So, while trying to convince myself that I did not, in fact, have a pounding headache and I did not, in fact, need to get my new prescription, run another errand, and hit the gym before I could take the nap I longed for I did this.
It's an amusing diversion but it brings me back to a bone of contention. WTF is the difference (if any) nowadays between a nerd and a geek (we'll leave dorks out of it for now)? From what I can see the terms and cultural applications have muddied and blurred to the point where they're lazy synonyms.
Back in the day there were 'clear' differences between nerds and geeks. For instance, originally a geek referred to a sideshow performer that bit the heads off chickens (wtf humanity, seriously, wtf).
Then we have nerds (like the fella from Reveng of the Nerds there) they traditionally have big teeth, horn rimmed glasses, pocket protectors, high IQs low social skills and cowlicks.
So what gives? How did these two terms become so intertwined and is there any difference between them anymore?
I used to think that nerds were more about 'hard' knowledge, like actual physics, history and science and Geeks were pop culture experts. But even that was wishy washy and now it seems arbitrary as hell. Then I thought, well maybe Geeks are the hip non-academic but still socially questionable people. But again, that's just...a bad definition. So I give up
What do you guys think?
Note: I'm leaving the entire comic nerd/geek vs movie nerd/geek etc arguments out of this. That's a quagmire of classifications that will almost always lead to headaches and pointless bickering. Unless, y'know, you want me to...
It's an amusing diversion but it brings me back to a bone of contention. WTF is the difference (if any) nowadays between a nerd and a geek (we'll leave dorks out of it for now)? From what I can see the terms and cultural applications have muddied and blurred to the point where they're lazy synonyms.
Back in the day there were 'clear' differences between nerds and geeks. For instance, originally a geek referred to a sideshow performer that bit the heads off chickens (wtf humanity, seriously, wtf).
Then we have nerds (like the fella from Reveng of the Nerds there) they traditionally have big teeth, horn rimmed glasses, pocket protectors, high IQs low social skills and cowlicks.
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| He might like it if you bit his head off, poor SOB |
I used to think that nerds were more about 'hard' knowledge, like actual physics, history and science and Geeks were pop culture experts. But even that was wishy washy and now it seems arbitrary as hell. Then I thought, well maybe Geeks are the hip non-academic but still socially questionable people. But again, that's just...a bad definition. So I give up
What do you guys think?
Note: I'm leaving the entire comic nerd/geek vs movie nerd/geek etc arguments out of this. That's a quagmire of classifications that will almost always lead to headaches and pointless bickering. Unless, y'know, you want me to...
