Wednesday, February 08, 2006

Ok, not so much a geek as a freak, apparently.

Um…hey…wow. You guys sure have something to say about being and or not being a geek. Let me just say that around here it’s just a term of affection, as is dork (Jodi) and jerkface. But that’s just around here. And you can be as geeky as you wanna be, I really just don’t care. BUT there is a difference between a nerd, a geek, a dweeb and a dork. I don’t remember what they are but I think nerds have something to do with being obsessive, dweebs are the ones no one wants around, even other dweebs and geek actually implies computer knowledge. Which…I don’t really have, so…whatever.

Labels have never really bothered me much. I always figured I had one in school but I never knew what it was. I was in the band and the drama club and I was an honors student, so I figured it was something along the line of “geek” or “dork” but no one really ever called me those things to my face…unless I’m just blacking all that out. For all I know I had pig blood poured on me at the prom.

I had friends in a lot of different cliques in school and I felt relatively comfortable moving among them. I had good friends who were football players, stoners, musicians, artists, good students, bad students and I was even friendly with that one dude that had the Mohawk who played in the heavy metal band…remember him? The one that no one else wanted to stand next to? Yeah, I liked him. He sold candy out of him gym bag for fifty cents.

It wasn’t until graduation that the truth about my status in the high school clique-ery came out. Somehow, during the graduation ceremony I got involved in a little taunt war with this dude I knew, and when I say dude, I mean duuuuuuude. When he walked past me I whispered “headbanger!” to him. He responded by calling me a “freak.” We continued to taunt each other during the whole ceremony because it was far more interesting than whatever else was going on. We were seated about 2 or three rows apart and knew that while we could hear each other (and the people around us could hear us), the parents in the stands could not.

Later we ended up at the same graduation party and I asked him why he called me a freak. I wasn’t bothered by the title; I just wanted to know how the dude with the long (feathered) hair and leather jacket in May defined “freak.” Turns out that was my “title” in high school. He told me that the headbangers were afraid of me because they couldn’t pinpoint me as one of their own but liked me because I could rock out when necessary. He went on to say that although the (very few) punks didn’t claim me as one of their own, they thought I was ok because I knew what punk music was. And then I managed to confuse them all by being a member of the marching band and drama club.

I guess I didn’t really fit in but I never really tried to. I did what I did and didn’t really bother with anyone else. It’s not really a philosophy or anything, I just do what I do and you are welcome to join me or not. If you don’t like to rock to Ratt then I guess we can listen to something else but the first thing I am going to suggest is probably the Hoodoo Gurus. And you know, if you want to borrow my comics, I’m cool with that. I don’t mind if you call me a geek, or a dork (Jodi) or a nerd. I’ll probably ignore you anyway. Hey, I said I was a geek, I never said I was a nice geek!

6 comments:

Nathan Hamill said...

Okay, so if nerds are obsessive, geeks are good at compooters and dweebs are just shunned by all of society, what is the role of a dork (Jodi)? Are dorks part freak and part nerd?

Also. what am I?

I want the Official Ren Label.

Thank you.

ren said...

ok, first of all, READING COMPREHENSION. i said i don't remember what they all mean. but clearly the role of the dork is filled by jodi (loveyoujodipleasesdon'thit!)

and what are you? you are a pain in my butt. but you already know that.

the offical ren label for you is: princess bunny. same as it has always been.

yeah, you thought you could mess with me, you were wrong (loveyouprincesspleasedon'thit!).

Jodi said...

I'm proud to be a dork (I think), but I'm also a bit obsessive (hamsters, hamsters, hamsters!!!), and okay with computers (at work at least. I just helped someone today. At home, nope, I know nothing compared to Eric). I've felt shunned before, but don't know that I really have been. Something else to obsess on.

I think my high school experience was similar to yours Karen (although mine was split between 2 schools and I'd only known the kids at the first one since 8th grade...so I was probably a little more introverted). I did the drill team/band front thing and hung out with the "band fags," I hung out with cheerleaders, honors students, druggies, punkers, and dated a guy who didn't know he was gay yet and who was in love with another guy who liked me and was always trying to split us up.

Boy, I've gone off on a tangent. Maybe that's part of being a dork (Jodi).

Anonymous said...

i always thought that "nerd" implied an academic inclination (a computer-nerd), "geek" implied an association with some kind of hobby (comic-book-geek or band-geek), and "dork" or "dweeb" just implied a deep social ineptitude. labels are fine, unless you're a spazz. no one wants to be a spazz.

Brenda Griffith said...

"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."

And if you really want to know what you are, go here: http://www.okcupid.com/tests/take?testid=9935030990046738815 for THE NERD? GEEK? OR DORK? TEST

Chris said...

Thanks Brenda!

I now know that I am a:

"You scored better than half in Nerd and Geek, earning you the title of: Modern, Cool Nerd.

Nerds didn't use to be cool, but in the 90's that all changed. It used to be that, if you were a computer expert, you had to wear plaid or a pocket protector or suspenders or something that announced to the world that you couldn't quite fit in. Not anymore. Now, the intelligent and geeky have eked out for themselves a modicum of respect at the very least, and "geek is chic." The Modern, Cool Nerd is intelligent, knowledgable and always the person to call in a crisis (needing computer advice/an arcane bit of trivia knowledge). They are the one you want as your lifeline in Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (or the one up there, winning the million bucks)!"

I'm happy with that...