Many people I know and meet use the terms geek, nerd and dork interchangeably. I believe, however, that they are not. There are important shades of meaning attached to each of them that mean that all three are very different things. As someone who considers himself both a geek and a nerd (though not a dork) I feel it necessary to present the differences between these three things so that more people use them properly.
Dork
Dork is, what I consider, the most derogatory of the three terms. Calling someone a dork is an insult to their social skills. Someone who talks a little bit too loud or dresses just a little odd could be considered a dork. Anyone who is socially awkward can be described as a dork. It is still possible to wear this as a badge of pride, to be unabashedly awkward and proud of your dorkiness, but it is the most difficult of the three. The problem with being a dork is that, unlike geeks or nerds, there is no undertone of intellectual superiority to base pride on. In terms of population density, dorks are the least common.
Nerd
A nerd is simply a smart person. The intelligence is spread across all areas of life. They are the kids in school who hung out in the library and studied a lot. As adults, they tend to work more intellectually based jobs. Nerdiness and geekiness tend to have extremely high rates of existing in concert. Less often do nerdiness and dorkiness occur together. Which is to say, many nerds are also geeks, but only some are dorks. In terms of population density, there are a lot of nerds. There are many more nerds than there are geeks. Being a nerd isn’t a bad thing, they are intelligent and intelligence is useful.
Geek
Geeks are the most common of all of these terms. Whereas nerds have generalized intelligence and a wide array of knowledge, geeks have an unusually deep knowledge of a single subject. The traditional subjects for geeks to focus on are science fiction and fantasy novels, television and movies, science in general or video games. But it is possible to be a geek about anything. You could be a golf geek. If you can recite stats from all of your favourite baseball players and give an entire play-by-play of a game you watched some time ago, you, my friend are a baseball geek. A wine geek is called a connoisseur, a food geek is a gourmand. If there is one passion that you hold above all others, whatever that is, you are a geek for that. There is absolutely nothing wrong with being a geek. Everybody has something they are geeky about. You could even be a sex geek if you know more about sex than anybody else.
Geek and nerd should not be seen as negative things; they just mean that you are smart and you have passions. It is even possible to be a dork and lead a full, happy life. The trick is to find someone who shares your classification: geek, nerd and dork love is a beautiful thing.
