Sunday, September 26, 2010

Nerds v. Geeks

I've been discussing what defines someone as a nerd. I'm a girl in Computer Science, I study all the time, read like crazy, know random facts that normal people don't know, and wear glasses. For some people, that makes me automatically a nerd. For others, to be a nerd, you have to be into video games. For others, it's different.

So, I figured that maybe I wasn't a nerd. Maybe they were right. So I started looking into the word geek. But  I learned that "geek" is also defined differently. For example, the Geek Squad from Best Buy is considered to be a sort of "elite" retail job. There are also "Harry Potter geeks" "Pokemon geeks" and other type specific geeks who are not necessarily into math or computers or science.

So, where does that leave me? The nerds don't want me - I'm not techy enough for them. But the geeks don't want me either-I'm too broad a category for them, not being obsessive over something specific.

How do you define "geek" and/or "nerd"? (Please don't be derogatory. That's rude.)

1 comment:

wendybird03 said...

I don't know if this is 'correct' but I think of a nerd as someone who is bookish or into academic pursuits, does well in school, that kind of ilk. A geek on the other hand is someone who is really "into" a particular subject matter or activity... like band geeks, or trekies, or apple computer products.

FYI on the TV show "Chuck", their version of the Geek Squad is the Nerd Herd. So some people might consider them synonyms :-p