I'm not sure when society forgot the original meanings of these words, but they've been devolved into a synonymous equivalent for loser. These three terms are vastly different, and not necessary tied together. Allow me to explain;
Nerds are those that are naturally book smart, usually to an annoying degree. Nothing inherently 'uncool' about them.
Geeks are people fanatical about a certain subject; i.e. Star Wars, comic books, or the like. While typically viewed in a negative light, some forms of 'geekness' are socially acceptable. These accepted geeks normally have the approved qualifier attached to their title, such as a music geek, or movie geek.
Dorks are individuals with little or no social skills, and are closest to the aforementioned loser.
While anyone can be one, all, or any combination of these three, people are not mutually all or none. I, for one, am a nerd (as this post painfully demonstrates) and a geek, however I am not socially awkward, not a dork.
So next time you decide to call someone a geek, make sure you don't mean dork.
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I have to disagree with the part of your definition for Nerd. being book smart in high school automatically makes you uncool.
ReplyDeleteYou can disagree all you want, you're still wrong. A bookworm who's a teachers pet, is what you're thinking of, but a star quarterback that's also book smart is still cool. Knowledge isn't what's viewed as uncool, the overt displays of said knowledge is.
ReplyDelete