  Sorry I have been away a while,  I have been staying in the country with some friends,  and am going to Barcelona next week with friends.
 There were a couple of guys I was staying with last week who made me think:  what is a geek? nbsp;  And what is a nerd? nbsp;  They were both rather nerdy,  but what made them that way,  and why did I define them as such?  It takes more than playing computer games to make one a geek. nbsp;
 While I don't currently play any computer games,  I'm sure I would if I had a better computer.
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 But that doesn't make me a geek.
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 No,  I think that being a geek is a serious pasttime:  building one's own computers,  programming,  and knowing how to run Linux ( I only found out last week that it was an operating system;
 Giles if you laugh I'll just call you a geek : P)
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 There is of course the famous definition that every nerd is either a pizza nerd or a coffee nerd -  the pizza ones tend to be spotty,  and occasionally fat,  and the coffee ones wear glasses and are neurotic ( am I generalising?
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 No,
 of course not)  So I have a rough idea of what a geek or nerd is.
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 But is there a difference between the two?
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 I think a nerd tends to be more professional,
 a nerd is more likely to be a professional programmer than a geek,  and while one might be able to become a geek if one spent all of one's time playing computer games,  I don't think the same is true of a nerd.  But anyway,  this is just my impression,  and there will be much conflicting opinion.
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 I welcome it!
