The Dilemma: You’re proud to be all three of these supposed insults! But you’re wondering if one captures your brilliant essence better than the others.
People You Can Impress:Well, not cool kids, certainly. Face it—we’re never going to impress those jerks.
The Quick Trick: Etymologically, geek probably equals carny, nerd probably equals Seussian animal, and dork probably equals what you might have called President Nixon if you were his close friend.
The Explanation:
All three of these words are now used interchangeably to refer to someone who is undesirable due to a paucity of social skills and an excess of braininess. Fortunately, former middle-school punching bags have co-opted all three words, turning them from insults into badges of honor. But while the words have come to overlap in meaning, their etymologies couldn’t be more different. So for all those of us who’ve suffered such verbal barbs—and what proud mental_floss reader hasn’t?—here’s what they were really saying about you.
GEEK
Etymological Theory 1: Sometime in the early 19th century, the Scottish word geck, meaning “fool,” changed to geek and began being used to describe a certain kind of carnival performer. Geeks specialized in eating live animals, including biting the heads off live chickens.
Theory 2: Real etymology geeks trace the word geck all the way back to Shakespeare—see, for instance, “the most notorious geck” in Act V of Twelfth Night—and claim that we have the first great literature geek to blame for the word.
NERD
Theory 1: The first known appearance of the word is in Dr. Seuss’s 1950 If I Ran the Zoo, in which a character wants to collect “A Nerkle a Nerd and a Seersucker, too!” The theory goes that kids liked the ring of the word so much, they started using it derogatorily.
Theory 2: Some at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute claim that they coined the word knurd in the ’50s to describe kids who studied all the time (knurd being drunk spelled backward).
DORK
This time, there’s only one theory: The word dork originally meant “penis.” (Specifically, human penis.) Popularized in the ’60s, dork was probably derived from dirk, a penile name that was widely used until the short version of Richard became ubiquitous.
Old School Nerds
Before the words nerd and dork existed, there were still nerds and dorks. According to Dewdroppers, Waldos, and Slackers, a guide to 20th-century American slang, all these words have been used to describe the unpopular, undesirable, and generally square: wind sucker, dewdropper, Joe Zilch, dudd, pantywaist, oil can, stinkeroo, mullet, nose-bleed, roach, schnookle, kook, dimp, dorf, mince, squid, auger, and waldo.
This post was excerpted from the mental_floss book What’s the Difference? For more columns like this, click here.
Comments (19)
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Growing up (in the 90′s, midwest) we broke it down like this:
Nerd implied kids who were smart and overly interested in academic pursuits (even if they dressed well and were semi-popular).
Geek did not imply intellegence but usally someone who was obsessed with a pop culture theme enough to base a significant portion of their life around it (Star Wars, sports statistics, etc)
Dork had the least conneciton to braininess, but referred to someone who displayed exceptional lack of fashion sense, clumsiness, weirdness or awkwardness.
So, one could be all three but being in one category did not imply that you belonged to either of the others.
posted by Andrew on 9-4-2008 at 8:50 am
Andrew:
I don’t know if it’s regional difference, but growing up in Texas I had nerd and geek switched from your definitions. Nerds were the pop culture-obsessed ones, while geeks were more intelligent. Dorks are the same for me as for you.
So, I would describe myself as a nerd, but of the book variety as opposed to pop culture; I’m both intelligent and sci-fi obsessed. My friend is a self-proclaimed computer geek–extremely intelligent with a focus on computers.
posted by nutmeag on 9-4-2008 at 9:39 am
The way we broke it down was that nerds were people who were in denial of who they really were. They wanted to be norms. Geeks were us fortunate souls who unabashedly embraced our difference and superiority to those poor norms.
posted by Jason! on 9-4-2008 at 9:55 am
I grew up in the Northeast and my definitions jive with Andrew’s and I have been called all 3. I have had my geeky phases, but I’d describe myself mostly as a nerd with dorky tendencies.
posted by Jen on 9-4-2008 at 10:00 am
Adding further confusion is that episode of Happy Days where Joanie had a crush on Potsie. She called him “Drin”, which she explained was “nird” backwards. So I guess the writers didn’t even know how to spell it.
posted by Johnny Cat on 9-4-2008 at 10:21 am
Reminds me of a sketch I drew out in college. I called it the “Pyramid of Geekdom” where I had all of the various names in a hierarchy.
Spaz->Dork->Nerd->Geek
The people who know me agreed to the various definitions I gave and proclaimed that I, was indeed, a geek! That was a fun day.
posted by Allen on 9-4-2008 at 10:51 am
So I am still confused…except for the ‘dork’ (thanks to the comments).
posted by septer on 9-4-2008 at 10:58 am
I agree with Andrew’s definitions. “Nerd” signifies intelligence. “Geek” signifies an obsession with a certain hobby/pop culture theme such as video-gaming, comic books, sci-fi, fantasy, etc. A “Dork” is clumsy and awkward (socially and physically).
posted by Aaron on 9-4-2008 at 11:55 am
Hm, by those definitions I’m a geek and a nerd, but not a dork. I hereby proclaim myself a nerk.
[Captcha: Hendrik Film?]
posted by Aemi on 9-4-2008 at 12:41 pm
Ahh…terms of endearment, indeed.
posted by christie on 9-4-2008 at 1:23 pm
I’ve been working off Andrew’s definition…but never been very picky about the distinctions between nerd and geek. Dork is something else entirely…that’s the very awkward one.
My husband, however, is very picky about the distinction and swears that he is not a gaming nerd, but a gaming geek.
posted by Fruppi on 9-4-2008 at 2:17 pm
Up here (Western Canada) nerds were the pop culture obsessed ones while a geek was someone who was specifically into computers. The terms evolved over the years and they have amalgamated into basically one meaning now.
Dork has retained its original meaning, being the socially awkward one, much like a goof (interesting side note, I don’t know if this is a regional thing but calling someone a “goof†in the prisons here is the worst, most derogatory thing you could call someone. I have no idea why).
Squid was a very popular put down when I was growing up.
posted by Cardinal_Fang on 9-4-2008 at 3:02 pm
I had a debate about two weeks ago with a friend of mine about this. I kept on calling him a dork, and he kept on countering that he wasn’t a penis. He even made me look up the definitions of all three. (Just to let you know, a Mac’s built in dictionary has the derivatives mentioned in the article. It seems, however, they also define nerds as also being socially inept.)
posted by NicoNico on 9-4-2008 at 4:08 pm
Who are you kidding? The “cool kids” VS. “nerds-dorks-geeks” trope hasn’t been relevant for years. Nerd, dork, or geek are just names people proudly give to themselves to imply some sort of intellectual cache. Nerds ARE the cool kids now. It’s tiring.
posted by Amanda H. on 9-4-2008 at 4:25 pm
So where does a neo-maxi-zoom-dweebie fit?
(I was actually an athlete. Sorry.)
posted by Pete on 9-4-2008 at 7:58 pm
Andrew: you managed to nail the definitions on the head.
@ Amanda H: I couldnt agree with you more.
posted by GTT on 10-27-2008 at 9:35 am
More props for Andrew – definitely spot on.
posted by Jamey on 3-18-2009 at 1:59 pm
Nerds are not the cool kids now. GEEKS are the cool kids now, because in addition to being smart, they were also typically into technology. When technology took off, so did the poplularity of geeks. They were also always just a bit more socially apt then the other two categories. Nerds and dorks are still uncool.
Here’s how I break it down (pretty close to Andrew, but I would switch geeks and nerds). I get this from my friends and I who are all either geeks, nerds, or dorks and will be insulted if you call us the wrong one. :)
Geeks: very smart, often into technology, have their own sense of style~which is not cool by the poplular kid’s definitions, but they do know how to dress. Often wear glasses as well(and pull them off quite nicely). have quirky, offbeat personalities, but they do have personalities, and do have the ability to communicate and socialize with others who are not geeks (even if they often choose not to).
*Note: this might be a little biased, seeing as I do have a bit of a thing for geeks.*
Nerds: this is the next category down. also smart, but usually the most apt in areas of their own interest and don’t care to waste their time sharing their insights with the rest of us who don’t spend our every waking hour alone in our rooms studying it. also often wear glasses but do not pull them off the way geeks do. do not have fashion sense or social ability.
Dorks: the bottom of this totem pole. they are not even smart. they are stupid, clumsy, no fashion sense, very little social ability, and often smell bad/do not have good personal hygiene.
*Side note: a person from any of the above three categories may be overly into Star Wars, Star Trek, Sci-Fi, Video Games, D&D or whatever, but it doesn’t specifically peg them into one of the categories. These are things that geeks, nerds, and dorks potentially could all enjoy (although dorks may have a hard time understanding).
posted by Renee on 11-28-2009 at 11:06 am
In order of descending coolness:
Smart? Techie? Obsessive?
Geek Yes Yes Yes
Nerd Yes Either Yes Science
Dork No Either/No Either/pop
Social skills:
Geek Yes
Nerd No
Dork No
posted by Phoebe on 3-12-2010 at 2:01 pm