wired.com — It's been suggested that we ban the words 'Nerd' and 'Geek' from the lexicon to combat the negative stereotypes that go with them so they can thrive easier. But there will always be nerds and geeks, no matter what we call them.
Dec 22, 2009 View in Crawl 4
jessechristmanDec 23, 2009
I consider myself a nerd all the time, granted to don't like leaving my apartment but I'm not socially inept. Just the other day I had people over to drink beer and watch football. Words like geek and nerd only have the power we give them, if you chose to feel bad about their meaning then go out and get some friends you f**king nerd!
stevethegreatDec 23, 2009
Intelligence is highly specialized. It's genetic as it's -also- amenable to environmental factors. Not everyone can be smart, but almost no-one is smart to everything. Do not disregard society as something "that people do" it's one of the most complex systems in the known universe, almost paralleling (in its complexity) human psychology. I have worked for some time with intelligence from an algorithmic standpoint and I can say that no single number or rank can describe intelligence. Intelligence is a type of adaptability and for every complex system there ought to be a *different* kind of intelligence. Thus if you're math smart you don't have to be socially smart because simply those two systems work very differently and they're amenable to different solutions. It's very simplistic to say that there's one kind of intelligence, on what authority are you saying that? I wonder.
octowussyDec 23, 2009
Way to make yourselves look and sound like a legitimately persecuted minority, you diaper babies.
Closed AccountDec 23, 2009
That makes sense. Nothing is set in stone, that was just the way I see it. If more people are identifying with being a nerd that's one thing, but suddenly you have people who, last year, were proud to be geeks (Alex Albrecht for instance) who are suddenly nerds instead. In my mind you can't be a geek and a nerd OR a geek then a nerd.
travelsonicDec 23, 2009
dork
scotne1Dec 23, 2009
The word Geek has changed a lot over the last 25 years that I remember, it isn't so bad now, sometimes not even bad at all, but it used to be a very bad name. But also computers have become very mainstream and only Geeks and Nerds had them way back when.It is stupid and hopeless to try and ban a name.
hantuduppyDec 23, 2009
New words and phrases are being created from these words."I'm totally geeked about that." = Excited anticipation of joy."That's really nerdy." = The technical details of this topic are beyond my faculties.As disdain for the nerds who have ushered in the information age wains, awe and admiration are starting to creep in. Technology is curing the sick, healing the blind, creating life and bringing us to the stars. Social ineptitude or not, we are gods among men.From the Dictionary: Nerd = one slavishly devoted to intellectual or academic pursuitsGeek = an enthusiast or expert especially in a technological field or activity
styvoDec 23, 2009
Woah Steve, watch the Nerd rage!;)
travelsonicDec 23, 2009
"I bet 90% of Diggers don't even know how to use a soldering iron."Relevance?
netzdamonDec 25, 2009
It was a jewjewbee