I've always thought of geeks as people with slightly socially abnormal interests, who perhaps have a bit of difficulty dealing with the general public. Hardcore trek fans, people who own stormtrooper costumes, renfest, etc. Nerds in my mind are more academic- people who do science experiments for fun and call calculus a hobby. The kind of people who, when star trek is brought up, have no preference as to kirk vs picard, but will rant for an hour or two about the scientific inaccuracies.

Yeah, right, KellyD! Exactly my point. Geeks are the kind of people who have some way-off-the-beaten-track hobby they expound on (i.e. my music weirdness about the station), and Nerds are the folks who take really arcane, but established shit, like calculus and bridge construction physics and computer coding into the realm of monastic reverie.

Geeks get stuffed into lockers by jocks, and nerds have their faces smashed into the water fountain by the popular kids.

"Geek" is a way of insulting physically weak people, while "nerd" is a way of insulting mentally strong people.

So what you're positing, Hugh E. Janus (E is for Enormous - look it up in the county records, son...) is:

Geeks are-less-than Jocks and Nerds are-less-than Soc's?

But only in the movies, right? Because then it's all about Geeks Providing for Jocks (i.e. humungoid sports bar screens and wi-fi sports scores), and Nerds providing for Soc's (i.e. Demeter fragrances and postmodern, ironic fashion - cit. tee-shirts and angry purseware).

All I know is I'm still sexy to the woman who matters.

I'm being needlessly contentious, sorry.

I saw a lot of young men of my generation -- my brother, his friends and mine -- hurt badly by these epithets and the frequently violent acts that accompanied their use. I was a band fag (even though I played in the orchestra), but I was a big strong band fag who most of the bullies feared, so I escaped the torments my brother and our friends dealt with. There are a lot of adults who self-identify as nerds and geeks nowadays, but for most anyone who really was bullied for being smart or weak, such a reclamation rings hollow, or not at all.

I have never and will never suck a chicken neck! ;-P That said: female nerd, class psycho, HET butch (which no one wants) are all what I've used to describe myself.

I came up in the normal male category in the Baron Cohen Aspberger test, which does make sense to me. I'm ok with wearing a dress and makeup when the occasion calls for it, though.

I always knew they were meant as insults(never as precisely as HJ's def, tho), but we've always coopted them and used "geek" and "nerd" as "people who are like us and are therefore acceptable".

Anyway, on my planet, a geek asks "what will this button do?" A nerd asks "what will this button do for me?"

Mom's a geek, Dad's a nerd.

Geeks got laid. Nerds had no social skills whatsoever.

we're nothing but the nerds they say we are...

What's the difference between a geek and a wonk? Real question, not a joke set up.

Rainbaby - Geeks are excited about things you would get excited about, too, only more so.

Wonks are geeks that get into dusty, dry, boring policy-generating areas like politics and the environment. They thrive in minutiae-dissecting environments.

Jeez, I should have a cutoff time, it seems I get real cranky just before bedtime. Apologies once again.

Geeks aren't necessarily smart. Nerds are. Milhouse Van Houten is a geek. Like he says, "I'm not a nerd! Nerds are smart." Wonks fall under the nerd umbrella, along with grinds, with whom they share a passion for getting things right. A wonk is likely to be student council material, while a grind is likely to stay up all night doing all the work on a group project just so it's done right. There's plenty of overlap; both wonks and grinds eventually excel in regurgitative academic settings like law school.

But wonks (and grinds) can sometimes be non-nerds, or maybe stealth nerds: they're often very focused on the future, which means, beyond just student council, doing things that get one into the right college so that one can make the connections that will advance their career as far as possible. These things often include sports, theater, and other high school popularity contests, so sometimes we spot true rara avis: the well-adjusted, popular wonk (or grind). They go far in life, being some of the most physically attractive and socially balanced of their hyper-intelligent peer group.

A lot of this seems to fade as people grow up and realize that other people are a lot more interesting and varied (and less easily categorized) than high school teaches us.

Hugh Janus - I may have to physically re-locate to NYC just so we have enough time to hang out permanently. I love the shit you bring to this dance.

*shakes moneymaker*

Same to you, but more of it!

Just acquired the Annuals album you recommended. I'm gonna blast it in about an hour, entertain the MTA construction fuckers running the juh-juh-juh-juh-juh-juh-juh-jack-kuh-kuh-kuh-kuh-kuh-kuh-ham-muh-muh-muh-muh-muh-muh-muh-muh-mer at the end of my block.

Oh Hugh You rammed the words right outta my mouth.

Rama-lama-ding-dong!

I have never seen that movie. *ducks*

Revenge of the Nerds is better.

Hey Whelkish? Can I hit you up for a drawing favor when you get bored and stuff?

I have always wanted a drawing of a trolley car drifting in space around a planet, with a little philosophical-looking conductor driving it.

Can you make something like that for me? Awesome.

kthxbai.

I've always wanted a t-shirt with a drawing of a grinning hockey puck having doggy-style sex with a baseball.

Yes, I said always. Ever since I was a wee tot of a bobble.

what kind of sporting event could you use the offspring for, Hugh? Hockey puck plus baseball = Steroids on Ice?

The first international baseball league to include Greenland's team?

The first-ever Louisville Hotstick?

I need coffee. And more Bo Sox Baseball!

I never thought about the offspring, just the love act itself.

Also, a cartoon of la vache qui rit lying in bed, sharing a post-coital cigarette with Lumiere, the candelabra from Beauty and the Beast, that's something I want to see, too.

≡ Click to see image ≡

≡ Click to see image ≡

See how groovy that would be?

I agree with the definition that geeks aren't necessarily "smart" (and by that I mean book smart), just obsessed with something niche like computers or comic books, while nerds definitely need to be the hanging-out-at-the-library-readin'-Turn-of-the-Screw type, and also tend to be obsessed with something or other.

I agree with Hugh that I don't particularly like the sexification of nerd and geek "culture" recently. Us fat loners will always been fat loners to 95% of the population, even the ones who wear "I *heart* Girls in Glasses" t-shirts.

I was thinking about this recently... think the words "geek" and "nerd" blend together a lot in popular usage now. The OED says...

geek, n.

1. slang (chiefly U.S.). a. orig. Eng. regional (north.). A person, a fellow, esp. one who is regarded as foolish, offensive, worthless, etc.

1908 H. C. FISHER in San Francisco Examiner 28 Apr. 13 (comic strip) A geek who spends his spare time making Czar removers was slammed into the city cooler.... 1951 N. ALGREN77 Chicago (2001) v. 59 The jungle hiders come softly forth: geeks and gargoyles, old blown winos, sour stewbums and grinning ginsoaks.

b. Freq. depreciative. An overly diligent, unsociable student; any unsociable person obsessively devoted to a particular pursuit (usually specified in a preceding attrib. noun). Cf. NERD n.

1991 S. J. GOULD Bully for Brontosaurus vi. 96 Any kid with a passionate interest in science was a wonk, a square, a dweeb, a doofus, or a geek. 1992 Sports Illustr. 14 Dec. 38/1 The article is a nine-page compilation of photos, diagrams and written arcana, which only a football geek could love....

c. spec. A person who is extremely devoted to and knowledgeable about computers or related technology. In this sense, esp. when as a self-designation, not necessarily depreciative....

and

nerd, n.

slang (orig. U.S.). derogatory.

An insignificant, foolish, or socially inept person; a person who is boringly conventional or studious. Now also: spec. a person who pursues an unfashionable or highly technical interest with obsessive or exclusive dedication.

1951 Newsweek 8 Oct. 28 In Detroit, someone who once would be called a drip or a square is now, regrettably, a nerd. 1957 Sunday Mail (Glasgow) 10 Feb. 11 Nerd{em}a square. 1971 Observer 23 May 36/3 Nerds are people who don't live meaningful lives....

The definition for geek has words like "devoted" and "love", but the definition for uses the word "dedication"... dedication sounds less passionate than devotion or love, and I think that's a good distinction. To me, geeks and nerds are both obsessed about some thing (or things), but geeks obsessions are more strongly based on passion. So to me the word geek is for a person who's obsessed with something because they love it, while the word nerd is for a person who's obsessed with something because they love obsessing. :)

Oops... I meant "the definition for nerd" :)