The Nerd-Geek-Dork Continuum

[Thorin]

I thought this blog entry was a hilarious read: http://www.globecampus.ca/blogs/nerd-girl/2008/11/11/nerd-geek-dork-continuum/

Here's a bit to whet your appetite:

In last week's post-blog dialogue, reader Shane mentioned his difficulty in pinpointing the essence of "nerd" and asked for my definition of the word. It turned out to be a much simpler exercise than I had originally thought, for in the singularly reflexive moment that followed, I realized that one could define a nerd as someone who gleefully obliges when asked to define something.

Indeed when the intellectual gauntlet is thrown down, it's the nerd amongst us who will rise, or, more accurately, hyperactively scramble, to the occasion. We are incapable of resisting a mental challenge, whether it's a simple matter of seeking out a definition or solving a puzzle, or something more involved, like calculating whether or not it's possible to have a non-overnight transpacific commercial airline flight whose entire journey takes place in daylight hours* or building a trebuchet to see how far you can fling a car.**

If you read the whole article, then I think you should also take the Nerd/Geek/Dork test: http://www.okcupid.com/tests/take?testid=9935030990046738815   (to get your results at the end you have to sign up, but I just signed up with a mailinator email address)
My results: Pure Nerd (70% Nerd, 35% Geek, 20% Dork)
Their definitions:
A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia.
A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one.
A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions.

[Lazybones]

Missed the part about having to sign up, so at the end I just closed the browser and gave up.

[Thorin]

Missed the part about having to sign up, so at the end I just closed the browser and gave up.

lol  I made the account "@%&#off11111" with obviously fake data, supplied a Mailinator email address, got my results, deleted the account, and gave as reason for deleting that "requiring signup to get results from a quiz is @%&#tarded".

If the Mailinator address had bounced, I wouldn't have signed up.

[Lazybones]

Haven't ever bothered with mailinator before.

I did find this in their FAQ and had a good laugh

This sounds pretty insecure, what if I want to send important emails with sensitive super-secret information in them to Mailinator?

Then you are a stupid-head. That isn't what this is for.

[Darren Dirt]

Haven't ever bothered with mailinator before.

I did find this in their FAQ and had a good laugh

A few weeks back I posted a link or three to the mailinator author's blog ... brilliant, funny* guy.



Ah, here it is. Paul Tyma: http://forums.righteouswrath.com/index.php/topic,6729.0.html

And his blog -- December 2008 some interesting thoughts shared...
http://mailinator.blogspot.com/2008_12_01_archive.html

...in fact, related to the above!

The normal Mailinator use case is that you have a need for a quick email address to sign-up for some web service. Some people however, use Mailinator as an actual primary email repository. With the RSS feed, it acts as a convenient dropbox for newsletters or other semi-private email needs.

Unfortunately, there are some wacky funsters out there that think it might be fun to sign-up for some website over and over and over and over (and over). Often this is for some site that has "vote for your favorite band" or "sign up for a free gift" or some such thing.

The primary flaws of these systems is not Mailinator - its that these websites equate the idea of identity with email addresses.

*the "what happens if you use mailinator for spam-signups" page is rofl-filled:
http://www.mailinator.com/stinky.jsp

[Darren Dirt]

I thought this blog entry was a hilarious read: http://www.globecampus.ca/blogs/nerd-girl/2008/11/11/nerd-geek-dork-continuum/

wow, best summary of my never-ending anxiety ever:

...existential crisis, which arises not from the sudden grasp of our own mortality, but rather from the resulting realization that we haven't got time enough to read every book in the library.

Heck, my goal is to read everything by just HEINLEIN (and Robert Anson Wilson) before I die -- and I'm not sure I'll succeed.


Also, sadly, this explains why at least ONE of the "Big Bang Theory" characters resonates with most of us RW'ers...

There is almost certainly a higher proportion of dorks within the nerd ranks than one would observe in the population at large, and I suspect the majority of these cases come about as a result of the young nerd focusing on their intellectual betterment to such a degree that they completely fail to take notice of the world around them.

Many of us spent a good portion of our childhoods entirely unaware of the codes and behaviours that ruled the school playground - we were too busy organizing our dinosaur sticker collection by taxa to care about which lunchbox was in fashion this year, which bit of playground equipment was the place to be seen at, or whether Velcro shoes were a clear tip-off that their wearer was a loser.

PS:

Your result for The Nerd? Geek? or Dork? Test ...
Outcast Genius

83 % Nerd, 57% Geek, 57% Dork

For The Record:

A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia.
A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one.
A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions.
You scored better than half in all three, earning you the title of: Outcast Genius.

Outcast geniuses usually are bright enough to understand what society wants of them, and they just don't care! They are highly intelligent and passionate about the things they know are *truly* important in the world. Typically, this does not include sports, cars or make-up, but it can on occassion (and if it does then they know more than all of their friends combined in that subject).

Outcast geniuses can be very lonely, due to their being outcast from most normal groups and too smart for the room among many other types of dorks and geeks, but they can also be the types to eventually rule the world, ala Bill Gates, the prototypical Outcast Genius.

Congratulations!

(so, apparently, at my age and with my interests/skills I should be a multi-billionaire megalomaniac... who eventually has a change of heart and decides to use his wealth/powers for the good of the world. :sigh: )

Compared to other takers
    * 89/100 You scored 83% on nerdiness, higher than 89% of your peers.
    * 77/100 You scored 57% on geekosity, higher than 77% of your peers.
    * 89/100 You scored 57% on dork points, higher than 89% of your peers.

I win. Hand over the trophy.