Nerd versus Geek

A lot of people not in Geek Culture ask me a question:  What is the Difference between a Geek and a Nerd?  Many people have many answers.  Mostly Geeks are seen as obsessive about their interests to the Nth Degree.  Nerds are intelligent and very studious about their interests.  Can one be both a geek and a Nerd? Yes, they can.  Many a Physics Nerd is also a Star Trek Geek.  In my experience a Nerd can have knowledge and know how to use his knowledge in a practical was.  Computer Nerds can field strip a PC blind folded.  A Computer Geek can make a cool website, but does not know how to parlay that into a career.  Some geeks can use their knowledge practically.  Harry Knowles has done that with his website Ain’t It Cool News.  For Example I am a Comic Book and SciFi/ Fantasy Geek, but I am also a Mythology, Folklore, and Literature Nerd.  I have both the training and education in those fields.  I am more scholarly in my Nerd interests, than is not to say one cannot be scholarly about comics and SciFi/Fantasy.   Many Comic Book Professionals are also studious about their Artistic Format of choice.  Mark Waid and Kurt Busiek are examples of this.

I recently took a Geek/Nerd/Dork test online.  My Results were: 65 % Nerd, 48% Geek, and 26% Dork.  According to the test, a Nerd is passionate about knowledge in an Academic way.  Geeks are passionate about obsessions, many of which are obscure or socially scorned. Like I said in my Geek Button essay, Goths could be seen as Geeky.  Hell, Abby on NCIS straddles those two worlds wonderfully.  Now we are in Geek Renaissance, it is acceptable to be geeky.  It is becoming part of mainstream culture.  This has the old school hardcore Geeks up in arms.  Another difference between Geeks and Nerds in my experience, Nerds want mainstream acceptance and Geeks are torn by it.  Geeks don’t want to be ridiculed, but they don’t want to share in their obsession either.  It is theirs; they feel they have a right to say who is truly into and who is a poseur. 

My Opinion is it does not matter what other people think, even other Geeks or Nerds.  Are there poseur glomming onto Geek Culture, because it is the new big thing?  Yes, those folks will not be around in five years.  The True Believers will still be around once the dust settles.  Is it possible to both a Geek and a Nerd?  Yes, most Nerdy and Geeky people can be Nerdy about one thing and Geeky about another.  Does it Matter? No, be happy regardless.  They are just labels; never let labels define you completely.  Remember it is part of who you are.  It is not all you are.  That is My not so Humble Opinion.

Nardcore WTF

Ok, folks.  I grew up in a suburb of Los Angeles called Oxnard, California.  Oxnard is an interesting place there are parts of it that are worse than parts of Los Angeles Proper.  I grew up in one of the rougher neighborhoods, and area now referred to as the Rio Lindo District.  Oxnard also has some of the most affluent people living there too, especially on the coast.  I am a bit of a Music Geek, but I did not know my hometown had its own Punk Movement.  That Movement is called Nardcore of all things.  The bands from this movement include Doctor Know, Aggression, Ill Repute, False Confession, Habeas Corpus, RKL and Scared Straight.

The Kicker to this is where in Oxnard the Movement was based.  That is the affluent neighborhoods of Oxnard Shores and Silver Strand.   This was in the Early Eighties when I was in Junior and Senior High School.  The Original Punk movement in New York was a Starving Artistic Movement and its successor the London Punk movement was about rebelling against the upper classes and government.  The Nardcore were rich kids most of them Skater or Surf Punks.  Not much to rebel against, except for the size of their allowance and non locals at their beaches. 

I knew of these guys, but due to my economics situation I could not relate.  When I did get into punk from Southern California it was X, Suicidal Tendencies, Bad Religion and Social Distortion.  These bands talked of similar struggles as I saw growing up. Except for X and Suicidal Tendencies I did not get into Punk till I was in College.  In Oxnard I was into Hard rock and Heavy Metal.  Punk was expensive because most of it was new stuff you would have to buy and sometimes you had to hunt down a record store that carried them.  That was due to the fact they were on minor labels.  The kids in my neighborhood would tape copies of their albums and tapes and trade them for ones they did not have.  Most of the Punk kids I knew in Oxnard bought all their albums brand new. 

So in the late Eighties I discover Punk and its various movements.  I love the stuff it was nothing like what I experienced with privileged Punks in Oxnard.  Later about a few years ago I discover that Nardcore existed.  I look up the bands and they are bands that all the guys who used to hassle me in high school listened to, especially the guys from the Shore and the Strand.  I have tried to listen to them, but I still cannot get past the socio-economic differences and my history.  That is just me.  This Is My Not So Humble Opinion.