Dylan Meconis ([info]quirkybird) wrote,
2008-05-05 14:17:00

Nerd Taxonomy



I've been delivering a verbal version of this taxonomy for years now to the uninitiated. Technically, as long as you are passionately into something, you can correctly call yourself a "_______ Nerd"; but, when decontextualized from the safe haven of a prefix like "mountain biking" or "hi-fi equipment", we are left with the question: what is a NERD's nerd? How does that differ from being a GEEK? And what precisely is a DORK, although we all know it's bad?

Here are some of my basic posited elements of the three Houses of Nerd, in cartoon form. (Click to see the image at medium size, click again to see at full.)

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[info]kiplet

May 5 2008, 21:29:07 UTC 4 years ago

What is this, a game of do-marry-kill?

[info]quirkybird

May 5 2008, 21:34:41 UTC 4 years ago

Only if you're a geek.

[info]kiplet

4 years ago

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[info]arcana_j

May 5 2008, 21:31:57 UTC 4 years ago

What? No furries?

[info]quirkybird

May 5 2008, 21:33:36 UTC 4 years ago

That would fall into a far wing of the dork category.

[info]arcana_j

4 years ago

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[info]varro

4 years ago

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[info]mildmannered

May 5 2008, 21:38:22 UTC 4 years ago

Geek = someone interested in something cerebral solely for its own sake.

That last one should be n. trogloditus I believe.

[info]quirkybird

May 5 2008, 21:41:42 UTC 4 years ago

Indeed! I tell people "a geek is somebody who probably seriously thought about majoring in Classics or Medieval Studies at some point."

[info]quirkybird

4 years ago

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[info]huah

4 years ago

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[info]literateur

4 years ago

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[info]fairest1

4 years ago

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[info]lennan

4 years ago

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[info]joedecie

May 5 2008, 21:42:00 UTC 4 years ago

I'm somewhere between geek and dork on your chart. So maybe I'm a gerk?

[info]quirkybird

May 5 2008, 21:45:56 UTC 4 years ago

Well, a dork is really a nerd or a geek without any serious intellectual drive, just a hunger for the lowest common denominators of alternative pop culture.

Also, if you THINK that your social skills are poor, that means you're self-aware, which actually nudges you closer to the high-functioning geek category.

[info]joedecie

4 years ago

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[info]quirkybird

4 years ago

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[info]joedecie

4 years ago

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[info]quirkybird

4 years ago

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[info]joedecie

4 years ago

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[info]ringthebells

May 5 2008, 21:43:44 UTC 4 years ago

Awww. The poor dork!

(I think I'm pretty much halfway between your nerd and your geek. Woo, Firefly! Woo, triple integral!)

[info]quirkybird

May 5 2008, 21:48:16 UTC 4 years ago

Do not feel sorry for the dork! He's the guy wearing the t-shirt that says something sexist and dumb in Japanese who hits on you on the Comicon escalator. Shudder!

[info]rstevens

May 5 2008, 21:44:23 UTC 4 years ago

This has the potential for expansion and to become a power-meme. Would blog again.

[info]quirkybird

May 5 2008, 21:46:41 UTC 4 years ago

Oh god, Rich, please don't make me draw a furry...please...

[info]rstevens

4 years ago

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[info]notrafficlights

May 5 2008, 21:50:01 UTC 4 years ago

Haha that is awesome.

Now I want to see a pie-chart dividing up the each different con into attendence percentages by each group.

[info]quirkybird

May 5 2008, 22:01:49 UTC 4 years ago

[info]notrafficlights

4 years ago

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[info]waterotter

May 5 2008, 22:07:34 UTC 4 years ago

Hee. That's adorable.

Usually, the taxonomy I use is that a Geek knows far more about topic X than the average person. A Nerd knows far more about topic X than he does anything else. A scifi geek can explain to you the difference between Star Wars and Firefly. A scifi nerd will tell you about Star Trek continuity errors at your wedding.

But a Dork is a Dork the world around.

[info]quirkybird

May 5 2008, 22:11:46 UTC 4 years ago

I find that to be a very apt take!

[info]waterotter

4 years ago

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[info]b_zedan

4 years ago

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[info]pooryorick

May 5 2008, 22:13:32 UTC 4 years ago

Oh man, thank you. I have been trying to describe this to people for ages. A handy visual aid is excellent!

p.s. Do you think that more geeks are female than male, and more nerds are male than female? (I find it often seems that way.) This would make an interesting anthropological study... although I'm sure someone has already done it.

[info]quirkybird

May 5 2008, 22:23:33 UTC 4 years ago

Hm - I'd say that geeks are almost gender-equitable with a lead to the ladies if you count all of anime fandom, but there is some distinct gender dichotomy in the geek population. That up there is the female in full mating plumage.

[info]chris_walsh

4 years ago

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[info]pooryorick

4 years ago

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[info]quirkybird

4 years ago

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[info]varro

4 years ago

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[info]_w_o_o_d_

4 years ago

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[info]hit_the_leland

May 5 2008, 22:14:19 UTC 4 years ago

"MEDIC!"

"un-ironic interpretation of Starship Troopers"

Wow. That describes the entire back row of my high school physics class.

[info]quirkybird

May 5 2008, 22:17:58 UTC 4 years ago

Re: "MEDIC!"

anybody who doesn't realize that movie is a black comedy probably isn't very interesting. Anybody who doesn't realize that movie is a black comedy and still likes it is an asshole.

And anybody who realizes it's a black comedy, likes it, and can point to the direct production connection to Battlestar Galactica is MY KIND OF PEOPLE.

[info]cassiopaya

4 years ago

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[info]quirkybird

4 years ago

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[info]_w_o_o_d_

4 years ago

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[info]chris_walsh

4 years ago

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[info]lennan

May 5 2008, 22:15:47 UTC 4 years ago

My first thought was this is rather cruel yet very accurate. Not because of the geeks and nerds, but because of the dorks. But this may simply be my inner want-to-be-a-nice-person-and give-everyone-the-benefit-of-the-doubt or completely-and-stupefyingly-naive side of me speaking.

[info]quirkybird

May 5 2008, 22:20:21 UTC 4 years ago

A true dork is not a nice-but-mentally challenged person; they tend to be ignorant creeps and bullies. They're the ones who ruin it for the nerds and geeks.

[info]conga_chili

4 years ago

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[info]quirkybird

4 years ago

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[info]lennan

4 years ago

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[info]shamzmam

May 5 2008, 22:30:04 UTC 4 years ago

The words are not interchangeable.

Yes! Exactly! Thank you!

[info]monstro_draw

May 5 2008, 22:30:37 UTC 4 years ago

I'm a big fan of Doofs and Goofs.

Dylan, can I be a doof?

[info]quirkybird

May 5 2008, 22:39:38 UTC 4 years ago

Re: I'm a big fan of Doofs and Goofs.

Ah yes, the most huggable sub-category of geek!

[info]monstro_draw

4 years ago

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[info]quirkybird

4 years ago

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[info]semy_of_pearls

May 5 2008, 22:56:06 UTC 4 years ago

BRILLIANT!!!

[info]bobulus

May 5 2008, 23:06:25 UTC 4 years ago

Ah, but...

...what about the Dweeb?

[info]quirkybird

May 5 2008, 23:18:44 UTC 4 years ago

Re: Ah, but...

Dweeb is thus far an unscientific classification - for example, Steve Buscemi's character in Ghost World is what I'd call a dweeb.

[info]happynotafish

May 5 2008, 23:24:52 UTC 4 years ago

FTW!

The geek looks like everyone who's ever attended my school, including the guys.

I really don't need to say that I go to art college, do I?

[info]quirkybird

May 5 2008, 23:26:06 UTC 4 years ago

Re: FTW!

no. no, you don't.

[info]persephone_blue

May 6 2008, 00:39:07 UTC 4 years ago

Snape is most definitely a Byronic hero, even if his hair is supposed to be all greasy. And I want that shirt. Because it's TRUE.

Oh, and you're wonderful, by the way.

[info]quirkybird

May 6 2008, 00:47:16 UTC 4 years ago

Well, I stole the caption on that shirt from this actual awesome shirt.

[info]2ce

4 years ago

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[info]djkim

May 6 2008, 02:13:55 UTC 4 years ago

Taxonomy!

[info]agent57

May 6 2008, 02:15:13 UTC 4 years ago

I hope this makes me a geek, but sadly I probably fall into the dork category.

*creeps people out on the bus*

[info]sytharin

May 6 2008, 02:24:24 UTC 4 years ago

Ah, nomenclature

Now, see, I appreciate this classification scheme generally, but the local usage tends to be much kinder to the dorks, to the extent that I generally categorize myself as something of a dork/geek hybrid. Perhaps it's because I just don't include your dork in the "true nerds" family; my preferred characterization of a dork is one who transgresses (mostly) consciously (but not maliciously) against social norms as they please. As in "that really dorky dancing guy," meaning not the creepy one getting way too close to your bosoms but the one with the bowling shoes and his eyes half-closed who's really, really into it. One may argue he's not conscious of his dorkitude, but that's taxonomy for you.

[info]quirkybird

May 6 2008, 05:38:19 UTC 4 years ago

Re: Ah, nomenclature

oh sure, "dork" can be applied as a kind of fond derogatory term. It's kind of like calling a friend "psycho".

[info]_w_o_o_d_

4 years ago

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[info]dryponder

May 6 2008, 02:41:56 UTC 4 years ago

excellent guide! :D

[info]nevikmoore

May 6 2008, 03:39:38 UTC 4 years ago

I appreciate the public librarian shout-out.

Alas, I am manga-ignorant.

[info]vogelein

May 6 2008, 03:45:39 UTC 4 years ago

Yay!

Excellent visual aid! I was trying to explain this very taxonomy to my mom last night.

[info]ndgmtlcd

May 6 2008, 04:05:09 UTC 4 years ago

D’accord, j’ai compris. Le nerd c’est le matheux qui est un accro aux nouvelles technologies, le geek (ou la geekette) c’est un intellectuel Parisien décalé, et le dork c’est un nolife total.

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nolife

[info]_w_o_o_d_

May 6 2008, 06:13:23 UTC 4 years ago

Nan, le nerd peut aussi être un nolife, en fait. Je ne crois pas qu'on ait la terminologie correspondante en français. Je rencontre de plus en plus le mot "geek" en français, d'ailleurs.

[info]quirkybird

4 years ago

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[info]_w_o_o_d_

4 years ago

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[info]ndgmtlcd

4 years ago

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