explaining geekery

[dr4b]

for the curious, the other day, what it came down to was, I prefixed things with either "music" or "baseball", and it went like:

"baseball geek / music geek" +
"baseball nerd / music nerd" == connotation of knowledge and study

"baseball freak / music freak" == connotation of obsessiveness/addiction

"baseball dork" == connotation of silliness

I also said that a nice way to say the above "freak" ones -- since they do have a bit of a negative connotation -- would be more like
"he's a really big baseball fan"
"he's REALLY into music"

Because essentially, the Japanese use the word "maniac" to mean what we call "freak", but it doesn't quite translate over. That's kinda where it all started. I explained that freak is more like their "mania" and "geek" is closer to otaku. But really, the connotations are a little weirder.

Comments

[bhudson.livejournal.com]

The nuances vary widely. Pretty much, geek, dork and nerd have three meanings, but which has which meaning depends on who you're talking to. Also, outside CMU and the like, they are often viewed as negative terms.

[dvarin.livejournal.com]

Heh.
Geek = a devoted techie, optionally with poor social skills
Nerd = someone who has difficulty talking about something other than the academic/arcane subject of which they are an expert/fanatic
Dork = a milder version of 'clueless jackass'

[katybeth]

And I know these two as pretty much the opposite (switched) from what you wrote. Though in college "nerd" meant more like what you said. I think it varies a lot by where and when you are.

[tadzilla.livejournal.com]

My interpretations of the words:

Nerd: someone with book knowledge and possibly poor social skills.
Geek: Pretty interchangeable with nerd.
Dork: Implies no book knowledge at all, but just someone who doesn't fit in.

Interesting... in our Japanese class we are going over how certain words are slightly different yet the same in Japanese and English. Like how a "mansion" in the US is much nicer than a "manshon" in Japan.

[dr4b]

Uhh, that's odd, because we specifically teach that those words are NOT the same at all. A mansion here means an apartment.

[tadzilla.livejournal.com]

I brain farted on the qualifiers. Slightly the same in appearance/pronunciation, different in meaning.