I have been pondering a question for some weeks now. It goes to the core of my being. It is difficult to go on with my life without knowing the answer. Am I a nerd or a geek?
Yes, I am probably both, but knowing which is dominate is very important. This issue has many social implications, especially in social situations involving people who are neither geek nor nerd. Knowing which I am may allow me to better battle those nerd/geek tendencies, when in the company of people who still look upon nerds and geeks with disdain.
You know *those* people. They were the ones in high school at the top of the social strata. I had the no hope of cracking that strata. Even though I was in sports (OK, sport), I wasn't considered a jock; I was a nerd or a geek or whatever. Even when I set one of the freaks hair on fire (and they didn't know it was an accident), I was in the spotlight for only a nanosecond (Note 1, below). And in college, those same high strata loving people who no longer paid attention to sports didn't care that I was in multiple sports. They would just say "Oh, I didn't know we have a tiddlywinks team."
So, I looked into the etymology of these words. I found little agreement of the source of nerd. Many web pages seem sure of their own ideas, while this page http://eldacur.com/~brons/NerdCorner/nerd.html gives a good view into this major controversy. It is pointed out that many believe "nerd" came from "knurd", which spelled backwards is drunk. It seems knurd was used at MIT (the school, not MacinTech) to mock those students who preferred studying to drinking. But, its origins seem to go back to the 1960s, while other sources appear to be older. This same web page provides another explanation. The Dr. Seuss book "If I Ran The Zoo", published in 1950 mentions nerds as one of the creatures Gerald McGrew would bring back from the land of Ka-Troo, if he ran the zoo. Well, I would too, if I were Gerald McGrew, but how does the name of this fanciful animal apply to me or you?
This is unclear, and my own question of apportionment remains unanswered. But, words in common use rarely have a single source, and that source probably doesn't affect the question at hand. We do know that Newsweek defined nerd as a drip or square in 1951. And, geek was the word describing a circus sideshow freak. Neither word is much of a compliment.
So, we must concentrate on the nuances of these words as they are used in the vernacular. So, what are they? Well ... Most people seem to use nerd to refer to people who are out of it, squares, drips, those who are unaware of social conventions. Just as in 1951. And, the word is often used when referring to people of all sorts of backgrounds, not necessarily just to those involved in technological pursuits.
On the other hand, geek seems to be most used when referring to people who understand technology. It is used by those people from high school not in my social group who now need my help, as in "Mr Geek, please come and help me, because I am at the mercy of this technology which I must use to live. And, I will forever in your debt if you can help me, because I know nothing about this stuff, which I disdain. I fully realize and acknowledge that you and your friends could take over the planet any time you wish."
So, I decided that I am a geek. Today I was on Twitter, and John Hodgman mentioned a video of his own speech at the 2009 Radio and TV Correspondents' Dinner with the President in attendance. You know John "I'm a PC" Hodgman from the Apple TV ads. Watch his speech on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yW7OPByRGDY.
John's speech was all about nerds and geeks, and we now know conclusively that the President is a nerd and a geek. But, I am again confused about myself. Thanks John.
So, I decided that I must forget all of these labels and remain true to myself. I'm a nerkle, now and forever.
Rick
Note 1. Phil Hoffman apparently says our village was too conservative to have freaks. Not true, at least in the decade prior to his. They just couldn't seem to keep their hair. So, maybe they just weren't the best freaks, but they tried hard!.
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