In light of the "I'm a PC" campaign, my friend Aaron and me were
IM'ing about the finite intricacies of what differentiates a "nerd" from a "geek." You hear 'nerd
alert' and '
geeking out' in daily conversations right? But traditional negative stigmas aside, I realize that I like the idea of
geeking out over something. That means a person is passionate enough about something to delve deep and truly care about knowing, doing or experiencing that thing.
So I researched around. One site says geeks are about knowledge
acquisition. Learning all and everything they can to become as proficient as possible in their interest area. Their goal of knowing so much is to improve their productivity in the aforementioned topic of choice.
A nerd on the
other hand, is more obsessed about the
minutiae of their object or area of focus. They must know every piece of
information there is to know, often times failing to consider whether any value lies in knowing it. Their depth of knowledge is closely associated with their own intelligence... so they take it quite seriously, both when regurgitating what they know to people around them, and also defending the everyday utility of the nerd subject.
In light of that information...which category do I fall into on the topic of food?
- I spend my Wednesday lunch break at my desk because that's the day the New York Times' Dining sections posts their new articles
- As a kid, my fav part of grocery shopping was the potential of free samples at the end of the Costco aisles
- I'm usually so excited about a new product I buy from the store that I'll try a little bit of it before putting it in the cupboard when I get home
- I can tell you the intricacies of the organic industry, what % of the food has to be certified organic to have the USDA label, and the controversial history of third-party certification
- During the holidays I still volunteer to do all the shopping and fight the crowds for my parents because I think its fun
- I collected menus in high school
- I research menus online before I go to new restaurants
- A 1:30 a.m. street cart hot dog w/ sauteed onions, sauerkraut, ketchup and cream cheese holds a place in my heart right along side a five-course tasting menu with accompanying paired wines
- Though I'm petite at 5' and almost triple digits on the scale... I can put it away: five bowls at Olive Garden's Never Ending pasta event, seven plates of shrimp at Red Lobster's all-you-can-eat shrimp event, four baskets of riblets and fries at Applebees, and at least five plates at Todai.
- To me, food is love.... preparing and sharing food are ways to show people you care about them.
Not sure what that makes me... either way, I own it :). Feel free to comment and let me know what classification you think all this info places me in!
