Monday, May 17, 2010

Discussion among Nerds

While I'm not old, I wouldn't consider myself a young Nerd. I'm 20, approaching 21, and I realise that the Nerds of today probably have different ideas of why they are Nerds. Likewise, Nerds from older generations will differ in views. As such, I have started this topic as an open discussion for anyone who considers themsleves a Nerd. I want to to why, to see if there is anything consistant between the generations that makes a Nerd.

I am aware that some people may be offended to be called a "Nerd". To these people, I say: "Either you don't belong here, or you are in denial." Being a Nerd is not a bad thing. From what I have gathered by talking to other Nerds, a Nerd is an unpopular person, who enjoys intelectual pursuits, and usually is good with numbers/money. They differ from other outcasts in that they are generally mathematically minded. Similar outcasts are the Geek (Sciences), or the Computer Whiz. These 3 groups are usually able to get along, for they can relate in several areas.

That is a basic description of a Nerd in my generation. I'll give a more detailed description later, as well as what I've found of Geeks, Goths, Emos, Computer Whiz's, Artsy types, and unspecified outcasts. But for now I open up the topic to Nerds, to give their 2c about current, and previous, generations of Nerds.

10 comments:

  1. Everybody has there own definition of a "nerd", I believe a nerd to be someone who is quite intellectual in a specific genre or multiple genres. "Nerds" are seen as being outcasts or "uncool". There are many different types of nerds, some for example, are gamer nerds or science nerds. I am not a complete "nerd" I don't think, but I dip my feet in a lot of different "nerdy pools", I love xbox, anime, DnD etc. So if that makes me a nerd, so be it :)

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  2. Everybody does have thier own definition of 'Nerd'. That is why I've started this discussion. What I assert is that science nerds and gamer nerds have different names (eg Geek). They are a sub-group of they Outcast clique, and have much in similar with each other, but are distinct from one another. From what I've seen, most Nerds dip into "nerdy pools", but I attribute this to being Outcasts. It is thier most prominent interests and interactions that define the subgroup they belong to.

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  3. Nerd - Someone that has interests outside of social popularity however still trys to be popular with "cool kids"

    Geek - Someone that has interests outside of social popularity, doesn't try to be popular with "cool' kids.

    Dweeb - a dumber type of Nerd

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  4. Interesting... Is that your assessment based on your own observations? And which generation is it about?

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  5. Based on ? hard to say that just what my brain poped/pooped out. LOL
    I would say this though it seems that 10-20yrs ago computer and tech. wasn't socially popular so hense computer geek/nerds were coined. but now that computers and tech are social popular the term nerd and geek don't apply. Nowadays and nerd or geek would be somone that is not "in" with a the computer/tech "seen"

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  6. True, although, as I briefly mentioned in my original post, the term Geek seems to refer more to someone who is good at the physical sciences, as opposed to the computer sciences.

    As a side note, I'm currently drawing up a social clique family tree, I'll upload it when I'm done, however, I'm still trying to decide which of the sub-clique's are more basic. Outcast clique: punk, Nerd (or perhaps geek), and beatnic? Something completly different?

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  7. I'd say that nerd and geek have diverged in my generation (15 y-o) to be that nerd is someone who is most definitely an outcast because of their interests in such areas as sci-fi, fantasy and RPGs, however geeks are those who are interested in any/all (maybe none but unlikely) of the above and are both good at and interested in Mathematics and Computer and/or natural science. Computer Whiz would be a part of many geeks, but on their own they would be the dedicated software engineers and AV techies of tomorrow/today, who aren't so good at much else.
    My heirarchy would be:
    Total geek
    | |
    CompWhiz Science geek


    Nerd
    And I'm a total geek, fitting in is overrated^^

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  8. So in your generation, Nerds are outcasts because of interests putside of school, and geeks are outcasts because of interests inside of school? Nerds are the less scholastic Geek?

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  9. Hmm... I responded here a little while ago, maybe it didn't get through.
    What I said was:
    You summed up that textwall perfectly^^

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  10. A nerd is someone obsessed with a specific area, that by the general consensus is lame or requires intellectual merit. Be it science, computers, gaming, the written word or television shows that have the main protagonists as intellectuals (ie NERDS such as all sci-fi shows).

    The more of these subjects I enumerated that the potential nerd enjoys, the more nerdlike the subject becomes.

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