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It’s nerd awareness month

We’re not generalising when we say that everyone who works at iFactory is a nerd or a geek. In fact, it was part of the hiring criteria. Every person here has something they can “nerd or geek out about” in great detail – whether it’s rehashing the good old days of the Commodore 64 computer, engineering the next drone technology, talking about typefaces or dishing out the latest in Japanese anime.

According to the Internet, July is Nerd Awareness Month. It’s exactly what it sounds like. An entire month devoted to celebrating and sharing all the things that deem one worthy of the title of Nerd.

The creator of the month invented it as a once-off celebratory month in the lead up to the ultimate nerd event, Comic Con. Each day of July focuses on a new theme for nerds to showcase their superiority of knowledge. Naturally, there are the typical nerd themes such as Star Wars, LEGO, Sci-Fi and comic books, but there’s a place for you if you’re a food, animal or book nerd.

Listen, we don’t care if Nerd Awareness Month was created as a one-off campaign, we’re happy to pick up the nerd torch and run with it.

Geek Vs Nerd

The terms geek and nerd are used interchangeably, but they have different roots in history.

“Geek” started as a derogatory term, which then flipped the switch into popularity in the circus world. Circus performers that performed amazing feats were known as Geeks.

“Nerd” was coined from Dr Suess around the 50’s. There’s a line in If I Ran the Zoo where narrator Gerald McGrew lists the names of animals, saying he’d collect “a Nerkle, a Nerd and a Seersucker too” for his imaginary zoo.

What’s the difference between the two? Geeks are people with specific niche interest/lifestyle – usually, pop culture based – that they have become experts in, whereas nerds are hyper-focused on a particular topic to the exclusion of all else.

To break it down even further, geeks share knowledge and enthusiasm, whereas nerds hoard information.

A geek might say “have you seen the new X?” while a nerd will say “You’re not a true X fan if you haven’t the original X”.

Despite their differences, nerds and geeks come together to create amazing digital creations every day here at iFactory. Whether you need a new app for your business, a powerful ecommerce store or a stunning new logo, we’re here to help you. Contact us today.

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