The Geek Won’t Inherit the Earth
As a geek, I really should have been on top of this.
Originally I had the Bug in the first panel singing how is favorite Time Lord was Doctor Who. But, as many observant fellow geeks pointed out: the main character is only ever referred to as “the Doctor” and not “Doctor Who” Realizing this error, I have gone ahead and amended the first panel.
I will now willfully surrender myself to the local geek authorities who will probably put me in the middle of those spinning hula-hoops from Superman until they can decide a suitable punishment.
Discussion (52) ¬
On one hand, this comic is extremely funny to we nerds who can attest to knowing the subject matter of the first three panels.
On the other hand, that identifies us as nerds. See fourth panel.
I only know the subjects of the first two panels. “Sinestro” eludes me, however.
Me neither, but Google always works: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinestro
You never saw the Green Lantern movie, and you call yourself a nerd? For shame.
True nerds recognize him without the movie though
Any self-respecting nerd will not acknowledge having seen the Green Lantern movie.
lotta confusion between “geek” and “nerd” up in this thread.
geek = recognizing who Sinestro is
nerd = knowing what a Gibbet cage is
Adam = a bit of both
Well, according to the Venn diagram, all “nerds” can be classified in the more general category of “geeks.” If we assume that a level of social ineptitude is present in the geeks in this conversation, then they can indeed also be classified in the sub-category of “nerds.”
The Venn diagram illustrating this principle:
http://www.greatwhitesnark.com/2010/03/25/difference-between-nerd-dork-and-geek-explained-in-a-venn-diagram/
I think you’re just being nerdy about being a geek.
see, the way *I* always heard the classifications of geek/nerd growing up was:
Geek=intelligence and social skills
Nerd=intelligence with no social skills
and poor Dweeb or Dork as having no intelligence nor social skills (which would put me as a dwerd maybe?)
BTW, this may be my all time favorite strip so far
I always thought “Nerds” were like Bill Gates. They were smart, socially awkward people who ended up being rich, and the rest of us smart, socially awkward poor people were geeks.
I could be wrong though. I’ve also heard the term “geek” originally meant someone who was hired by the circus to be in a side show running around biting the heads off of live chickens, so…
Well by that definition Ozzy Osbourne must be a geek then…
A nerd is someone who knows a lot about many useful things.
A geek is someone who knows a lot about a few useless things.
A nerd is someone who spends lots of time studying the real world.
A geek is someone who fantasizes about living in a different world.
Most geeks imagine themselves as nerds.
Most nerds think of themselves as geeks.
Why, that fits the Venn diagram perfectly!
And this why none of us end up dating supermodels.
The generic case of Geekery, I feel, is obsession. So you get your ‘band geeks’, but more often you get ‘Star Wars geeks.’
Nerdism, on the other hand, is more about intelligence about technology and math. So you get math nerds and computer nerds. You get computer GEEKS too, of course, and they appear to be mostly the same as computer nerds. Do not be fooled! The difference between the computer nerd and the computer geeks is that the computer nerd probably knows how to program, whereas the computer geek only is interested in the hardware side. Computer nerds are a non-strict subset of computer geeks.
On that note, I feel that the “Geek” side of things is more associated with people who love to play video games, analyze pop-cultural phenomena, and make really awesome Cosplay costumes (or fursuits, but hey, takes all kinds).
“Nerds” are the ones who are doing science, solving calculus equations, swearing/making jokes in Latin, and make robots out of junk from the recycle bin. There’s a ton of overlap, of course.
And, naturally, XKCD said it best: {Nerds} ∩ {Geeks} = {People who argue about the distinction between Nerds and Geeks}
This is why I love the internet. Both for this comic and the fact that it’s been vital to letting nerds roam free and wild.
Sorry about this, but third panel typo: …the geeks will go too far…
GRAMMAR GEEK!
I only say this because you beat me to it 🙂
Dammit, correcting grammar is nerdy. I come to the conclusion on the following basis:
1. Latin is nerdy, not geeky.
2. Grammatical correctness becomes essential when you learn a language.
3. This causes you to begin to wonder why nobody ever bothered to teach your classmates any of the cases beyond “The Genitive” (except they call it the ‘Possessive’), and “All of them other cases” (which is why nobody ever gets who/whom right.
4. Additionally, CS majors know that a simple slip in grammar can cause catastrophic events. For instance:
if (alert_level = CODE_RED)
{
move_president_to_safety();
}
// ...
if (alert_level == CODE_RED)
{
launch_nuclear_missiles();
}
5. Computer Science is really more of a nerd thing, I think.
6. Therefore, grammar is nerdy. QED.
7. Corollary: I’m actually wondering to myself as I type this if this proof can actually get from there to here. This likely makes me a dork; the proof of this is left as an exercise to the reader.
Oops. Good catch. Will fix.
How did you know what a Gibbet Cage was called? I guess I need to study up on my nerdiness, huh?
Now I can’t stop humming “Skip to My Lou.”
Any true geek would know that “Doctor Who” is the name of the show and not the character. He’s just “The Doctor” 😉
What’s the Green Lantern movie about? Is it a traffic light that always gives the right of way?
A true nerd would NEVER call their favourite Timelord “Doctor Who”. They would call him the Doctor. Just saying…
Or they’re nerdy enough to know of a separate Time Lord never officially revealed in any works whose name IS “Doctor Who.”
If you’re referring to the character played by Cushing, he was indeed called “Doctor Who” but was not a Time Lord.
Damn, I’m nerdy…
Good as always–but the wrong type of “to” in panel three.
No-one’s ‘nerdy’ enough to point out that Doctor Who isn’t anyone’s name? Maybe your favourite TV show starring a time lord is Doctor Who, but your favourite time lord is, presumably, The Doctor.
First panel correction: Doctor Who is the name of the show, the time-and-space-traveling man in the blue police box just goes by “the Doctor.” Or “the Caretaker.” Or, “Get Off This Planet.” Though, strictly speaking, that probably isn’t a name.
Doesn’t rhyme as well, though….
lol, thanks for the christmas special reference 🙂
Though in one very odd case, he was briefly known as the “rotmiester.” it didn’t last long.
Aww, the bug looks so sad, so sad.
Second panel slayed me. Great work as always, Adam!
sighh.. its true.. it wont last.. (nice gibbet though)
I guess I’m nerdy enough to read the comments before pointing out that Doctor Who isn’t the name of the character….
I guess I should have read the comments all the way through before offering my above definitive difference between “nerd” and “geek”, since I’d forgotten that I’d already commented earlier and mentioned “my nerdiness” when I specifically called myself a geek in the definition comment.
Maybe I’m just a “tard” instead, I dunno…nope, I also commented that I was “smart”. Crap. I can’t win here. I think I’ll just shut up!
Was the wording for the first panel changed? I could have sworn it had said “…my favorite time lord is doctor who” when i checked it this morning.
So, I am apparently a ‘geek.’ it would not be beyond me, at all, to dance around singing that my favorite show is Doctor Who to the tune of ‘Skip to my Lou’ but I am more likely to walk about humming the theme song annoying people with my outrageous amount of knowledge and obsession with the show.
I’m so glad I’m not the only one. One of my friends used to call me the “Doctor-pedia”. If she wanted to know something from either the Classic or New series, she just asked me.
How many geek points do I get if I have the theme song as my ring tone on my phone?
Obviously, I know what I am…and yes, I am so glad that we are allowed to roam freely and spout our knowledge of scifi/fantasy subjects without fear of being tied up and thrown back into our basements or attics.
GEEK POWER!!!
Waitaminute….the title is a reference to an I Fight Dragons song 😀
man, I thought the first panel was SO MUCH FUNNIER before the edit, but I’m not really a Doctor Who fan so it’s obviously not my call to make =/ oh well
While I agree that Dr. Who is the last time lord, and therefore has to be your favorite, I also liked it better before the edit. It was nerdier.
Agreed, though my sister would probably approve the change. She’s a real Doctor Who fan (especially the David Tennant version ;))
Is there any chance that the name is an I fight Dragons Reference?
“Doctor Who” may not be the name of the character, but it’s how the actor was listed in the credits from 1963 to 1979. A FULL SUPER-DUPER GEEK would know this.
Well, he is called Doctor Who in the credits, as I now see mentioned by Jason. So yeah, you other geeks fail. x’) Referring to the Doctor as Doctor Who should be totally fine because of that.
The Doctor is often called “Doctor Who” in the (Classic Series) credits, the people in the documentaries often refer to him as “Doctor Who” (even Tom Baker has), and I believe in one episode during the Second Doctor’s run, a fellow time lord started to read off his name as “Doctor Who-” but was cut off, implying that “Who” was the first syllable of his name.
And for what it’s worth, I think at one point Bessie’s (Second Doctor’s car) had a license plate reading “WHO 1.”
So you can defend who.
It was the THIRD Doctor’s car.
‘The main character is only ever referred to as “the Doctor” and not “Doctor Who”’ This is MOSTLY true, but there is a First Doctor episode in which a crazy computer does in fact call him Doctor Who. However, it is pretty clearly established by now that this was a foible and that ‘The Doctor’ is the name of his choice, not Doctor Who.