Fran's Blog

I’m going to say it now, very clearly, I am a geek, I’m actually proud to have this title bestowed upon me, I’m out, I sat my parents down, and i said “mum, dad, i am geek”, they hurt at first, but now they have come to accept that sometimes I will bring a new tech item home for them to meet.

But anyway, joking aside, I have never really thought of myself as a nerd. I haven’t ever known why, it’s hardly cooler or less cool than being a geek, it just feels different. So, on reading about a new book by David Anderegg called Nerds, I decided to look at the differences between definitions and I found this here site defining the two, it all suddenly became clear. For anyone who doesn’t want to click the link, here are the definitions:

Geek:
A person who has chosen concentration rather than conformity; one who pursues skill (especially technical skill) and imagination, not mainstream social acceptance. Geeks usually have a strong case of neophilia. Most geeks are adept with computers and treat hacker as a term of respect, but not all are hackers themselves – and some who are in fact hackers normally call themselves geeks anyway, because they (quite properly) regard `hacker’ as a label that should be bestowed by others rather than self-assumed.

Nerd:
Pejorative applied to anyone with an above-average IQ and few gifts at small talk and ordinary social rituals.

Fantastic, it’s so clear now.