Geek or Nerd?

By Jake • July 28th, 2009 • 96 Comments

Ethanol molecule, read to find out whyOver OraTweet last week, I gently corrected an old friend of mine when she called those of us using Oracle’s mirco-blogging tool “nerds”. We’re not nerds. We’re geeks.

This person hails originally from Eastern Europe, so the nuances and cultural connotations of the two aren’t part of her DNA. Being the quizzical type, she asked for clarification, which I struggled a bit to describe, and eventually, she sent over this post, which does a good job outlining the differences.

Being a recovering (in my own mind) nerd, I can relate to the main difference Matt Blum points out, namely the social ineptitude of the nerd. While nerds and geeks are both smart and usually technically inclined, nerds fail at social interaction.

Plus, the Hollywood stereotypes haven’t done nerds any favors. Geeks, on the other hand, are generally portrayed in a much better light. Exhibit A, Hackers. Just saying, even if the script isn’t very, um, plausible, accurate, believable, the casting tells you all you need to know.

The difference intrigues me. I actually had a similar one over Twitter with some Portlanders that I know about a year ago, and they agreed that geeks pwn nerds.

Being a geek is a badge of honor applied to oneself. Nerd is an insult applied to other people.

Interestingly, nerds don’t always evolve (loosely applied) into geeks, and there’s no prerequisite path from nerd to geek. I suspect Chet, who played baseball at the University of Florida, would characterize himself as a geek now, but somehow I doubt he is a reformed nerd.

So, aside from social interactions, what else differentiates geek from nerd?

There must be a cool component in there too. As Matt mentions, the desirability of technical skills makes the geek less, well, nerdy. People respect the skills.

Nerds have these skills too, but without the ability to be approachable or have a comfortable conversation, they remain on the fringes. I remember one hilarious encounter with a nerd in college. He did not drink, but had eaten a peanut that had alcohol splashed on it. Don’t ask.

He spent the next 20 minutes debating his relative BAC after imbibing the tainted nut. Not kidding. His dissertation centered around the molecular structure of alcohol and its effects on his body. Wow. Just wow. I wish I had that on video. It was one of many great discussions (ahem, lectures) I had with that guy.

I picture him in a lab coat, working at some government facility, engineering bio-warfare weapons to use on me, probably revered as a demigod among his lab-coat-wearing peers, but not so much in the real world.

So, maybe a geek has generally marketable skills, i.e. making computers work is more in demand from the real world than engineering chemical weapons?

Anyway, this is an open discussion. Find the comments and add your thoughts on Geeks vs. Nerds: Bloodbath. Guess I’m in a Hollywood mood.


Possibly Related Posts

← Older Comments
  • uvox

    I agree the term “nerd” is not good – in any context. Over this side of the pond, the techie insider term I suppose would be “Anorak”. Wait, those three letters in the middle of “anorak” – o-r-a… it's a sign…

    … yeah, I know. I need to get out more.

  • uvox

    I agree the term “nerd” is not good – in any context. Over this side of the pond, the techie insider term I suppose would be “Anorak”. Wait, those three letters in the middle of “anorak” – o-r-a… it’s a sign…

    … yeah, I know. I need to get out more.

    This comment was originally posted on http://theappslab.com/)”>Oracle AppsLab

  • uvox

    I agree the term “nerd” is not good – in any context. Over this side of the pond, the techie insider term I suppose would be “Anorak”. Wait, those three letters in the middle of “anorak” – o-r-a… it’s a sign…

    … yeah, I know. I need to get out more.

    This comment was originally posted on Oracle AppsLab

  • joel garry

    I had a roomate in college, he published a dungeon & dragons newsletter – mimeographed. (1976) He had a vanity license plate on his car “THNERD” which he claimed was a funny word pronounced as a single syllable. He was more social than me, at least among the D&D crowd. I ran into him a decade later, he was a successful landscape architect. Yes, designing fantasy worlds can lead a viable occupation.

    There was a nerdy guy in my high school, he went on to become an electrical engineer. I was amazed to see his picture in the paper one day. He was unable to find a job after being laid off, so was laying on the ground in front of a building of a large company, playing the tuba, with a please hire me sign.

    I at least pretended to be cool, though I was never a social butterfly, and I didn't pick on nerds. Once I was in the workaday IT world, that pretense became much more difficult. Eventually, I came to embrace geekdom.

    Happy birthday, Wil Wheaton.

  • joel garry

    I had a roomate in college, he published a dungeon & dragons newsletter – mimeographed. (1976) He had a vanity license plate on his car “THNERD” which he claimed was a funny word pronounced as a single syllable. He was more social than me, at least among the D&D crowd. I ran into him a decade later, he was a successful landscape architect. Yes, designing fantasy worlds can lead a viable occupation.

    There was a nerdy guy in my high school, he went on to become an electrical engineer. I was amazed to see his picture in the paper one day. He was unable to find a job after being laid off, so was laying on the ground in front of a building of a large company, playing the tuba, with a please hire me sign.

    I at least pretended to be cool, though I was never a social butterfly, and I didn’t pick on nerds. Once I was in the workaday IT world, that pretense became much more difficult. Eventually, I came to embrace geekdom.

    Happy birthday, Wil Wheaton.

    This comment was originally posted on http://theappslab.com/)”>Oracle AppsLab

  • joel garry

    I had a roomate in college, he published a dungeon & dragons newsletter – mimeographed. (1976) He had a vanity license plate on his car “THNERD” which he claimed was a funny word pronounced as a single syllable. He was more social than me, at least among the D&D crowd. I ran into him a decade later, he was a successful landscape architect. Yes, designing fantasy worlds can lead a viable occupation.

    There was a nerdy guy in my high school, he went on to become an electrical engineer. I was amazed to see his picture in the paper one day. He was unable to find a job after being laid off, so was laying on the ground in front of a building of a large company, playing the tuba, with a please hire me sign.

    I at least pretended to be cool, though I was never a social butterfly, and I didn’t pick on nerds. Once I was in the workaday IT world, that pretense became much more difficult. Eventually, I came to embrace geekdom.

    Happy birthday, Wil Wheaton.

    This comment was originally posted on Oracle AppsLab

  • joel garry

    Grindhouse 3: Below the Valley of the Planet of TronGeek's revenge.

  • joel garry

    Grindhouse 3: Below the Valley of the Planet of TronGeek’s revenge.

    This comment was originally posted on http://theappslab.com/)”>Oracle AppsLab

  • joel garry

    Grindhouse 3: Below the Valley of the Planet of TronGeek’s revenge.

    This comment was originally posted on Oracle AppsLab

  • http://theappslab.com Jake

    Speaking of Tron, I hear there was quite a stir at Comic Con when they showed trailers of the new one. Sounds sweet. Always thought the first one was awesome.

  • http://theappslab.com/ Jake

    Speaking of Tron, I hear there was quite a stir at Comic Con when they showed trailers of the new one. Sounds sweet. Always thought the first one was awesome.

    This comment was originally posted on http://theappslab.com/)”>Oracle AppsLab

  • http://theappslab.com/ Jake

    Speaking of Tron, I hear there was quite a stir at Comic Con when they showed trailers of the new one. Sounds sweet. Always thought the first one was awesome.

    This comment was originally posted on Oracle AppsLab

  • http://theappslab.com Jake

    Geek isn't in the parlance over there? I thought that was in the Queen's English too, or maybe the word still refers to those who bite off chicken's heads in the QE . . .

  • http://theappslab.com/ Jake

    Geek isn’t in the parlance over there? I thought that was in the Queen’s English too, or maybe the word still refers to those who bite off chicken’s heads in the QE . . .

    This comment was originally posted on http://theappslab.com/)”>Oracle AppsLab

  • http://theappslab.com/ Jake

    Geek isn’t in the parlance over there? I thought that was in the Queen’s English too, or maybe the word still refers to those who bite off chicken’s heads in the QE . . .

    This comment was originally posted on Oracle AppsLab

  • http://theappslab.com Jake

    Nice one, makes Chris' point about nerdy pursuits applied to real jobs. What better way to design meat space landscapes than to do it for fun?
    I wonder if his designs feature caves . . .

    Is today his birthday? I'm new to the whole Wil Weaton is a geek meme; it's been going around a lot here in PDX lately. Maybe I'm not as big a geek as my wife and parents would have me believe.

  • http://theappslab.com/ Jake

    Nice one, makes Chris’ point about nerdy pursuits applied to real jobs. What better way to design meat space landscapes than to do it for fun?
    I wonder if his designs feature caves . . .

    Is today his birthday? I’m new to the whole Wil Weaton is a geek meme; it’s been going around a lot here in PDX lately. Maybe I’m not as big a geek as my wife and parents would have me believe.

    This comment was originally posted on http://theappslab.com/)”>Oracle AppsLab

  • http://theappslab.com/ Jake

    Nice one, makes Chris’ point about nerdy pursuits applied to real jobs. What better way to design meat space landscapes than to do it for fun?
    I wonder if his designs feature caves . . .

    Is today his birthday? I’m new to the whole Wil Weaton is a geek meme; it’s been going around a lot here in PDX lately. Maybe I’m not as big a geek as my wife and parents would have me believe.

    This comment was originally posted on Oracle AppsLab

  • http://oraclenerd.com/ chet

    There's a new Tron? WIN!

  • http://oraclenerd.com/ chet

    There’s a new Tron? WIN!

    This comment was originally posted on http://theappslab.com/)”>Oracle AppsLab

  • http://oraclenerd.com/ chet

    There’s a new Tron? WIN!

    This comment was originally posted on Oracle AppsLab

  • http://oraclenerd.com/ chet

    I proudly refer to myself as a nerd, by the definitions above (namely social abilities), I am not.

    I've re-claimed the word for nerds around the world!

    Dramatic? Yes.

    (no nerds or geeks were harmed during the posting of this comment)

  • http://oraclenerd.com/ chet

    I proudly refer to myself as a nerd, by the definitions above (namely social abilities), I am not.

    I’ve re-claimed the word for nerds around the world!

    Dramatic? Yes.

    (no nerds or geeks were harmed during the posting of this comment)

    This comment was originally posted on http://theappslab.com/)”>Oracle AppsLab

  • http://oraclenerd.com/ chet

    I proudly refer to myself as a nerd, by the definitions above (namely social abilities), I am not.

    I’ve re-claimed the word for nerds around the world!

    Dramatic? Yes.

    (no nerds or geeks were harmed during the posting of this comment)

    This comment was originally posted on Oracle AppsLab

  • http://theappslab.com Jake

    I think your nerd brethren would disagree.

  • http://theappslab.com/ Jake

    I think your nerd brethren would disagree.

    This comment was originally posted on http://theappslab.com/)”>Oracle AppsLab

  • http://theappslab.com/ Jake

    I think your nerd brethren would disagree.

    This comment was originally posted on Oracle AppsLab

  • http://www.matttopper.com topperge

    Sadly Chris and I have actually debated this for hours. We'll throw out a topic and debate its geek / nerdiness.

  • http://www.matttopper.com/ topperge

    Sadly Chris and I have actually debated this for hours. We’ll throw out a topic and debate its geek / nerdiness.

    This comment was originally posted on http://theappslab.com/)”>Oracle AppsLab

  • http://www.matttopper.com/ topperge

    Sadly Chris and I have actually debated this for hours. We’ll throw out a topic and debate its geek / nerdiness.

    This comment was originally posted on Oracle AppsLab

  • http://theappslab.com Jake

    It's a tough one to explain, but I think we've done a good job here. Anyway, maybe W3C can codify it or something for us.

  • http://theappslab.com/ Jake

    It’s a tough one to explain, but I think we’ve done a good job here. Anyway, maybe W3C can codify it or something for us.

    This comment was originally posted on http://theappslab.com/)”>Oracle AppsLab

  • http://theappslab.com/ Jake

    It’s a tough one to explain, but I think we’ve done a good job here. Anyway, maybe W3C can codify it or something for us.

    This comment was originally posted on Oracle AppsLab

  • joel garry

    Cubemate this morning bought in a dvd for someone who has never seen it. I remember ditching work with a consultant, and we went to this huge theater in Century City, sitting in the very center, since there was only us and apparently a few guys from TRW who were sitting way up front.

    Check out the marketing section of the tron legacy wikipedia entry.

  • joel garry

    Cubemate this morning bought in a dvd for someone who has never seen it. I remember ditching work with a consultant, and we went to this huge theater in Century City, sitting in the very center, since there was only us and apparently a few guys from TRW who were sitting way up front.

    Check out the marketing section of the tron legacy wikipedia entry.

    This comment was originally posted on http://theappslab.com/)”>Oracle AppsLab

  • joel garry

    Cubemate this morning bought in a dvd for someone who has never seen it. I remember ditching work with a consultant, and we went to this huge theater in Century City, sitting in the very center, since there was only us and apparently a few guys from TRW who were sitting way up front.

    Check out the marketing section of the tron legacy wikipedia entry.

    This comment was originally posted on Oracle AppsLab

  • http://theappslab.com Jake

    Should be awesome. Tron is underrated.

  • http://theappslab.com/ Jake

    Should be awesome. Tron is underrated.

    This comment was originally posted on http://theappslab.com/)”>Oracle AppsLab

  • http://theappslab.com/ Jake

    Should be awesome. Tron is underrated.

    This comment was originally posted on Oracle AppsLab

  • http://tardate.blogspot.com tardate

    Had this conversation with my better half too;-)
    We agreed to compromise on: geek = nerd + EQ

  • http://theappslab.com Jake

    EQ means etiquette?

  • http://tardate.blogspot.com tardate

    as in: Emotional intelligence Quotient

    so maybe geek = emo nerd;-)

  • http://theappslab.com Jake

    I like it.

  • http://twitter.com/oraclenerd oraclenerd

    I think it has been settled by this Venn Diagram.

  • http://theappslab.com Jake

    I saw that and thought of this very thread. Great minds . . .

← Older Comments