The Geek or The Nerd

The other day, my wife and I were making the stair-laden walk to out local dog run with puppy in tow.  It was early… well, early if you’re a grappler or a night shift nurse, so lets say around 9:30.  We were already sipping our coffees from our Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts travel mugs.  Mind you we had store bought coffee in the fancy mugs, but who’s paying attention?  If you’ve never had the opportunity to spend a couple hours of your late morning at a dog run, let me tell you, we are a unique group of individuals that sit around dirty picnic tables under shady trees in heat, snow, rain, or fair weather.  We are those who have chosen mostly non-traditional means of employment.  We have the obligatory office supply manager, the restaurant workers, the retired nurse, and stay at home moms/dads.  But then there are the professional comedians (that’s right plural), the night shifters, the union IATSI staging guy, the musician, the animal rescue worker, and the comic editor.  As different as we all are, Tammy and I have discovered an underlying current among our friends, we are geeks and nerds through and through.

At one time, the term “geek” or “nerd” carried a heavy stigma and burden.  It brought to mind the thick glasses-wearing, chubby cheeked, freckled individual playing Magic: the Gathering over their lunch break at school.  Or perhaps it was the supremely un-athletically gifted one, whose pants were always too high.  Needless to say, the opposite gender was right out.  So we were the cloistered individuals painting miniature replicas for our role-playing adventures that were held in campers in the backyard of our friends houses, while downing copious amounts of Mountain Dew and Cheese puffs.  I’m seeing a theme here among the writers for this blog…

Anywho, so we were climbing the 154 steps to the top of Ft. Tryon park to reach the Sir Williams Dog Run and our collective group of non-traditionalists when Tammy and I fell to discussing the finer points of Geeks and Nerds.  They are commonly confused terms that hold a very real difference. So, lets dive right in and find out where we and our dog run friends fall…

According to our generations “Webster,” Dictionary.com, our two culprits are defined as follows:
geek Slang –noun
1. a computer expert or enthusiast (a term of pride as self-reference, but often considered offensive when used by outsiders.)
2. a peculiar or otherwise dislikable person, esp. one who is perceived to be overly intellectual.
3. a carnival performer who performs sensationally morbid or disgusting acts, as biting off the head of a live chicken.
nerd [nurd] Slang –noun
1. a stupid, irritating, ineffectual, or unattractive person.
2. an intelligent but single-minded person obsessed with a nonsocial hobby or pursuit: a computer nerd.
So right off the bat, according to the ever-correct World Wide Web (also known as the “internet,” or “that thing you check your email on” for those non-geek/nerds out there), my wife and I clearly misunderstood the meaning of these words. For that matter, we had the meanings switched. Now lets see where I fit…

Geek – ok I’ll take number 1, while not an expert I do consider myself an Apple enthusiast and I find out about just enough to make myself sound smart to the uninitiated.  I can’t say that anyone has ever told me I was overly intellectual, though quite a few people have told me I can be less than pleasant.  That’s a shame, cause really I’m a nice guy, even if I did just choke you unconscious.  So yeah, that classifies me as number 2 as well I suppose. Now I can’t say I’ve ever bitten the head off of a living animal but I know someone who did.  His name is Ozzy Ozbourne, and I wouldn’t dream of calling him a geek to his face.  So no polyhedron dice on number 3.  So 2 out of 3, guess that makes me pretty geeky. Next!

Nerd – Well judging as I qualify for number 2 under geek, I suppose that means I fall more or less under the first nerd criteria. I resent the thought that I’m unattractive. I mean, have you seen my beard during No Shave November?  What’s not to like about the neck chinchilla?  The little birds like to call it home.  I don’t get it.  Anyway, as all you faithful readers clearly know from my first post, I absolutely fall under number 2.  As seen below:

Even little men need trucks to get around...or tanks.

So where does that leave us? Well for me I am clearly one of the dual wielding Geek/Nerds.  Now, the important thing here is to consider what this means to our culture.  I’m 29, somewhat athletic now, not that I always was, a musician, a fighter, a writer, a husband (so I must have a little game), and I have a pretty large social circle.  This leads me to one of two conclusions, either 1) Geek/Nerd draws other Geek/Nerd and everyone in my circle are one or the other and I’m simply not aware of it, or 2) we Geek/Nerd types are getting a bit cooler and our culture has earned legitimacy with the “others” from our writing and selling and hacking the games, phones, technology, entertainment that they are using.

So I’ve noticed, as my IATSI stage crew union friend louded me out at the dog run the other day for just “throwing my geekness” out there when I brought up D&D, we have come to a place of acceptance.  Of course this was right before we dove into an in depth discussion of the finer points of DPS with the rogue in Dragon Age.  See, we’re all Geek/Nerds at heart.  Now we can just be more open and social about it.  Yay!! So do yourself a favor and go hug a Geek/Nerd today, or if you’re already one, find an “Other” to hug. Just put deodorant on first…