the difference between a geek, a nerd, and a dork

these three words aren't new to the english vocabulary. if you attended an american high school, you've probably heard them before, maybe even all the time. but what do they really mean?

here's the first definition i've found of each, taken from the Merriam-Webster dictionary:

geek: a person often of an intellectual bent who is disliked

nerd: a person devoted to intellectual, academic, or technical pursuits or interests

dork: an odd, socially awkward, unstylish person

you wanna know a secret? excluding the nerd, i don't like these descriptions. they're not what i think of when i see each respective word, so i've decided to give them each a new meaning. should be simple to understand!

new geek: a person devoted to nonacademic or self-fulfilling interests
examples: hardcore fans of tv shows, movies, video games, music

new nerd: a person devoted to academic or technical pursuits or interests
examples: hardcore fans of math, science, technology, health & medicine, reading & writing

new dork: a person devoted to both; an eclectic range of deep-seated pursuits or interests
examples: enjoyers of multi-media franchises, analyzers & reviewers, genre-fluid bloggers, people with both geek & nerd interests

easy to decipher, right? there's one thing that i've got to clarify, though: the intent of these terms are not meant to be derogatory. special interests are super cool— even i would consider myself to be a geek! these words are only insults if you turn them into one. (¯▿¯)

(this post is so ridiculously stupid in nature, i might need to smack myself in the face for this one)