So... what is a nerd?

[SuperUnison]

This is Nerd Fitness after all...

I was wondering what we all think a nerd is these days?

It seems more socially acceptable to have geeky tendencies than it used to be, the comedy nerd trope on tv doesn't really seem to exist anymore. Maybe it's someone who tends to have an interest/obsession with a particular field, rather than a lack of social skills. Gets well confusing when you see girls with tshirts that say 'Geek' across the front in big letters, and fashion glasses with non-prescription lenses. IT'S SO CONFUSING.

I think I've got nerdish tendencies in some areas (I love dinosaurs, medieval history, Lego, foreign cinema, quoting Waynes World, and could talk about guitar amps and distortion pedals for hours) but not in others (Enjoy sports, I'm quite confident and bizarrely, seem to do quite well with women). How much of a nerd are you?

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

As for the nerd vs. geek thing, I was in a group of friends who considered themselves nerdy. We used to say Geeks were the people nerds made fun of. Being a nerd is like being in love, you just know when it happens.

[Nocturnis]

Nerd= Never Ending Radical Dude

[Spooky_Rach]

Nerd= Never Ending Radical Dude

Need a 'like' button for that.

nerd dork and geek explained in a venn diagram is probably the best explanation of how I see it.

[Nocturnis]

According to that I am not a nerd because I am very social. I call shenanigans.

[OrangeJorwell]

I see a geek as more of a computer-obsessed, technical person and a nerd as more of a book-ish person, but both as having intelligence and being at least a bit obsessive. Which is why I proudly consider myself both.

[Waldo]

There has been a lot of drift in the meaning of nerd in the last 10 years or so.

I've got an engineering degree and have hobbies that include mathematical modeling of difficult to predict events....

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

I'm a nerd because I say so. Of course, part of nerdity is endless discussions about the essence of nerdity, so this is all very fitting. (and Zen, come to think of it, not to say tautalogical....

[PrincessHeather]

I think it's better described as being a "something" nerd, somewhat independent of intelligence or social standing/skills, and more just being very involved in a particular "something" at a level that is well beyond that of the average person. For myself, I'm a Disney nerd, classic films nerd, ska nerd. I'm choosy about my friends but not socially inept, and while fairly intelligent, I don't think that on its own would qualify me as a nerd. But its a pretty subjective term, and certainly a trendy thing now as well. But I won't feel like my nerd status is threatened if other people consider themselves to be nerdy, whether its due to a love of comics, D&D, or Justin Beiber. I don't like any of those things, and will be perfectly happy to remain in my own bubble looking at pictures of New Fantasyland at WDW.

[cob]

Need a 'like' button for that.

nerd dork and geek explained in a venn diagram is probably the best explanation of how I see it.

*like*

[OrangeJorwell]

ska nerd

I thought I was the only one! I saw Streetlight Manifesto in concert (for the second time) last week and it was awesome!

[Gainsdalf the Whey]

I think it's better described as being a "something" nerd, somewhat independent of intelligence or social standing/skills, and more just being very involved in a particular "something" at a level that is well beyond that of the average person. For myself, I'm a Disney nerd, classic films nerd, ska nerd. I'm choosy about my friends but not socially inept, and while fairly intelligent, I don't think that on its own would qualify me as a nerd. But its a pretty subjective term, and certainly a trendy thing now as well. But I won't feel like my nerd status is threatened if other people consider themselves to be nerdy, whether its due to a love of comics, D&D, or Justin Beiber. I don't like any of those things, and will be perfectly happy to remain in my own bubble looking at pictures of New Fantasyland at WDW.

See, I've always thought of person being really into something as the geek. As in "computer geek" or "Geeking out on blank", but a geek can be socially fine. There are plenty of people who geek out on fantasy football and do all kinds of in depth analysis bit are socially normal for example.

I kinda completely agree with the ven diagram above in that a nerd is someone with all 3 of those qualities, the socially challenged part being a big one. One of the biggest reasons nerds (using the term to describe this community here) are out of shape is that many of them were socially awkward and ended up not involving themselves in team sports or immersed themselves in independent, non-physical activities because of it. At least that seems to be a pretty common theme around here.

[Raikas]

See, I've always thought of person being really into something as the geek. As in "computer geek" or "Geeking out on blank", but a geek can be socially fine. There are plenty of people who geek out on fantasy football and do all kinds of in depth analysis bit are socially normal for example.

I kinda completely agree with the ven diagram above in that a nerd is someone with all 3 of those qualities, the socially challenged part being a big one.

Totally agreement here on the use of "geek" to indicate enthusiasm - I regularly refer to people as "an XYZ geek" purely to refer to whatever they're near-obsessive-level interested in.

I tend to use "nerd" in a less narrow way though. I generally use it to talk about someone who is very successful is very specific academic or professional areas (math, engineering, the hard sciences, certain parts of IT). Although the specific term "nerd culture" does have more of a genre-fan/pop-culture reference to it for me.

[Artinum]

nerd dork and geek explained in a venn diagram is probably the best explanation of how I see it.

Ah! My nerdiness is vindicated. I approve.

[bigm141414]

There has been a lot of drift in the meaning of nerd in the last 10 years or so.

I've got an engineering degree and have hobbies that include mathematical modeling of difficult to predict events....

Glad to know I am not the only engineer who does math as a hobby.

[Critter]

I think if you enjoy debating the silliest little details of your hobbies, whether be it computer games, the existence of alien life, religion, the fluctuation of oil prices over the decades, weighlifting, or football, then you're a nerd. Because somebody out there (probably me, in this example) is shaking their head in disbelief that you would take your hobby so seriously as to actually care about something like the total passing yards that your team had while within 40 yards of the goal during the 2nd half when down in points in last year's season. Yeah. You're a nerd.

[Raincloak]

I got bored with "nerd" and mostly now use the term "geek" to describe someone who is slightly, but not pathologically, obsessed with a hobby (it's more intellectual than a mere "fan;" in my view a fan is someone who could gush over, say, Harry and Hermione's romantic involvement; a geek is someone who would list and index each of their affectionate moments, and discuss its meaning in light of modern psychology).

I can vaguely understand people who wear glasses for fashion reasons only... but as one who wears glasses to correct actual vision problems, I'm ambivalent about it. Glasses are a medical device for people with a disability. I've got nothing against wearing the prettiest glasses possible, but wearing them when your vision is just fine seems wrong to me. My glasses might look cute, but they're not a toy, and other people treating them as a toy seems vaguely offensive. I mean, no one uses a wheelchair or a white cane for fashion reasons. Why is it okay to treat glasses differently?

[Nik]

I'd put myself in the middle of that diagram. I'm so socially inept, I even strike out with other nerds. But I have to say I wouldn't class anyone who is significantly concerned with fashion as a nerd, unless they had an immersive interest in the psychology of it or belonged to the SCA and were into historical fashions. Wearing glasses as a fashion accessory makes as much sense to me as neckties and high heels.

[Waldo]

Glad to know I am not the only engineer who does math as a hobby.

Solving difficult to solve problems is endless entertainment. Who needs video games when you have the somewhat random number generator that is the real world.

I'm still kinda bummed that I'm not the one that originally figured out to set each NFL teams offensive and defensive strength as a numerical variable, then finding the best fit solution to the monster polynomial that is game scores of the season. I ran the rather processor intensive calc for a few years before figuring out that Pro-Football-Reference beat me to the punch with their simple rating system, which is solved the exact same way (though weighting games and normalizing data gave us slightly different results). Really took me a long time to work out all the kinks and write the code, sucks. Made cool power ranks for a while though.

In-between things at the moment, content with reverse engineering my metabolism, looking forward to the NFL Draft and the game of "predict who is going to be good, and who is going to be drafted by my team." The scouting combine...orgasmic for us number nerds that are into football.

[Lydieboo]

Need a 'like' button for that.

nerd dork and geek explained in a venn diagram is probably the best explanation of how I see it.

 

+1. This is the perfect explanation.

[Baelasar]

I'm a nerd working on her geek status.  My nose was always in a book and no topic was off limits or too esoteric.  I always have a book or my Kindle on hand.  But I love sports.  Growing up on a farm and sandwiched between 2 brothers it wasn't "was I going to play sports - it was which sport was I going to play?".  And there was some social awkwardness but I don't think anymore than most teenagers felt during those years.  But being true to my nerd self, I read books and literally studied psychology to figure out social behavior patterns to make things less awkward.  I even studied fashion.  For me everything boils down to a pattern, behavior, fashion, defensive plays, etc.  Now I have a job in the tech field where my penchant for reading, studying, analyzing packets, and people is very handy.  I consider myself a Neek

 

 

 

I love wearing heels--- I'm 5'1 on a tall day :-)  Plus they make a really nice weapon.  Even thought about how handy it is to have a 3 inch spike at all times?  I am heeled and dangerous. 

[Evicious]

[Artinum]

I love wearing heels--- I'm 5'1 on a tall day :-)  Plus they make a really nice weapon.  Even thought about how handy it is to have a 3 inch spike at all times?  I am heeled and dangerous. 

 

I vaguely recall a terrible film starring Pamela Anderson where she throws a stilletto heel at someone for calling her "babe". This would be considered an extreme reaction at any time, but it was even more bizarre given that she was doing a strip tease or something at the time.

[Elastigirl]

I love wearing heels--- I'm 5'1 on a tall day :-)  Plus they make a really nice weapon.  Even thought about how handy it is to have a 3 inch spike at all times?  I am heeled and dangerous. 

5'1 on a tall day...love this. I tell people II'm 5'1 and my best friend always teases me about that and says I must have meausred on a tall day. But unfortunately I can't manage the 3 inch heels

[BeautifulBeast]

I am a total geek. I love video games, comic books, regular books, anime, board games, DnD, magic, was a socially awkward teenager who was first chair of 3 different instruments throughout high school. I obviously qualify for geekdom.

But now I wear nice, super girlish clothes and stilletos. Get hit on and checked out whenever I go out even if I have my husband and two young kids with me. I've also been asked to do modeling.

You just can't judge a geek by the cover ;-) I think the nerd/geek spirit is what makes a person a geek :-D