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Tech enthusiast and IT administrator Ronald Schweiber (now goes by “Ron”) wants to make one thing very clear: His nerdy days are behind him.
A self-proclaimed tech geek, Ron feels a tinge of shame in confessing that he was once a bowtie wearing, propeller-headed, pocket protecting, nasal-nosed nerd.
“I can’t believe the stuff I used to be into,” Ron said, shaking his head in disbelief. “It all started with my first ant farm. I used to make these intricate tunnel maps and even attempted to name each ant.”
Ron paused and looked ruefully out the window of his home office, which he’s renovating to resemble the command deck of the Starship Enterprise.
“Ants… are really hard to tell apart,” he noted.
Ron then received a notification on his Nexus 6 (TARDIS case). It was a message from a member of his meet-up group: Dorks Or Nerd-Geeks (known by the unfortunate acronym D.O.N.G.). The group will be gathering next week at the Canterbury Renaissance Faire.
When asked to define the subtle differences between geeks, nerds, and dorks, Ron grew defensive.
“Nothing subtle about it!” he yelped. “Geeks are really smart people who are into cool stuff like tech, sci-fi, and RPGs. Nerds are poorly dressed high school chess club presidents whose IQ exceeds their weight.”
Ron shifted uncomfortably in his captain’s chair. “I’ve put on some pounds since I was a teen,” he added. He then took a moment to adjust the hands on his periodic table wall clock before continuing.
“Dorks? They’re just dorks. Although cute dorks… they can be pretty adorkable.” Ron then repeated the term “adorkable” and snorted… loudly.
If he had one wish, Ron would travel back in time (through a traversable wormhole) and visit his high school nerd self. He says he’d introduce “Ronnerd” to cool hobbies like comic books and magic rather than nerdy pursuits like terrarium making and model rocketry.
The Pepper conducted its own survey on nerd semantics and found one unanimous result: Every geek, nerd, and dork, goober and goofball, egghead and brainiac, freak and weirdo, and klutz, doofus, and spaz agrees: Dweebs are the worst.
Real IT News, Minus the Real
Inspired by The Onion (the deadpan fake news site with a cult following), The Pepper is Spiceworks' spin on tech parody — served up with a dose of snark for all you wise-cracking SpiceHeads! Got a satiric headline of your own? Shoot a PM to Andrew B. for your chance at Pepper fame!
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36 Comments
I am a proud geek/nerd! I don't care what anyone says. Nerds will rule the earth.
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I played on the chess team, captain of Academic Decathalon, captain of the speech team, captain of the debate team. I was also 6'2 and 220 pounds. I played football and basketball in my freshman and sophomore years of high school. I quit because I realized I could do all this other great stuff, or be stuck on the depth charts.
I don't regret quitting sports at all. I loved athletics, but I had a much better time in my geek activities than I did at practice; and my body always hurt a lot less, and the guy/girl ratio was way better in choir and theater than in football.
I have lived the like of a gamer and a full blown Otaku. Once a graduated I had so many friend and such a large group of people joining me that I still today support the group here and there but we all have job or different fields that we work in. But we will be making live broadcast to try to bring everyone back to the old group and that will help to try to keep the group together. Once you leave school you lose a lot of friends but with the program "rabb.it" and "Steam" it makes it a lot easier to keep together.
store.steampowered.com/
In college I had a great group of guys/gals that I played chess AND basketball with. We named our team "The Chessketballers" and wore clip-on pocket protectors and chess-themed head bands to both chess and bball tournaments.
I was no nerd in school/college, but I will happily admit to be a Tech Geek any day =P
Computers, Chess, Video Games, PC gaming, Electronics, Calculator Watch, Robotics, Star Wars, Star Trek, Comics...Aren't those things cool now.
I just like to think I am well ahead of my time.
My Favorite Venn Diagram that help describe a variety of people. :D
http://40.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lem64kwdMR1qa0uujo1_1280.png
What's wrong with terrariums? *sniff*
Hopefully nothing -- I have one at home. And agree with everyone: The nerdier the hobby, the cooler it likely is.
I was just a football player that lover electronics. Friend to jocks and nerds, Fell some place in between.
You really want me to read this, I see.
The Pepper Headline PrintProject
You really want me to read this, I see.
Whoops. Well... it's better the second time!
I don't care what you call it. The fact is, I'm smart. My IQ is greater than my weight. So nerds, geeks, dorks, etc. unite! And everyone else: Join us now or work for us later!
What the heck is wrong with model rockets? I think nerd or geek is a mindset, not necessarily what you do or are in to.
I have lived the like of a gamer and a full blown Otaku. Once a graduated I had so many friend and such a large group of people joining me that I still today support the group here and there but we all have job or different fields that we work in. But we will be making live broadcast to try to bring everyone back to the old group and that will help to try to keep the group together. Once you leave school you lose a lot of friends but with the program "rabb.it" and "Steam" it makes it a lot easier to keep together.
store.steampowered.com/
I can go show up to 15 friends at once the terrarium I bought because I forgot that terrariums are so flipping cool.
Now I just need 14 more friends.
So this guy is a hipster? Used to be a nerd before it was cool?
I am a proud geek/nerd! I don't care what anyone says. Nerds will rule the earth.
Yup! I am doing way better than the COOL people from school. No kids either. Enjoying my toys.
I need to get a lot shorter if my IQ is to exceed my weight I am 194cm tall .. that said an IQ of 240 would be nice.
Am I measuring in pounds or KG ??
Dweebs, poor poor dweebs.