Tuesday, June 14, 2005

Geeks, Nerds, and Dorks

A few months ago my mom and I were in the car driving home from my tennis lesson, and we started a very odd conversation. We were discussing what the difference was between geeks, dorks, and nerds. (How we got on that topic I am not quite sure!) We formulated many odd theories. I was reminded of that conversation yesterday when I was looking over my post entitled Michigan State University which is the post in which I brought to attention the fact that I was going to be called a dork for going to visit a college this early. And yes people have called me a dork (all in good nature of course)...but no one has called me a nerd or a geek...why is that? I dismissed the thought without much care until I went to the library and got a book (for free as a prize for reading a book over the summer and filling out a slip saying that I read it...yeah like reading one book is a huge accomplishment....anyways) The book was entitled Geeks by Jon Katz. On the way home from the library I started reading the book, the first few pages were nothing but definitions of the word Geek from different people and dictionaries. And I have to say it is hilarious...Here are a few examples:
Merriam-Webster Dictionary-- Geek (noun) [probably from English dialect geek, geck fool, from Low German geck, from Middle Low German; First appeared 1914]: 1. a person often of an intellectual bent who is disapproved of 2. a carnival performer often billed as a wild man whose act includes biting the head off a live chicken or snake.
Mike McConnell-- Geek: A person, for one reason or another, is consideres socially unacceptable by the person speaking. A computer geek is someone who is sociall inept but expert with computers. As computers become more important in the average person's life this term becomes more often a compliment than an insult.
Webopendia-- Geek: Short for computer geek, an individual with a passion for computers, to the exclusion of other normal human interests. Depending on the context, it can be used in wither derogatory or affectionate manner. Basically, geek and nerd are synonymous.

A few more definitions were provided in the book. The first one I chose to show to you I included because it is very funny and outdated....So really that one is now pure nonsense. The second two go along with my personal definitions for Geek. The Third one however is the most helpful. It tells us what a geek, and a nerd are. They are the same thing!...So now we have definitions for those two what about a dork? That was a bit harder to find. Dork however is the word I use most out of the three and it would probably be a good thing to know exactly what it is that I am calling other people (and myself)...because if i had known that a Geek could be considered a Carnival performer that bit off chickens heads I would have used that word a whole lot less, even though when I use the word geek that is not the meaning and it is in no way derogatory. After some searching I did find some definitions for Dork
Dictionary.com-- A stupid, inept, or foolish person
That was the nicest definition i found!...The other definitions claimed that dork was slang for well...oh gosh what is the nicest way to say this...ok... other definitions claimed that dork was slang for the male sex organ....I am trying to keep this a kid-friendly site so thats the most I can say....
Now I'm not sure how many of you realizd that that was the definition but i definatly did not...Now I'm not so sure I want my friends calling me a dork. So since I know the way that I mean dork, (and that is not it) I will apply my own definition that will here after be the only definition I will recognize as correct.

So here they are :

Geek: An asocial person who is deeply obsessed with something ex. computers
Nerd: An asocial person with extreme intelligence may be deeply obsessed with something
Dork: A semi-smart, person who may or may not be social, this person has many 'blonde moments' and may seem to be unnecessarily organized
Luv ya all!

4 comments:

Lexi Elizabeth said...

haha, dork! :P lots of love laurel!

Lexi Elizabeth said...

mitziT, did i ever tell you you have too much time on your hands?

Miles C. said...

www.gnomedude.blogspot.com

Check it out!

~Jay

Anonymous said...

Why do they all hafta be 'asocial'?
Oh well, i'll call myself a nerd anyway. ;-)