The Nerd Label

[TotallyNotABot]

I?ve noticed in recent years that being a nerd has suddenly become ?cool?. Now, by that I don?t mean that being an actual nerd is ?cool?, but rather that many people like to proclaim how they are nerds when they so much as touch a video game controller.

Now, don?t get me wrong, I am a nerd and proud of it. In fact, the label ?nerd? is, at least to me, something that one earns after being obsessed with things like the sci-fi genre, video games, etc. for their whole lives. Though I?m sure many people don?t see the pride in earning such a label, I cherish it greatly. This is why I get somewhat offended when that jock/?cool? girl you know waltzes around the school proclaiming how nerdy they are because they played the first level of Yoshi?s Island.

Still, I digress. The real reason I post this is to ask: why? Why have the people that have shunned actual nerds (and still do, I should add) started to proclaim to the world that they are ?nerds?? Why do I see ?I heart dorks/nerds? shirts being worn by girls who would shudder at the thought of making contact with an actual nerd?

One of my friends has proposed the theory that popular people adore the ?sexy nerd? type, and that they are trying to appeal to them. I personally believe that they got tired of whoring from attention from more ?popular? social groups and had to resort to appealing to nerds (and I use the term ?appealing? generously).

So, my fellow Escapists, any thoughts/ideas as to why this has become such a trend?

 

[Sean Hollyman]

As someone who plays games a lot, has lots of movie posters, dvds, pictures, (and some action figures), clothes and other shit, I can safely call myself a nerd.

I never understood the insult though, if gamers are nerds, then what do you call the other guys, who are smart at everything, usually wear glasses and high button shirts, and are just general.. nerds?

...

Anyway, I think the reason they do it is attention. They want to show that they are better people by experiencing the nerdy stuff.

 

[CODE-D]

Ive never felt more like a nerd than when I was explaining the difference between star trek and star wars to a girl and Im not even a big fan of either series.

Not to mention being made ostracized in school for liking pokemon and playing yugioh.

Playing videogames....

It sucks being a nerd.

 

[Phasmal]

I never really thought of `Nerd` as an insult, that may have to do with my sister calling me `Nerd-Girl` more than my actual name. Plus I've always been into nerds.

I dunno, maybe people are trying to be ironic or hipsterish or what.

Just know if there is a hot girl saying shes a nerd offhandedly, she probably isnt much of one probably.

Are you saying that real nerd girls aren't hot? I'm wounded, sir.

 

[uneek]

I always liked Moviebob's definition of a nerd: someone who treats their obsession, whatever it may be, like it's a job. If you're not like that, you're not a nerd, no matter what you do.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

I think "nerd" entails a lot of social awkwardness and also some esoteric minutiae, that's my definition of it at least.


"Geek" on the other hand would be the term describing someone really into some obscure subculture like Magic the gathering or anime or games. These are just people with non-mainstream passions, they can look like anyone, they could be anyone, they're not a specific "social group" of high-school like the "nerds" (kids who do good at class but are "unpopular") or jocks or w/e.


I myself am a huge gamer an anime fan and Japanese culture enthusiast...but I also COOK a ton and I am no less geeky about my cooking (in fact I'm having a pasta sauce simmer right now...and it's a 3-hour-long process!) than I am about my grinding in disgaea 4 or my blazblue skill or my knowledge of neon genesis evangelion. Oh and I look like a metal fan or something...when I barely listen to non-japanese music.



Anyways, the point is all sorts of people can have geeky interests, not only the forever alone types. Some people are just casual about EVERYTHING they do, it's how they are, they can't really focus on just one thing as much as we do and do just that for a week or two. They do still feel like geeks and actually like their stuff a bunch and compared to the other things they like I'd say they treat their geekier interests with equal respect.


Oh and no, it's not an insult...unless you care more about perceptions than you should.

 

[Vault101]

I (recently) had this obession in looking for video game themed T shirts (this is very annoying for those of us with xx chromozomes)

and some of them just made me cringe, as in I wouldnt wear some obnoxious shirt with stupid stupid phrase like "Im a gamer!" and even worse are the "gurl gamer" ones...I think thats what part of what the OP is talking about

 

[DANEgerous]

I have to say it does somewhat irk me that video games and comics are so marketable now. It is absurd i was the nerdy gamer kid my whole damn life and now I play Diablo 3 with people that yell "I a, pressing W! pressing W here walk forward! AHHH I WISH I COULD ATTACK WITHOUT MOVING!" and wonder how it is that it looks like i have played this game before. Yeah you know why it is like i have played it before? BECAUSE I FUCKING HAVE! but back then it was like the plague and you laugh at me for playing so *****.

Still all in all I have had a good time with my geek/nerd label, I do not even know why but it was honestly genuinely enjoyable. I still was massively verbally and occasionally physical abused due to it but pointing out why thing explode and how you can make things explode is just kind of every kids dream nerd or not and I knew shit like that. I think one of my most used trick was using batteries to set steal wool on fire because no one thought it would happen but then fire ************. Trick like this and putting various games on my school's server never made me super popular but they did earn me some level of respect and admiration.

Relevant video

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

Being a nerd is something good in a society that's as completely dominated by technology as our own. Suddenly nerdy qualities are seen as desirable instead of weak (like they were in the past), and people who are afraid of being left behind are attempting to adopt nerd personae that they have not earned in order to feel like they're important to the world.

 

[Sightless Wisdom]

Technological trends such as smartphones have centred our society around the digital aspects of our lives. Noting that, consider who knows the most about the digital world, who is the most involved and the most interested in the digital world... it's nerds, or geeks, or whatever you want to call them. Despite that, in the past having a deep interest in technology, video games, sci-fi and other such phenomenon would make you the target of social mockery, the words being used have gradually shifted from insult to simply label.

Essentially depending on where in the world you are situated, being called a nerd or a geek could be anything from an insult to a compliment. As far as I'm concerned anyone who calls me a nerd is doing me a favour by reassuring me that my interests are obvious and that I fit into the place in society that I want to.

 

[theLadyBugg]

I think it's a sort of chain-reaction trend... at the same time that we as a society grew more and more dependent on tech, marketing divisions the world over realized what George Lucas has been staying rich on for decades: nerds will spend ridiculous amounts of money on the things that they love, and the brand loyalty of a nerd is fiercer than a protective mom on the playground. So we see more and more projects that casualize "nerd" culture: The IT Crowd (BBC), Chuck (NBC), Ashton Kutcher's "social experiment" reality show about nerd guys teaming up with uneducated "hot" girls, gaming on facebook, superhero movies becoming automatic blockbusters, lolspeak dropping into popular use, etc.

The borderline "nerd" is the new mainstream, because we needed a new mainstream. In the 80s it was about self-obsessively one-upping everybody, in the 90s it was about finding you around a preexisting "label" (which inevitably just gave us some new labels), and now it's about being a little nerdy. Give it another few years, we'll be back to being fully ostracized, or at most "retro."

 

[applesandoranges]

edit

 

[Vault101]

I have exactly this problem. I generally fix it by going to the men's section and buying the most gender neutral cut shirts I can find.

I go online and find those who do actually offer female sizes/style....I aint looking like no box!

I was a little devestated as one ebay sellar no longer had a few Mass effect related prints that I was interested in I had purchased an assasins creed one before as a tester

I also found some other really cool ones that had womens as an option (though that might just mean small unisex)

 

[Cheery Lunatic]

In my main friends group I get fun of for being "nerdy"/"geeky" which pisses me off considering I see myself as completely normal, have some sense of fashion taste, and I get along pretty well with people in general.

It's just the general hipster trend to be nerdy though. You know, the whole chunky glasses and "I LOVE NERDS" shtick.

 

[shrekfan246]

Totally a bot.

Technically speaking, I'm going to agree with MovieBob's description of what a "nerd" is (paraphrased, of course): Treating your hobby with such interest and vigor that it becomes more than a simple hobby.

Doesn't matter if it's video games, science, music, movies, television, sports, books, anime, or anything. People who religiously follow football every week and can recite all of the scores, stats, and names of their chosen team are just as big "nerds" as people who spend their free time surfing websites such as this one and playing video games.

Now, as far as the wide-spread meaning of the term "nerd", I'd say in a high-school environment it's becoming more and more of a hipster-style thing to be associated with. Sometimes it's used as a legitimate insult, sometimes people attempt to use it "ironically", sometimes people seriously think that spending an hour playing a PS2 qualifies them as being a "nerd". Personally, I think it's losing all of whatever meaning it used to hold, because it's just being used far too often now.

 

[CommanderL]

I consider nerd an insult but then I do label myself as a geek And am proud of it my friends are the same

 

[Sidiron]

Nerd is a great term and one I use occasionally, mainly because it is seen as self-deprecating even when you use it proudly.
I have always seen it in the way that the Japanese use "otaku" which means anyone that 'obsesses' (for want of a better term) about any form of knowledge or activity. Which mean I'm a sci-fi nerd, gothic horror nerd and politics nerd and I am proud of this as I have spent quite a few years gaining this knowledge and debating it.

But at the end of the day, it's a word, all the meaning it has is what you intend when you say it, so get out there and either use it or don't

Sincerely,
A. Nerd