The differences between a geek and a nerd

The terms may be used interchangeably, but they are a bit different.

A nerd is someone that is very smart, often specializing is something, stereotypically technology but also the sciences, math, or engineering. However, it can be applied to most any discipline with a qualifier. "He's pretty much a bike nerd. Ask him before you buy anything." Most generally, nerd is associated with someone good with technology, generally computers, at least through 2008 when tablets and smartphones started coming out. Now it may include those depending on how traditionally you take the term. Nerds traditionally were anti-social, but now nerds with social skills are becoming more common and can be people's best friends.

Geeks are typically an obsessed fan of something, like a TV series, traditionally something SciFi like Star Trek, Star Wars, and probably starting around the year 2000, also anime and manga. If you can recite the lines from the movie, you are probably a geek. Judgment is still out if you can recite the words from a present day Earth-based reality, such as a Sex and the City episode. You may just be called "a girl". People that dress up as characters from something are generally geeks. Amtgard (which can be fun) would definitely be a field of geeks swinging duct tape fun noodle swords at each other role playing as knights, maidens, a king, etc. Dressing up as "William Wallace" from Braveheart is just awesome. Some may consider that geeky, but an awesome geeky if at all. It's not really fictional, so it's hard to tie down. People into comic books would also fall under the geek label.

Traditionally, geeks are more likely to get average grades whereas nerds are likely to get in the top 10% of the class. Napoleon Dynamite was a geek. Stephen Hawking and Steve Wozniak are science and tech nerds. I took a test that said I'm a modern, cool nerd-the person people like to call when they have a question about something. I can live with that.