The Nerd Label

[Gatx]

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?

This might be borderline racist, but this could be similar to what black people feel about middle class white people trying to be "gangsta."

 

[MortisLegio]

I am a nerd and Damn proud of it. Among my friends, we're all nerds so it doesn't really matter. In general, everyone likes me so I guess I'm a cool nerd. Well here you go.

Spoiler: Hit it Huey!

 

[ChildishLegacy]

If what I do makes me a nerd, then I'm happy with being called it, because I enjoy the stuff that makes me a nerd I guess. Also people that are classed nerds tend to be a lot less superficial on average, and I can joke around and have a laugh with them a lot more.

Also this:

 

[Fluffythepoo]

Brother watching me raid in wow, so i briefly explain fight to him since its morchok and you have to be a goddamn retard to screw that up. His response after i explained: "must take some real nerds to figure all that out"

 

[Sigmund Av Volsung]

To quote Magneto; "The Neanderthal is running scared"

I still see it as an insult, because the term suggests that you are:
Socially awkward,
Sexually unattractive,
Uninteresting,(from a layman's perspective)
Weak,

I play games, read manga, watch anime, watch sci-fi movies (Ridley Scott FTW), watch "different" movies(Quentin Tarantino, MovieBob's recommended movies), I enjoy tinkering with my PC, but I happen to have several friends (with common and uncommon interests), and my height prevents anyone from even thinking about starting a fight.

 

[RustlessPotato]

I blame the Big Bang Theory ! We haven't got that problem as much in Belgium though? When a girl or a dude says :"lol i'm such a nerd" I usually respond with : "no you're not, you're jsut craving for attention".

 

[Magicduck]

Yeah I agree to an extent. Maybe I'm just overly cynical but when I see the so called "cool people" now continuously posting on facebook about Memes and how they play skyrim/cod I cant help but think; If I did that a few years ago it would've been the equivalent to social suicide. But with that said I've never really had a problem with bullying/name calling, in fact I reckon I call myself a nerd/geek more then anyone has.

Oh and for any Australians, the AFL Memes page on facebook pretty much makes my point.

 

[nuba km]

I remember one "revision" class two people started talking about who was the bigger nerd, one of them eventually won with him stating that he collect 150 of the original 151 pokemon in pokemon red, so I just raised my head and said 'I played DnD' (terrible GM so me and my friends are waiting to find a better one before playing again) and we started having a joke about it as at least in my school while most don't like nerdy stuff they accept it and some even have a basic understanding of it.

 

[nuba km]

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.

I would say that most nerds don't feel they have to shout about it, and a lot of girls who shout about anything and are attractive (trying to make themselves look good to get attention) would dent to be attention seeking. though obviously not all of them.

 

[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"

I like this rundown of nerd vs geek. It resonates with a lot of the things girls have been telling me over the years and I, when it comes to matters of personal perception, I believe that we should all take the words of our favored gender into consideration.

For example: Back in highschool a lot of girls I hung out with later told me that I was more well-regarded than I previously thought. Naturally, I asked why that was? As it turns out, among the girls who knew me, I was perceived more as a geek than a nerd, which is the better category to inhabit, it would seem. The nerd designation does come with a lot of social awkwardness and general lack of attractiveness. A geek is just someone who was a weird hobby or quirk about them which can be overlooked. That's how it was explained to me, anyway. And that's just the high-school example..

It's simple really, as long as you can be intelligent about presenting your interests and know how to sell them in ways which would make outsiders interested, don't NEED to talk about them all the time if the other people around you won't be able to appreciate it, have more than those things you're really into going for you and can respect others for not seeing the value in what you love you should be able to socialize with just about anyone worth being friends with without any problems. That's what it is being a geek.


Now, if you can't stop bringing up your favorite pokemon or Sephiroth even when talking to your grandmother and won't give the time of day to anyone wishing to talk about something THEY like (which you may not), of course a lot of people won't care to be friends and may even be mean to you. You know what, you kinda deserve it, not cause you play games or watch anime, those things rock! It's because you're inconsiderate and rude and don't seem to care about how the people you talk to feel but just wanna talk about the stuff you're into.



That's not being a "nerd", that's just being selfish.

 

[zelda2fanboy]

I'm a little annoyed at the nerd proclamations I've seen from various people online, especially on dating sites of all things. If you call yourself a "nerd" you probably aren't. It implies a certain level of social ineptitude in addition to having obsessive interests. There is no such thing as a "cool nerd." It's an oxymoron. So when I see a girl who may have "nerdy" interests (whatever they may be), when said information is followed by fifteen images of her partying with friends, she hardly seems to fall under the nerd category. No matter how strange or arcane the interest is, once you've a bunch of other interested people in the same thing (especially of the opposite sex), it's no longer nerdy.

For example, I play video games a lot. I don't play online, I don't play multiplayer, and I don't know many people who like the same things. However, if I suddenly fell into a large group of friends who also like the same stuff, then I'm not really a nerd anymore. (The internet doesn't count.) I feel the missing ingredient in the nerd status is social isolation. Generally, the lonely of the world develop these hobbies to combat the loneliness and wallow in their own private activities until the end of time. Maybe you'll find friends, but if they aren't interested in the same stuff, it is still somewhat nerdy. Find a bunch of friends who like the same stuff and want to share in the activity, then you're just another enthusiast.

Another example: Call of Duty. A lot of people play this alone in their parents' house for hours and hours without speaking to anyone outside of a few muffled commands/insults through a headset. These are nerds. Other people play Call of Duty with a group of friends, drink beer, and talk. These are not nerds.

Meanwhile, I'm sitting alone on my couch playing Pikmin 2 on the Wii and will have basically no one to talk about it with. I am a nerd. If I had my buddy over who knew how to play, we could do 2 player and catch up on life. This is still a little nerdy - it's an old game about little red guys with flowers growing out of their heads. But still, social at that point.

A lot of girls enjoy pokemon, but I often get the impression since it's a portable game and it often is played while doing some other activity and involves trading and interacting with others, it doesn't really "feel" nerdy a lot of the time. Except when they "gotta catch them all" and delve face first into it like there's no tomorrow. It's a game that seems to move back and forth between nerdy and not nerdy. Even "casual" gaming goes the way of nerdy from time to time, the way my mom spends hours with Word With Friends and tells me about different plays and people she suspects of cheating. Once you get to the point where you find yourself explaining it to someone with a blank faced expression of boredom and disinterest, you have a nerd hobby right there.

 

[theparsonski]

I've never been called a nerd, or a geek, or a dork, or anything really.

Like, I play videogames a bit, maybe for an couple of hours every other day, but I'm also into sport and expeditions and art and stuff like that. I'm not sci-fi obsessed, or a fantasy lover. I'm quiet but not in an awkward self-conscious kind of way, people just say that I look like I'm brooding or deep-thinking a lot (which sounds damn sexy even if I say so myself, haha).
I don't know... I guess I'm just an enigma. A puzzle. A riddle. A mystery.

I don't know what I am... I'm just me. I'm my own genre.

 

[TheLastSamurai14]

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.

As am I, and I'm not even a girl. This feels like an attack against my taste in women and/or my girlfriend's appearance.

OT: I've seen the nerd label get thrown around by girls a lot because they just play a popular video game or watch the 2009 Star Trek movie.

Girls who do this, I'm going to make this as clear as possible:

If you're really a nerd, I'd expect to see you play more than just some mainstream platformer or Zelda title.

I expect that you have a significant interest in one or more of the following sci-fi/fantasy shows and movies: Doctor Who, Star Wars, Star Trek, Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, The IT Crowd, Battlestar Galactica, and/or Alien, and these are just some of the more popular ones I'm mentioning.

I'd expect you to perhaps own some anime or manga, or even just figurines of your favorite characters.

I expect you to have at least a small grasp on the differences between an SNES and a Genesis.

If you really are a nerd, you probably wouldn't be going around saying "LOLOLOL I'm such a nerd for playing SMB3!". No, you'd probably be too busy trying to beat that new shoot-em-up that you impulse-bought on Steam/PSN/XBL because you thought it looked interesting for harkening back to games like R-Type and Gradius.

Of course, all of these are just suggestions, but hey, if you're a nerdy girl, it shouldn't be too hard to find one of these that you like/do. If you can't even find one actually nerdy quality about yourself, you're a phony and need to re-think your image. No offense, but I'm one of those people who treats the word "nerd" as a badge of honor that my people wear with pride. Or shame, as some have pointed out. Shame works too...

Also this:

Seething rage...I WILL END YOU!...Oh god...My brain hurts now. Take it away, before it ends up killing me!

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

I'm a little annoyed at the nerd proclamations I've seen from various people online, especially on dating sites of all things. If you call yourself a "nerd" you probably aren't. It implies a certain level of social ineptitude in addition to having obsessive interests. There is no such thing as a "cool nerd." It's an oxymoron. So when I see a girl who may have "nerdy" interests (whatever they may be), when said information is followed by fifteen images of her partying with friends, she hardly seems to fall under the nerd category. No matter how strange or arcane the interest is, once you've a bunch of other interested people in the same thing (especially of the opposite sex), it's no longer nerdy.

For example, I play video games a lot. I don't play online, I don't play multiplayer, and I don't know many people who like the same things. However, if I suddenly fell into a large group of friends who also like the same stuff, then I'm not really a nerd anymore. (The internet doesn't count.) I feel the missing ingredient in the nerd status is social isolation. Generally, the lonely of the world develop these hobbies to combat the loneliness and wallow in their own private activities until the end of time. Maybe you'll find friends, but if they aren't interested in the same stuff, it is still somewhat nerdy. Find a bunch of friends who like the same stuff and want to share in the activity, then you're just another enthusiast.

Another example: Call of Duty. A lot of people play this alone in their parents' house for hours and hours without speaking to anyone outside of a few muffled commands/insults through a headset. These are nerds. Other people play Call of Duty with a group of friends, drink beer, and talk. These are not nerds.

Meanwhile, I'm sitting alone on my couch playing Pikmin 2 on the Wii and will have basically no one to talk about it with. I am a nerd. If I had my buddy over who knew how to play, we could do 2 player and catch up on life. This is still a little nerdy - it's an old game about little red guys with flowers growing out of their heads. But still, social at that point.

A lot of girls enjoy pokemon, but I often get the impression since it's a portable game and it often is played while doing some other activity and involves trading and interacting with others, it doesn't really "feel" nerdy a lot of the time. Except when they "gotta catch them all" and delve face first into it like there's no tomorrow. It's a game that seems to move back and forth between nerdy and not nerdy. Even "casual" gaming goes the way of nerdy from time to time, the way my mom spends hours with Word With Friends and tells me about different plays and people she suspects of cheating. Once you get to the point where you find yourself explaining it to someone with a blank faced expression of boredom and disinterest, you have a nerd hobby right there.

What would you say about tabletop rpgs then. Things like DnD.


There is a big social element to it, you are having fun and catching up on life and stuff with friends while you do it and there needs to be a bunch of people for a good campaing, 5 minimum I would say. Those meet your criteria for non-nerdy activities yet are some of the most nerdy things average people could think of.



I think it's the way you tackle an activity, not what it is or how many people you have with you while tackling it, that qualifies it as geeky. Then, if you're socially awkward and a bunch of other negative stereotypes about it too, then you'd qualify as a nerd. The loner part is really not much of a factor. I was pretty much a self-induced-outcast during the later years in highschool but I had tons of friends at the same time...they were just older people or from different schools. I just happened to not match with a lot of the people in mine, I still wasn't the "nerd" or anything, just this unusual guy studying Japanese in the corner by himself. I didn't feel lonely and I still had a few people who I chatted about stupid stuff with during class, none I would really call friends but it's not like I was bullied or made feel I did not belong. It was more the other way around, I just didn't seem to have enough things in common with most of them to form a deeper connection like the one with my out-of-school friends.

 

[zelda2fanboy]

What would you say about tabletop rpgs then. Things like DnD.

There is a big social element to it, you are having fun and catching up on life and stuff with friends while you do it and there needs to be a bunch of people for a good campaing, 5 minimum I would say. Those meet your criteria for non-nerdy activities yet are some of the most nerdy things average people could think of.

I think it's the way you tackle an activity, not what it is or how many people you have with you while tackling it, that qualifies it as geeky. Then, if you're socially awkward and a bunch of other negative stereotypes about it too, then you'd qualify as a nerd. The loner part is really not much of a factor. I was pretty much a self-induced-outcast during the later years in highschool but I had tons of friends at the same time...they were just older people or from different schools. I just happened to not match with a lot of the people in mine, I still wasn't the "nerd" or anything, just this unusual guy studying Japanese in the corner by himself. I didn't feel lonely and I still had a few people who I chatted about stupid stuff with during class, none I would really call friends but it's not like I was bullied or made feel I did not belong. It was more the other way around, I just didn't seem to have enough things in common with most of them to form a deeper connection like the one with my out-of-school friends.

Remember that escapist show "I Hit It With My Axe?" (I think that's what it was called.) It was about a guy who gathered a bunch of porn stars, hair dressers, makeup artists, strippers, and models to play D&D. This was the test of the theory in practice. Is it still nerdy if he's playing it with a bunch of hot chicks and filming it? No matter how "nerdy" it could be, he was still hanging out with people and in my estimation, it was not at all nerdy. In your case when you "chatted about stupid stuff during class" and had out of school friends, I definitely say you were not a nerd. (As if I make the rules, but for the sake of the thread, let's say that I am.)

I also recently found out about a D&D group that a college friend was a part of. He said he and a few guys would hang out and have a good time, but eventually it got ruined by the DM and his girlfriend who got increasingly angry and nitpicky about the game. It got to the point where people quit showing up and it was just the dude and his bitchy girlfriend who had driven everyone away. She didn't like how casual the group was and dissolved it by forcing her nerdiness upon it. Thus, she and her boyfriend are now "true nerds."

Another example: when I was in high school, I was eating lunch with a couple of nice guys I knew from class. Eventually, due to schedule changes and switching lunch rooms, they left, leaving one or two fellows I didn't know very well. They were really into Yu-Gi-Oh, which I knew nothing about, so I just ate quietly. Gradually, more Yu-Gi-Oh fans gravitated to this table, while I slowly tried to drift away. The discussions got more and more heated to the point where people were fighting to get back to the main table, while being stuck at a secondary table with such a social outcast as myself. Eventually even that table freaking filled up. It was high nerd drama, but at that point who was the nerd? Them with their seemingly nonsensical discussions about a children's card game, or me who didn't know anything about anything and eventually found himself trying to find the best place to sit alone, while mouthing the lyrics to Billy Joel songs and studying Spanish. I doubt anyone was whispering jokes about the Yu-Gi-Oh nerds, but I definitely heard them about me.

On a greater level, I think this is where a lot of anti-girl boys-only sentiment comes from on the internet. Girls are just more likely to be social and do activities in a more social way. There was a group of girls I had a crush on all the way through school and years later I saw them reminiscing about Mario Kart on facebook. I played the shit out of Mario Kart at the exact same time they were playing the shit out of Mario Kart, but it's clear that one of us was "doing it wrong." That would be me, isolated in my living room and developing horrible posture because of those stupid short cords on the controllers.

 

[deathzero021]

i think it maybe due to the belief that nerds are smart and therefore not something to hate or fear but maybe something to admire?

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

Remember that escapist show "I Hit It With My Axe?" (I think that's what it was called.) It was about a guy who gathered a bunch of porn stars, hair dressers, makeup artists, strippers, and models to play D&D. This was the test of the theory in practice. Is it still nerdy if he's playing it with a bunch of hot chicks and filming it? No matter how "nerdy" it could be, he was still hanging out with people and in my estimation, it was not at all nerdy. In your case when you "chatted about stupid stuff during class" and had out of school friends, I definitely say you were not a nerd. (As if I make the rules, but for the sake of the thread, let's say that I am.)

I also recently found out about a D&D group that a college friend was a part of. He said he and a few guys would hang out and have a good time, but eventually it got ruined by the DM and his girlfriend who got increasingly angry and nitpicky about the game. It got to the point where people quit showing up and it was just the dude and his bitchy girlfriend who had driven everyone away. She didn't like how casual the group was and dissolved it by forcing her nerdiness upon it. Thus, she and her boyfriend are now "true nerds."

Another example: when I was in high school, I was eating lunch with a couple of nice guys I knew from class. Eventually, due to schedule changes and switching lunch rooms, they left, leaving one or two fellows I didn't know very well. They were really into Yu-Gi-Oh, which I knew nothing about, so I just ate quietly. Gradually, more Yu-Gi-Oh fans gravitated to this table, while I slowly tried to drift away. The discussions got more and more heated to the point where people were fighting to get back to the main table, while being stuck at a secondary table with such a social outcast as myself. Eventually even that table freaking filled up. It was high nerd drama, but at that point who was the nerd? Them with their seemingly nonsensical discussions about a children's card game, or me who didn't know anything about anything and eventually found himself trying to find the best place to sit alone, while mouthing the lyrics to Billy Joel songs and studying Spanish. I doubt anyone was whispering jokes about the Yu-Gi-Oh nerds, but I definitely heard them about me.

On a greater level, I think this is where a lot of anti-girl boys-only sentiment comes from on the internet. Girls are just more likely to be social and do activities in a more social way. There was a group of girls I had a crush on all the way through school and years later I saw them reminiscing about Mario Kart on facebook. I played the shit out of Mario Kart at the exact same time they were playing the shit out of Mario Kart, but it's clear that one of us was "doing it wrong." That would be me, isolated in my living room and developing horrible posture because of those stupid short cords on the controllers.

I have not watched that, I think I remember the title and some image...but it looked like lame hipster BS so I didn't give it a chance.



I agree that hiring strippers to play a game is not the same...since you need people with some kind of cultural understanding and you can't just do it one time, campaigns take months to do. If the strippers also happened to be fans of the game and stuck through it for the duration, I see no reason why it couldn't be that, no. As for myself, I agree, I never saw myself as that, I'm more of the anime-fan type person and I did do a lot of lonely activities but at the same time it was by choice and I had the option of having social activities too, I was (and still am) more of a connoisseur of those things than someone who took refuge in them. I just really like em for whatever reason and being somewhat charismatic of a person (if I may say that about myself...hehe) I don't see why you need to preemptively take the lonely lion approach when you could just CONVERT people though positive explanations and stuff.


As for that couple, yeah, I'd be like that too, I hate casual non-serious approaches to such stuff, I'd make sure no people who took the game lightly would be part of the campaign before even beginning, making sure the rules of conduct and whatnot are allowed. In my campaign we have a tip jar where people put a dollar in whenever they break character and we use that to buy food once we're done. I think that fits with your rules. XD




As for the big yu-gi-oh thing, those were still people who the larger society would bunch together as nerds. They have just formed a large enough coalition to be able to stand their ground and not need to be quiet or introverted about liking the game. I don't think it's a thing which would disqualify them from being into the subculture, you just weren't part of that facet of it.



Lastly, as for mario kart, did you ever...I don't know...make it known to other people that you played it? I mean...common sense really...if you wanted to play with those girls, might as well ask em, right? No need to keep bringing it up but a one-time mention of it couldn't hurt. Maybe bring the game manual with you and read during recess or something. Small things like that open big doors.

 

[RedLister]

Ok i enjoy gaming and take it somewhat seriously somewhat at times. Enough to school stupid GAME employees about the games there trying to sell since they are clueless about it. Why they hired them ponces over me is anyones guess. Shop must of wanted eye candy at the time its a serious problem in my town.

But i also enjoy working out every day (Cardio and Lifting weights being my main two focuses atm) If i fail to fulfill said exercise i get twitchy and paranoid.

Not a great people person...treated like shit too many times for too long...long story. I work alone so yeah im rather awkward socially when im out and about keep on mixing up words or forgetting words too in the heat of the momment especially when enraged.

Not very brainy either i struggle with short term memory. but thats part of the typical and overused stereotype, Nerds being brainy and all that...not the memory loss.

What does that make me?....a walking mystery?....who is very obsessive.

 

[zelda2fanboy]

Lastly, as for mario kart, did you ever...I don't know...make it known to other people that you played it? I mean...common sense really...if you wanted to play with those girls, might as well ask em, right? No need to keep bringing it up but a one-time mention of it couldn't hurt. Maybe bring the game manual with you and read during recess or something. Small things like that open big doors.

You see, a nerd would never think to do that, risking getting the manual dirty or damaged. Or risk getting made fun of. Or risk the terror of a basic regular social interaction.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

Lastly, as for mario kart, did you ever...I don't know...make it known to other people that you played it? I mean...common sense really...if you wanted to play with those girls, might as well ask em, right? No need to keep bringing it up but a one-time mention of it couldn't hurt. Maybe bring the game manual with you and read during recess or something. Small things like that open big doors.

You see, a nerd would never think to do that, risking getting the manual dirty or damaged. Or risk getting made fun of. Or risk the terror of a basic regular social interaction.

I'd think being constantly immersed into the fantasy world is worth the risk. You could always just buy two copies and keep one in pristine condition while enjoying the other. That's what I do with my figures. (yes, I actually have figures too )