# Does This Make Me A Nerd Or A Geek?



## Tris (Oct 30, 2008)

I am not 100% sure of the differences in the term geek and nerd.  Personally I use both interchangeably.  

I guess since I do love sci-fi like Dr. Who, Star Wars, to name a few...that makes me a geek?

I also love to learn everyhing and have a head full of trivia and other knowledge, and did well in academics...am I a nerd?

I never put too much thought about it until now as I just ordered the entire series on Dr. Who DVDs yesterday...which brings me me another question.  What makes "the Doctor" YOUR doctor?  I mean I watched the 5th Doctor (Peter Davidson) on PBS off and on as a teen when I found out about Dr. Who after flipping through the channels.  I did the same when Eccleston was on Sci-Fi as well, but I didn't consistantly watch until Tennant was on the TV which was hard because Sci-Fi was kinda wierd with how they showed the series.  So is it the guy who first got you to watch or the guy you more consistantly watched?

Tris


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

As I understand it, the difference between the two is the person's general social skills: geeks have them (or at least some minimum amount) while nerds do not.


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

I'm sentimentally fond of Tom Baker, though I haven't really watched him since _I_ was a teenager. I was very happy with the revival a few years ago, and have liked both actors I've seen


Spoiler



(I'm not counting that I saw the new doctor for half a minute in the "The End of Time" on BBC America last night)


. They've done such a good job of picking actors for the series that I don't think any of them are serious disappointments, even though everyone likes some incarnations more than others. Because he was "your first" or just clicks with your personality in some way.


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

Tris said:


> I guess since I do love sci-fi like Dr. Who, Star Wars, to name a few...that makes me a geek?


Incidentally, being a nerd/geek is (in my view) a label to be worn with pride, so I hope that liking The Doctor and at least the original trilogy of Star Wars makes me one!

I haven't heard NogDog's definitions before, but they make as much sense to me as any other.


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## geoffthomas (Feb 27, 2009)

Well,
Nerd is a term often bearing a derogatory connotation or stereotype, that refers to a person who passionately pursues intellectual activities, esoteric knowledge, or other obscure interests that are age-inappropriate rather than engaging in more social or popular activities. 
while
The word geek is a slang term, noting individuals as "a peculiar or otherwise odd person, especially one who is perceived to be overly obsessed with one or more things including those of intellectuality, electronics, etc."
and don't forget:
Formerly, the term referred to a carnival performer often billed as a wild man whose act usually includes biting the head off a live chicken, bat, snake or bugs. hence the term geek-shows.
So it seems, as I think has been said, a nerd would be not social and a geek would be obsessed.
But most obsessed people are socially shunned and so sometimes not much diff.

But in general I would think that being a Nerd means at least that one is "intellectual" as compared to a geek that is just overly focussed.

Hmmmmmmmm

Just sayin.......


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

From many years of working in the computer/software industry, I can tell you that, at least in that area, many more people would rather be termed "geek" than "nerd." As to how many of those self-professed geeks would actually be considered nerds by others...well, that's another question.


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## geoffthomas (Feb 27, 2009)

Yeah NogDog, I agree.
I have been doing code since first-gen machines and have found that many today even revel in being "geeks".
Hence the commercialization of the GeekSquad by BestBuy.

Used to be "wire-heads".

Certainly the Software field has a fondness for the term.


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## OliviaD (Jul 21, 2009)

Tris said:


> I am not 100% sure of the differences in the term geek and nerd. Personally I use both interchangeably.
> 
> I guess since I do love sci-fi like Dr. Who, Star Wars, to name a few...that makes me a geek?
> 
> ...


I don't like to think you are a geek or a nerd, but rather someone who is interested in things other than what might be considered 'normal'. I don't know how many times I've mentioned things that are simply second nature to me, things I take for granted that even the most inert couch potato couldn't have possibly missed and learn that people have no idea what I'm talking about. It is very sad to find yourself in a room full of people who seem to be living in a different dimension. I can see them, I can speak to them and they can hear me, but we are not speaking the same language at all.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Geeks are attractive.  Nerds are not.

My favorite Doctor is David Tennant. . . . .I love the way he says "WAAALLLL" right before he explains why he's right and you're wrong.   Waiting for the most recent season to come to Syfy as we don't have BBC America.  I did think Eccleson did a good job though.  I liked Rose and Martha as companions. . .not too keen on Donna. . . . .I actually didn't watch it much as a kid.

Funny thing, we were having this conversation with some friends just a few days ago.  The Dr. Who part, not the nerd vs. geek part.


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## Tris (Oct 30, 2008)

I still am unsure.  I do love intellectual stuff and worked on "projects" and summer school when I was a kid...most of the time I begged my parents...and did "projects" to due my own curiosity.  I also literally carried at least 4 books with me at all times (even at home) until my I drove my family (in particularly my parents) absolutley crazy mad!  Apperantly having a child who always read and didn't really socialize as other children did wasn't to their liking.  Not to say that I didn't have friends and went out, but I was utmost happiest with a book or doing "projects".  So does that make me a nerd?  

I still like to have intellectual/curiosity projects, if work didn't get in the way so much.  I am told that people love to talk to me (even though most of the time it is unprovoked), and find me very personalable.  Go figure!  

I do, I guess, have my wierd obsessions like books, gadgets, and certian other things...but I am not really freaky wierd about it.  I try to keep it level.  

I do have moments where I don't know what to do in social situations, but doesn't everyone?  I also have lots of times where people look at me strange when I talk to them about certian things and afraid to sound really brainy.

People at work tell me that I am a nerd, but I really can just care less what the latest actor/actress is wearing or romancing.  I don't think I am alone in that regard, right?

I am just confused...

Tris


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

What it "makes" you is unimportant as long as you are comfortable with yourself -- not with what others think you should be, but what _you_ want to be.


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## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

Tris said:


> I still am unsure.


Don't be. Neither one of those is what you "are." They are just labels for some of your many characteristics (which are ever-changing). The bad thing about labels is that people tend to apply them and then react to the labels instead of the person.

Mike


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## mom133d (aka Liz) (Nov 25, 2008)

I consider myself a geek. 

As for the Dr.... For the longest time I considered Tom Baker as MY Doctor. He was my first and so everyone had to live up to him. However, I now comsider David Tennant as MY Doctor because I think he just nailed the role. Each actor has brought something to the role, but I think David and Tom truely made the Doctor his. At least my Thinkgeek shirt is still true - You Never Forget Your First Doctor.

http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts-apparel/unisex/popculture/988c/


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## LCEvans (Mar 29, 2009)

Only my children consider me a geek or a nerd.


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## Chad Winters (Oct 28, 2008)

geoffthomas said:


> Yeah NogDog, I agree.
> I have been doing code since first-gen machines and have found that many today even revel in being "geeks".
> Hence the commercialization of the GeekSquad by BestBuy.
> 
> ...


Yes, NerdSquad would not be as marketable!


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## cheerio (May 16, 2009)

NogDog said:


> As I understand it, the difference between the two is the person's general social skills: geeks have them (or at least some minimum amount) while nerds do not.


i would agree with this definition


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## Tris (Oct 30, 2008)

Okay, the reason I am asking is that I am constantly told that I think way too much.  Then at work my team laughed at me saying I was a nerd.  But when I asked what specifically makes one a nerd...silence.

So I just want some clarification.

Tris


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

Well, I'd rather be accused of thinking too much than not enough.  In fact, one of my pet peeves about society in general is the pervasive lack of critical thinking skills. However, I suppose anything can be a problem if taken to extremes, e.g. if you get so caught up in trying to think through every aspect of a problem that you never accomplish anything in a short enough time to be useful.


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## Tris (Oct 30, 2008)

I agree with you NogDog.  I mean we all have brains, they are there for a purpose.  I love thinking and do have my moments where I get lost in my thoughts, but I control it fairly well and never had a problem.  But to be out right laughed at and called a nerd totally suprised me.

I am just a bit confused on why use the term when you don't know what it is?

Wierd.

Tris


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

Tris said:


> I am just a bit confused on why use the term when you don't know what it is?


I think most people may not be worried about the precise dictionary difference between a nerd and a geek (I've always thought of them as near-synonyms myself), but I think they would say that they know either one when they see it!


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## Chad Winters (Oct 28, 2008)

Tris said:


> I agree with you NogDog. I mean we all have brains, they are there for a purpose. I love thinking and do have my moments where I get lost in my thoughts, but I control it fairly well and never had a problem. But to be out right laughed at and called a nerd totally suprised me.
> 
> I am just a bit confused on why use the term when you don't know what it is?
> 
> ...


LOL, I'm thinking if most of the people I meet only use words correctly I might be surrounded by complete silence


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## RJ Keller (Mar 9, 2009)

David Tennant is still my favorite Doctor. I cried at the end of End Of Time.  
I'm trying to keep an open mind about the new guy,though.


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## geoffthomas (Feb 27, 2009)

I do agree that most people who use either Nerd or Geek derogatorily probably don't know what the words mean.

A bunch of years ago (I think before anyone used Nerd or Geek) it was popular to sneer at "smart people" and call them egg-heads.

Didn't really mean much but was a way to demean people who knew things they didn't.

Unfortunately in our country we keep on trying to make stupid people feel ok. 
So the couch potato that has no higher aspiration than to sit and guzzle a six-pack and watch football on the boobtube is held up as the goal to achieve.  Sad.

Tris it is kinda hard to know "what they were thinking" without more context. 
Like NogDog, I work in a community where we all would probably be called Nerds or Geeks.  And sometimes call ourselves that with pride.  So I have trouble understanding the social context where people make someone feel bad about it.

But you have my sympathy and support.
Just sayin.......


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## Chad Winters (Oct 28, 2008)

Nerd seems to connotate more "Revenge of the Nerds" types than geek does.


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## Carol Hanrahan (Mar 31, 2009)

It seems nerd is an older word than geek, to me.


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## RJ Keller (Mar 9, 2009)

I'm a geek/nerd, as are most people I hang out with. We consider it a point of pride.


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## DawnOfChaos (Nov 12, 2008)

geoffthomas said:


> Unfortunately in our country we keep on trying to make stupid people feel ok.


YES!!!!! This is my new phrase for 2010!!  Thank you Geoff!

I've been called a geek, I'm sure I've been thought of as a nerd, I really don't care either way. Its a point of pride here too. Its amazing to me how fast these people come find you when they want help with something.


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## MeganW (Dec 28, 2008)

I definitely consider myself a geek (I'm a programmer, obsessed w/tech, probably need my own podcast...), and I'm proud of it!


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## Anju  (Nov 8, 2008)

I wish I was a geek or a nerd or an egghead  

personally I think that would make me super smart


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## Tris (Oct 30, 2008)

I just think it's kind of strange...and funny.  I don't think being called geek or nerd is really too insulting, but other than myself, family, and friends, no one has been called on right out.  It made me take a step back for a moment.

I guess it's like the old question "how many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop?"  The world may never know.

Was late in seeing Tennant's last episode but that ending was bittersweet!  In my "geek" moment, I bought the entire new series from Eccelston to Tennant on DVD.  I had to use my B&N gift cards for something.

Tris


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