Nerd vs Geek vs Dork

In the last post I maintained that my husband is, in fact, a nerd. Others took exception, pointing out that his qualities (and his collection of Sci-Fi t-shirts) most likely make him a candidate for the status of geek, instead.

So I decided to do a bit of research on how these different terms work, and it turns out tehy're all over the place. Here's one stab at it, though.

According to this wikihow article and others, a Nerd = a bright or even genius-level individual with intense and advanced knowledge, interest, and skills in one field (usually academic), likely to the exclusion of other interests, associations, or social skills.

Geek: Intense interest (but not necessarily accompanying skills) in obscure fields that are not necessarily academic. So, what the geeks would call, "a nerd with social skills" or what the nerds would call "a nerd without the smarts."

Except there are other people who switch those definitions completely around. And whether or not any of these words are considered compliments or insults most definitely depends on what camp you belong to (or believe you belong to) So who even knows what to believe or think or feel or cling to in this tenuous world?

At Going the Wrong Way, the writer has this to say about Dorks:

"Dorks are the type of people who will do silly things. . . . If the dork is aware that they are a dork, then it’s funny. If they’re not aware, then it’s painful to watch such a socially uncomfortable person try to get by."

When I told GH I was writing about this, he asked how to tell if you're a Goober (other than, say, having the name of Nemesis). According to the Urban Dictionary definition, a "goober" is a "kindhearted, rather oblivious goofball." So there, it's totally a good thing to be called. GH claims he had no idea I possessed such goober traits when we met. He just thought I was uptight all the time. Lucky, lucky him!

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