What Kind of Nerd Are You?

[Nanor]

Oh don't look so offended! You're sitting at a table with a ridiculous amount of electronics in your boxers and dressing gown drinking liquid caffeine hooked up to an IV of sugar. Of course you're a nerd!

For clarifications sake I'm using nerd in the most generalised way ever. You like games/anime/World of Warcraft/Trackmania/Lolcats far too much and staying up all night and most of the early morn pwning noobs seems like a pretty sweet night to you.

Now, this is what you're like in your own home, by yourself. But what about when you go out to the real world? Do you wear I love Linux T-Shirts or do you shun your Nerd Side? Are you an Extrovert Nerd or a Closet Nerd?

I'm a closet nerd. I live a double life. In my house I am Nanor! Eater of babies, pwner of noobs and annoyer of BiG D. But outside I'm Rony. Normal, awesome hair and the only technological conversation I really have is about games.

That's not to say, of course, that I act completely dumb about these things. People know I'm relatively good with computers, but not to the extent. If people knew I'd played some 900 hours of WoW well I'd probably die and go very far to protect that secret but if people ask me how they go about using torrents well I'll tell them how.

What about you guys?

 

[thatbloke]

Apparently my lack of willingness to wear pink shirts or t-shirts is holding me back.

But yes, I'm a Nerd, I'm proud to be a Nerd, and if anyone doesn't like that fact then they can f**k off.

 

[Ronin Storm]

Do I get points for saying that I'm not a nerd, I'm a geek...? Hell, I'm even paid to be a customer-friendly geek, basically.

 

[waterproofbob]

I've put extrovert nerd as I fix computers for a living and thoroughly enjoy doing that. But at the same time I like to avoid talking about this sort of stuff with my mates who don't game and aren't nerdy. I kinda a bit like Nanor live a bit of a double life. I also try to avoid talking about gaming and computing stuff all the time, this has become harder since it turns out most of the ppl at work all play xbox and have decided I'm a bit of a CoD demon. I don't really care what ppl think of me but at the same time I don't really go out of my way to be nerdy outside of circles of friends that are also nerds.

 

[Macca]

Most of my friends don't really game so I tend not to talk about nerdy things. probably class myself as in the closet... although I don't really play that many games anymore, I'm not the fine young nerd I once was. In saying that I've recently started to watch all the series of Star Trek Next Generation, I am a regular "The Big Bang Theory" watcher and laugh insatiably at all the physics jokes so maybe not .

 

[Huung]

Im an introvert person, but an extrovert nerd

Pretty much 95% of my t-shirts are game/nerdy things related, as are all my hoodies. Being on a Games Computing course means that most of my friends are nerds though, and those that arent accept and love me for the nerdiness

Im not socially inept however, and I do keep my nerdism under control when around "normal" people. For example, I wouldnt go ranting on about tech to someone that not only has no clue what Im talking about, but also cares as much about tech as I do about shoes or fashion.

To sum up the nerdiness, Im actually under the name "1337" in a few people's phonebooks (after the hoodie I have bearing said slogan) and my power button hoodie has become my trademark item of clothing which alot of my non nerdy friends identify me by.

 

[Bradstreet]

Oh don't look so offended! You're sitting at a table with a ridiculous amount of electronics

No

in your boxers

Definitely no

and dressing gown

Okay, maybe

drinking liquid caffeine hooked up to an IV of sugar

Does tea count? No sugar.

Of course you're a nerd!

Perhaps I'm not a nerd But I definitely keep any learned nerdy behaviour (damn you Shiftee and Haven) quiet in public.

 

[SgtFury]

I def prefer the term Geek to Nerd, I even have a t-shirt that has it in MASH stylee . As you get older you tend to worry less about what others think and just carry on anyway .

So I'm probably an extrovert geek. (Cmon I wear T-shirts with Marvel comics on it )

 

[Zooggy]

Ahey,

Yea, Nannums, that's not a nerd, that's a geek. My best simple definition of geek is "someone with special interests". And I'm using special as in special powers, not special education.

Yes, I am a geek. My wife's blog is called Geek By Proxy, for Pete's sake.

A nerd, however, is someone who overdwells in one particular area of their life, to the exclusion of other areas, above and beyond what would be needed or even useful. The prototype nerd is the college bookworm who doesn't have any friends, even online ones.

Almost by definition, anyone reading this thread is a non-nerd, let alone anyone who posts in it.

Of course, that's all in my head and in my mental models. YMMV.

Cheers,
J.

Edit: Forgot to say: I voted as if the poll were "what kind of geek are you".

 

[Huung]

Hmmmm, I always saw nerds as being computing related, and geeks as being books. I dont know if that's because of the television/webcomics I've read over the years or whether its just the company I keep...

 

[Haven]

I'm a non nerds nerd obviously ...

People rarely guess that I used to RP

I guess I'm a nerd in disguise.

And Ronin, nerds eat geeks for breakfast !!!! nom nom nom
*dives for the nerf gun and heads off to shoot some geek wabbits*

 

[Ronin Storm]

And Ronin, nerds eat geeks for breakfast !!!! nom nom nom
*dives for the nerf gun and heads off to shoot some geek wabbits*

*beats Haven to death with his excessive THN post count*

 

[Bradstreet]

I guess I'm a nerd in disguise.

A nerd in disguise as ... a super nerd?

 

[Haven]

Browses Bradstreet's bookcases and refuses to comment.

 

[Cynic-Al]

I am distinctly "other". I'm an E-tech student, who spends far too much time on a computer, reads his own weight in webcomics (and tends to quote xkcd at various friends), and tends to sit and snigger through films featuring "hollwood science", and will happily admit to it. That said most of my friends don't know how many webcomics I read, or how much time I used to spend on forums, but that's generally a case of it never coming up in conversation, I have made various non-geek friends sit through zero punctuation reviews.

 

[Rai]

I'm more the kind of nerd who doesn't know nor care about what kind of nerd i am, I'm emo at Tuesdays, i refuse to wear pink or tight yeans. My IQ is 35 (if it isn't lower). Never read a marvel comic, i fail at technologic stuff and i spend 20 hours a day playing guitar or playing wow and i enjoy rock concerts, altough i hate most modern bands. Fall out Boy, i could twist their little necks. I hate PE, I'm always late for school, I hate mathematics, I never failed an English test. I have a cat and a dog, they both enjoy bikkits. Appart from that I enjoy watching horror movies. My hair is 37 cm's long and I will visit a barber this friday...

I have no clue why i made this post whatsoever

 

[Nanor]

Hrm, I don't think you're a nerd!

 

[decky101]

Lol, me neither, perhaps you should upload that on match.com, see if you catch anything though . I have to say that I'm not that much of a nerd to be honest, I play my guitar, enjoy mountain biking and various other outdoor pursuits, I read forums casually, though I am willing to admit that I'm pretty well informed in the realm of computers, but in general, I have a broad range of general knowledge, so that doesn't mean that much. Overall, I don't think I'm all that nerdy.

 

[DocBot]

Yeah I'm a bit like Al. There really isn't a distinction between nerd and geek in swedish, so I call myself a nerd. That said, I'm a nerd when it comes to games, books, science, cooking, singing, music, bicycles and lots of other things, too - in the sense that I take a real interest in those areas, reading up on them when I get a chance, buying books about the subjects etc (I'm up to 7 cook books now, of which two are about the local food history and one about molecular gastronomy). And I don't think I'm "closet" anything, really ;P

 

[Nanor]

Can we end the poll now? I'm not a fan of necro polling!