The Night Crew

[Philo]

Well I'm both

What is your definition of a geek and a nerd, Hermiod? It seems like it differs for everybody.

 

[Hermiod]

Well I'm both

What is your definition of a geek and a nerd, Hermiod? It seems like it differs for everybody.

I just go by this and this.

 

[Philo]

But those articles don't offer any distinction between the two, and for the most part, suggest they're synonyms!

 

[JonathonWally]

But those articles don't offer any distinction between the two, and for the most part, suggest they're synonyms!

Nerd is negative and socially awkward. Geek is the new chic for intelligent, smart, the cool guy who you go out for a beer with, gets the girls, and fixes their computer.

At least, my interpretation.

 

[Hermiod]

But those articles don't offer any distinction between the two, and for the most part, suggest they're synonyms!

Nerd is negative and socially awkward. Geek is the new chic for intelligent, smart, the cool guy who you go out for a beer with, gets the girls, and fixes their computer.

At least, my interpretation.

I'm wrong then, we are nerds!

Well, at least I am, I'm not smart enough to be a geek.

 

[Philo]

But those articles don't offer any distinction between the two, and for the most part, suggest they're synonyms!

Nerd is negative and socially awkward. Geek is the new chic for intelligent, smart, the cool guy who you go out for a beer with, gets the girls, and fixes their computer.

At least, my interpretation.

Ah, okay. There are so many damned interpretations these days I never know what my audience thinks one is or isn't. I generally use both definitions for both words, and make the distinction in context. So if I were describing myself, I'd use either word with J.W.'s second definition implied, but if I were describing Hermiod, I'd use either word with the first definition implied.

Kidding, kidding. The majority of the time, I've assumed the second definition for both words.

 

[ria 75]

Hi, guys. I was just going to get to work but I see you are still up.
I'll contribute this: my trekkie, upper-class, French woman friend calls herself "geek", but never "nerd"

 

[Philo]

Hmm, well there seems to be further consensus that geek is looked upon more favorably than nerd. I wonder why.

 

[ria 75]

Still here? Oh, it muste be because for a week, the time difference is 5 hours, not 6. (We're already in DST)

 

[Philo]

Yeah, but I'm trying to pull an all-nighter, all-dayer. It's 9am here. I have to get my medical insurance card renewed today or I won't be able to go to the doctor next month.

 

[Hermiod]

Ah, okay. There are so many damned interpretations these days I never know what my audience thinks one is or isn't. I generally use both definitions for both words, and make the distinction in context. So if I were describing myself, I'd use either word with J.W.'s second definition implied, but if I were describing Hermiod, I'd use either word with the first definition implied.

Kidding, kidding. The majority of the time, I've assumed the second definition for both words.

No, joking aside, I think it's accurate.

 

[Philo]

Alright. Well, I still don't get, but then I'm just a nerd.

 

[Hermiod]

Alright. Well, I still don't get, but then I'm just a nerd.

I meant using the first definition to describe me.

"Nerd is negative and socially awkward" describes me. "Geek is the new chic for intelligent, smart, the cool guy who you go out for a beer with, gets the girls, and fixes their computer." does not.

 

[Philo]

I thought maybe you were suggesting that, but I chose to ignore it rather than feed into your self-deprecation.

 

[Hermiod]

I thought maybe you were suggesting that, but I chose to ignore it rather than feed into your self-deprecation.

 

[Philo]

This is where I make the Han Solo "who me?" face

 

[CookieMonster]

" intelligent and well-educated" because of these attributes you assumed that she would know what it was. Therefore saying that becuase someone is intelligent and well-educated they should know about the crazy man and his cat. I am intelligent and well-educated I may have only worked menial jobs and only aspire to being an EMT but I am still intelligent and well-educated. That does not mean I SHOULD know about some cat possibly being alive or dead.

No, you're missing the point. I said I assumed that at least "50% of relatively-educated" people would know what Schrodinger's Cat was, not 50% of relatively smart people -- I made the distinction from the get go. I even stated that they might not understand the experiment, but I thought they would have heard of it (addressing the fact that not everybody gets physics, intelligent or no). Intelligence didn't even enter the picture for me; I was quite as shocked to find that one of my ex-coworkers, whom I would honestly not consider particularly intelligent, didn't know Schrodinger's Cat as I was to find that Sonia didn't know Schrodinger's Cat. Being a teacher and a student of psychology, I am especially aware of the difference between intelligence (and indeed, the different kinds of intelligence) and education and knowledge: I neither believe that the uneducated are unintelligent and that the intelligent are always educated, nor would I ever insinuate such an idea in any serious manner. Again, I'm sorry if you took offense, but none was intended, and I didn't think it was implied.

Also, its not necessarily the education itself that is flawed; but the greedy teachers (that havent worked up the food chain and want their new Lexus) and the lazy parents that dont instill the importance of education on students. Mostly the latter.

I hadn't even gotten to the point of blaming anyone or anything in particular -- I was just expressing my surprise that what I thought was a matter of common knowledge in fact was not. But I agree that the general level of apathy with which the academics are viewed by Americans as a culture is indeed part of the problem.

I was in a shitty mood last night and looking to argue with someone. Sorry, I read your post in a way that made it seem to me that you were calling people stupid becuase of a lack of education. Its a soapbox thing for me.

 

[ShamelessMcBundy]

Our mutual destruction, it's inevitable

So it is written, so it shall be done.

Oh my.

 

[doubleohfive]

^
What part of 'night' crew do you not get?

 

[Philo]

The obvious, and lame, answer would be...it's night somewhere!

hyuk, hyuk.