Nerd:

Thanks for you pointing this out to me. You are not alone in this fight between the defining meaning of Nerd and Geek. I have had at least 20 emails in the past week. The "strange" thing is that half are applauding this quiz as the "Finally a quiz for me! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" The other half are, "HEY this is a GEEK quiz, arRgH!"

The funny thing about the whole thing is that I feel that they are all one-in-the-same. If I am called a geek, I gloat. If called a nerd, I gloat. I think the words should be combined into gerd or neek.

But being that I was bored, and was surfing eBay for collector slide rules, when I received your email. I figured I should research this further. Being that I am a neek (or gerd) I went to Google. I mostly found top-ten lists, and no really defining information could be found. Here is the link to the Google search I did:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=difference+between+nerds+geeks

Being unsatisfied, I went to an online dictionary, and found this out

From Merriam-Webster Online: (www.m-w.com)

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 <computer nerds>

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

I frankly like the 1st definition of geek best :p...

Well, thanks for your input, and I hope you find this information useful. I think I will include the above information with the quiz so that others can benefit in this knowledge.

Darrell Sydlo


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