dorks, not nerds

I've had a discussion with numerous people over the years, namely, whether smart people like to be called dorks, nerds, or geeks. I found the above quiz linked in adspar's blog, and decided to take it. Granted, it only measures nerdiness, not nerdiness compared with dorkiness or geekiness, but nevertheless, I am nerdier than 51% of people who take that quiz. I find fault with the quiz, because it seemed as though there were a lot of computer-related questions (I didn't actually count them; that was just my impression), which I wouldn't necessarily know. One of the questions asks what Internet browser you are using to take the quiz. I use Firefox, but that's only because I have computer nerd friends who told me to, not because I'm a computer nerd -- does that count?

What's more interesting is that people tend to identify strongly with either dork or nerd, and have strong opinions as to why they've chosen that one. In my experience, people my own age do not like the term "geek." The nerd quiz author actually has a little explanation of his own here, including Merrian-Webster definitions of nerd and geek, which I've copied:

Nerd:
Etymology: perhaps from nerd, a creature in the children's book If I Ran the Zoo (1950) by Dr. Seuss (Theodor Geisel) : an unstylish, unattractive, or socially inept person; especially : one slavishly devoted to intellectual or academic pursuits

Geek:
Etymology: probably from English dialect geek, geck fool, from Low German geck, from Middle Low German. 1 : a carnival performer often billed as a wild man whose act usually includes biting the head off a live chicken or snake 2 : a person often of an intellectual bent who is disapproved of

Here, also, is dork:
Etymology: perhaps alteration of dick
slang : NERD; also : JERK 4a

First of all, doesn't "geek" sound better than "nerd"? I don't think of myself as unstylish, unattractive, or socially inept (observations to the contrary welcomed). The definition of "dork" doesn't really help any argument, unfortunately.

Perhaps they ARE all the same, and I am fully aware that it doesn't really matter. However, I tend to identify with "dork" -- my definition would be someone who not only has a lot of knowledge, but who also finds it cool. Case in point: In an ethics discussion we had a couple weeks ago, we were discussing reproductive scenarios, such as a couple who divorces, then finds out the woman is pregnant. The father doesn't want to keep the baby, but the mother doesn't want an abortion, so the father fights to not pay child support. Our facilitator said, in the context of the discussion, "Unfortunately or fortunately, these things occur because men cannot have babies." Which made me turn to my friend and say, "Unless you're a seahorse!" at which point she gave me a look like I was crazy. Crazy? No. Cool? Absolutely! Dork.

Or maybe it's best to just combine them, as the nerd quiz guy says. Gerd, neek, gork, whatever -- although that last one is something else entirely, and it's something I aspire never to be. That's why I'm a DNAR, people! (More on that last thought at some other time.)

By the way, I just re-took the quiz, changing a couple answers that could have gone either way the first time, and here are the new results:


I think it says something about my nerdiness that I wanted to go back and change those answers to see what would happen to my score...