I think Wiki has some pretty good links which explains the most commonly understood way the terms are used. Steve's definition is a pretty spot on summary.
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Threads concerning heavy metal: music's true nerds?
- Thread starter Marlat
- Start date
I guess Mark has a point.
A very valid one. Metal Heads are music nerds, but, check out other genres. I'm sure there are people-who-like-jazz who are way bigger nerds. Simply because jazz is unheavy and Jack Keroac was an alcoholic, bi-polar fight club member.
A very valid one. Metal Heads are music nerds, but, check out other genres. I'm sure there are people-who-like-jazz who are way bigger nerds. Simply because jazz is unheavy and Jack Keroac was an alcoholic, bi-polar fight club member.
Wikipedia wasn't really up and going so much when I started high school. However, the terms nerd and geek were in common use. And there was very much a difference, being that nerds hung out in groups and had friends. Geeks were loners, usually into computer stuff.
I don't really care if that disagrees with the wikipedia definitions, as we were using the words when wiki had barely gotten started.
agreed. I always thought of the "nerds" as the intelligent but slightly, eh, misdirected [as ordained by an arbitrary society] individual that finds excitement and interest in things like education [math, science, whatever], and meybe have strange tastes and preferences. I consider myself a nerd.
Geeks: they're a whole different story. Whether they're smart or not is irrelevant, they're the type of people who play WoW for hours straight, speak klingon, dress up as cartoon characters, and are fundamentally socially ********. Think of this guy:
Your argument lacks logic. Its completely possible that the way you were using the words differed from the way the majority were using the words. Whether or not wikipedia existed at the time is irrelevant. In any event, language evolves so even if the way you used the terms was correct at the time, it may not be now.
This is an internet forum. You expect logic?
I don't care about the wiki definitions of the words because they were quite well in use for years before wiki where I grew up. Slang by its very nature differs from region to region.
agreed. I always thought of the "nerds" as the intelligent but slightly, eh, misdirected [as ordained by an arbitrary society] individual that finds excitement and interest in things like education [math, science, whatever], and meybe have strange tastes and preferences. I consider myself a nerd.
Geeks: they're a whole different story. Whether they're smart or not is irrelevant, they're the type of people who play WoW for hours straight, speak klingon, dress up as cartoon characters, and are fundamentally socially ********. Think of this guy:
This sounds about right. Also they can mix. I consider myself to have some sort of nerd and geek traits. And proud of it!
Having had this conversation, i've now adjusted my expectations.
Wouldn't it be great if one day, was a way that academics could somehow come up with some kind of reference tool to caputre the commonly understood meanings of words. I bet whoever invented that would make millions.
Good. You've got to realize that the internet is a terrible place.
It would never work. Just look at all the arguing that goes on at Urbandictionary. The same words often mean different things just on the other side of town.
The thing about slang is that it's always changing and it's unstandardized. As soon as one could somehow codify slang and catalog all of it, the reference would be outdated, as it would have evolved.
And you'd still have the problem of the same slang terms meaning different things in different areas. Just take the word "fag" for instance. In some places, it means cigarette. In other places, it's a crude word used to denigrate people. That's the thing about slang, it's often so very localized. It's not the same as proper English that can simply be looked up in a dictionary (not that dictionaries even agree, depending on what country you happen to be in).
I prefer not to judge the internet as a whole. I take it person by person.
I was being faceatious. I believe such a thing already exists and is commonly believed to have been first published in English by Samuel Johnson.
I long ago calibrated my "faith in humanity meter" to work with negative numbers due to the internet.I prefer not to judge the internet as a whole. I take it person by person.
I know that, but it doesn't really apply here. Oxford, Cambridge and Merriam Webster have little bearing on the realm of slang speech. It would be ridiculous for them to attempt to catalog it, as the dictionary is generally a tool for proper language and writing, which slang is not. The former is much for stable and standardized across large groups of people, the latter is not. It should be noted, however, that not even "proper" English, as defined in dictionaries, is truly standardized, as it differs (albeit on much more minor points than slang does) between a couple countries. Slang differs just between two cities in the same US state.
Hence my skepticism at any "official definition" of the slang terms "nerd" and "geek."
I agree with this. Whatever their similarities might have been,
"geek" seems to be getting a more positive meaning now possibly due to the term "computer geek."
OMG, my brother also listens to that. Those vocals make everything hurt and is rumored to make cats sterile.
I think that, to a metal fan, the genre covers a whole lot more ground than what the layman may assume when they hear the phrase "metal music." A band like Electric Wizard sounds quite different from a band like Nile, and yet they're still both "metal." So to some degree the subdivisions are useful, if only to help people seek out other bands who play in the same style.
But I really don't think that's any different from any other genre, it just happens that metal tends to appeal to people who probably are a little misfit-y, and prone to being a bit nerdy or geeky about all of their interests.
But I really don't think that's any different from any other genre, it just happens that metal tends to appeal to people who probably are a little misfit-y, and prone to being a bit nerdy or geeky about all of their interests.
You know who I think are bigger nerds/geeks than metalheads? Bass players. I mean, these guys spend all day online arguing about the merits of a fender precision vs. a fender jazz. Or how avatar beats the pants outta ampeg
The metalheads I know always seem in awe of quotes in Latin, as if it were a much more significant language than others. There's a linguistics forum I'm on where the Latin thread is 90% requests for translations of "cool" phrases - intended for tattoos, of course. Maybe that's one thing that makes them nerdy in current parlance.
