Nerds!!!

Ok here's a little something I've probably spent the last 12 years of my life or so thinking about. It's still a work in progress :)

It's my definitions of the various terms for social outcasts.

Nerds
Nerds are individuals with above average intellect and an obsessive devotion to any subject or topic. For the typical nerd this means video games, comic books, science fiction, computers or technology or any variation/combination of these general areas. Nerdiness as a trait is spreading more into the mainstream. Fantasy Football and fantasy sports in general is an example of this. It's the nerdification of sports.

Nerds tend to overanalyze and overthink most situations. It's what makes them nerds. The same trait that enables a 26 year old male to follow the geneology of the Summers family in the X-men comic books allows him to suss it out why the wireless network is down in the office.

Nerds can associate somewhat with others. They usually find their lives handicapped in some way due to their lack of social acumen. There are exceptions but they are rare.

Perfect famous person example: Al Gore. Dude... what a nerd. He basically didn't win the presidency of the United States cause he was a giant nerd.

Dorks
Dorks, in most cases, are mutually exclusive from nerds. Dorks are the guys you knew in high school who were involved in athletics but were always on the JV team, even as seniors. In college, they usually joined the lamer fraternities or snuck on as hangers on of cooler friends. Dorks are usually of average intelligence. They lack the physical presence to be athletes. Dorks do not have winning, compelling personalities. They're not pure losers though. They have some talents.

More than any other social outcast class, they wish to not be an outcast. So they will do almost anything to be part of the normal non-outcast world.
Dorks tend to have guile. They excel as the people behind the scenes. Since they're always on the edge they tend to know the ebbs and flows of the popular crowds better than the popular people themselves. This skill is simultaneously what keeps them out of but near the circles of power. They're necessary but dorks are hard to trust.

Perfect example: (sorry to go political again but most political advisors are dorks) Karl Rove. Complete dork. There's no way he was athletic enough to be a star athlete. He's not attractive enough to skate by on looks alone. And while he's good at manipulating opinion, there's not a lot of people who go around bragging how he's their good friend. More like they brag that he's a weapon that can be used.

Geeks
Geeks are SuperNerds. They are extremely intelligent and completely lacking in social skills. Many geeks are afflicted with symptoms of autism or Asperger's Syndrome. Geeks are the people nerds go to if they can't find the solution to a technical problem.

You know the geeks in your workplace. It's the IT guy who never becomes management cause he can't handle people as well as servers. He may have problems with personal hygiene because he doesn't see it as important. Most people avoid them or fear them cause they're hard to understand and may be kind of stinky. Nerds will describe geeks with many laudatory terms but secretly are happy they're not that far gone socially.

Famous geeks: Stephen Hawking? Even then he may have too many social skills to be a geek. It's hard to find famous geeks cause most geeks are too immersed in their own world to be famous in the first place.

Losers
Losers lack social skills, are of average or below average intelligence, aren't attractive and possess few physical talents. The utter lack of redeeming traits doesn't necessary make them losers. It's the result of those traits. Losers are easily led from one task to the next. They're easy to fool and coerce because they lack the social skills or intelligence to see through most ruses.

The biggest thing that makes losers who they are is a lack of drive to accomplish or do anything. Even people who have few redeeming qualities can make something of themselves through effort. People who are more likely to become losers have to put more effort into life than most to accomplish something, to not be losers.

In some cases, people become losers by squandering gifts they do have such as good looks, intelligence, exceptional talents or the ability to get along well with others.

Famous Loser: Ryan Leaf- dude could have been a multi-millionare stud as a starting quarterback in the NFL. Gave it all up to be a colossal loser. He had all the phyiscal talents but no drive to do much with it or his life in general.

That's it for now on definitions. I've given it a lot of thought but I'm still not sure how people enter most of these catagories in the first place. Are you born a dork, nerd, geek or loser? I'm almost positive that losers are made not born but what about the other three? I'd love to hear people's thoughts on this one. I'll probably spend a lot more time thinking about it on my own anyways.

I think no matter how much you change as you grow older, being a social outcast as a child or adolescent stays with you. It's something that is intrinsic to who you are as a person. Being on the outside changes your perspective. It changes what you value in life, your goals and how you go about achieving them. This is not a value judgement. It is what it is.

er... this is gone on pretty long. I'll stop for now, chill out and listen to the rest of Takk.