Graham wrote:Tim wrote:I prefer "nerd" to "geek", however.
I've always thought that "nerd" implied a level of social incompetance, while "geek" was just an overwhelming interest in, and knowledge of, a given subject. Not just computers or gaming stuff.
Heck, you can be a football geek if you so choose.
What I am saying Tim, is that I don't consider you a nerd. But if it is your chosen moniker, I'll run with it.
Back in college, I and my nerd friends, had a lenghtty discussion about nerds, geeks, and dorks.
Nerds, we decided, were people who were intelligent and bookish, but lack common sense. Oh, sure, they can recite poetry or do long division in their head, but they're not sure how to bring it up in conversation with "regular people", which leads to a certain social awkwardness.
Geeks were people with a bit of an obsessive interest in one or more subjects, socially capable, as long as they're with their own kind, thus you have drama geeks, music geeks, etc... and a person can also be a theate geek AND video game geek; they can also act normal aroud other people without their interests, but they don't make a habit of it.
And dorks know waaaay too much about what are generally considered geeky subjects (Star Wars/Trek, computrs, video games, RPGs, etc..), and pretty much let their lives revolve around it, and therefore lack any ability to socialize whatsoever, unless it's solely with people who share their interest. This leads people to sometimes think they're just a geek, but learn the hideous truth way too late to back away slowly.