geek, nerd, dork hierarchy
How do you rank them?
In this month’s Wired is an interview with Patton Oswalt (more on Wikipedia) where he gives some real insight into the difference between a geek and a nerd:
A lot of nerds aren’t aware they’re nerds. A geek has thrown his hands up to the universe and gone, “I speak Klingon — who am I fooling? You win! I’m just gonna openly like what I like.” Geeks tend to be a little happier with themselves.
So the question for everyone is how do you rank geeks, nerds and dorks? My ranking looks like this:
- Geeks: They’re aware and comfortable with their nerdy tendencies.
- Nerds: Much less comfortable with their nerddom, but aware of it.
- Dorks: Deny their dorkiness.
Your turn.
Nerds are the melancholy, soulful geeks. The nerd backpack likely contains novels, not Magic The Gathering cards. As adults, many nerds are able to “pass” in the world, posing as normal people when needed. Geeks don’t do subtle.
Geeks: Buy the Harry Potter book, so what?
Nerds: Buy the book but slip a Ulysses cover on it so no one knows
Dorks: Dress up like the characters when they buy the book.