At some point in time, all geeks were nerds. However, geeks eventually learned that society tends to frown upon many of the outward nerd behaviors, declarations of geek chic be damned. In short, geeks are closeted nerds. They're the ones who are truly subversive, fooling others into thinking that the Planet of the Apes is the apex of cinematic cool by wrapping the message in generous amounts of Prada. Ironically, this makes geeks cool.
Geeks are dorky enough to be on the outside, but mainstream enough to deliver their message.
Geeks remember what it's like to be marginalized, therefore maintaining their humility. That's why geeks make good boyfriends. But that's a topic for another column. Should a geek forget his nerd roots, he might begin to make, for example, oblique references to German philosophers and avant garde films, a la Koyaanisqatsi . Or he might just resort to writing terribly condescending Internet columns.