumption that since the original thief left a lot of clues, they'd be caught and then would have a very hard time to explain where the other one went. He was right. Had an interest in lock picking.
Example nerd: Gary Gygax, creator of Dungeons and Dragons.
Example dork: Anybody with a number of annoying characteristics, like: nosepicking, interrupting at odd moments, inability to notice people want privacy, etc.
Nornagest: This isn't going to be a popular opinion, but I think that these redefinitions are misguided. In popular usage, "geek", "nerd", and "dork" are all pejorative and overlap strongly in meaning. We aren't necessarily concerned with popular usage, but — as the above demonstrates — there's no consensus on what a value-neutral definition for each would even be. The whole effort comes off as defensive and faintly embarassing.
Inkblot: For the record, geek is an old Carny term for a species of sideshow performer whose specialty was eating disgusting things. Biting off the heads of live chickens was the classic play. Emphasis here on 'specialist'.
What the?
