Are you a geek, a nerd, or a neek?

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Are you a geek, a nerd, or a neek?

Postby IBBoard at 24 Jul 2006, 13:32

Firstly, I'll make sure I don't sound completely crazy (difficult, but it may be possible :D). I've just finished a BSc Computing Science with Industrial Experience at UMIST, and the Industrial Experience (one year in a real job as part of your degree) was BCS (British Computing Society) accredited, so I had to be a BCS member. That means I get a subscription of the ITNOW magazine.

Anyway, this month they had an article called "a new term for a new age?" suggesting alternatives for the more dergoatory 'nerd' and 'geek'.

Apparently Geeks are "An unfashionable or socially inept person. A knowledgeable or obsessive enthusiast: a computer geek", while Nerds are "A foolish or contemptible person who lacks social skills or is boringly studious". The author then added the new combination of a 'Neek', "an intelligent individualist attracted to technological issues. A person who is very knowledgeable with regard one or more particular subject(s), often to the detriment of other aspects of their life".

Now, out of all that I'm probably a Neek, formerly a Geek. I'm quite knowledgeable about GW, DoW modding and programming, but my fiancee does occasionally complain that I lack common sense or a real-world view :D

What about the rest of you? :)


Also, on a side note, I didn't realise that knurd (Pratchett's word for the complete opposite of drunkeness, not just sobriety, which is in the middle of the two) is a 'real' word and is just a reversing of the word "drunk" :D Random point, but it's in the article as a possible origin of Nerd.
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RE: Are you a geek, a nerd, or a neek?

Postby TGSC at 25 Jul 2006, 21:58

Just to point out that 'geek' is actually a term for people in freak shows/circuses of the C19th/20th who ate, among other things, live animals.

Thank you X-files.

And I'm a mix of all of them, although i don't lack the social skills. I have l337 sKiLz0rZ.
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RE: Are you a geek, a nerd, or a neek?

Postby IBBoard at 25 Jul 2006, 22:08

Yeah, apparently biting the heads off things - they mentioned that too :D
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RE: Are you a geek, a nerd, or a neek?

Postby Simguinus at 17 Aug 2006, 16:06

Unfashionable: check. If Big Brother is fashionable, then count me out amongst the terminally square. 8)

Socially inept: nope. Pretty good at talking to virtually anyone about most things. Not so hot on social tolerance.... :P

Boringly studious: don't think so. I was president of the Uni RockSoc for a year and DJ there for five; oh, and I was Prince of the City in the local Vampire LARP for 18 months, so my studies were on the back-burner a lot of the time. :)

Interested in technological issues: I think it's cool that the US Military are funding research into real-life plasma guns. Does that count?

Apparently 'nerd' first appeared in a Dr. Seuss book. It was a grumpy humanoid, clad in black t-shirt (how ironic) with an unkempt mop of hair and a sort-pf-psychedelic headband (The American Heritage Dictionary). Equally possible is that it derives from the Northern Electric R&D Labs (N.E.R.D Labs) in Ottawa, circa 1959.

According to the Jargon File(http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/index.html) any etymological attempt to connect Nerd with Pratchett's knurd, which is indeed 'drunk' spelt backwards. I think Pratchett himself is on record as stating this, and it's certainly the explanation given in the UU Quiz Book.

Brewers has nothing to say about either, although I concur with the 'geek' definition as a carnival freak who would eat live animals and bite the heads off them - rodents for the formar and chickens for the latter, most commonly.

'knurd' does not appear in the Oxford Dictionary, nor the Chambers Dictionary of American English. The only defintion I could track down comes from the Jargon File, which states it was slang at a educational institution for a "wet-behind-the-ears freshman".

My geek fu is superior. :D
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