A Nerd for All Seasons

February 23rd, 2006General3 comments

The word “nerd” used to only mean one thing: A guy with thick glasses who was good at math and dressed badly. The Fonz’s definition of the word “nerd”. Revenge of the Nerds.

But now there are lots of different kinds of nerds. The definition seems to be changing from someone who is obsessed with formerly nerdy things (math, physics, computers, anime) to someone who is obsessed with anything in particular. These things can even be things that are not traditionally nerdy. For instance:

• Weed Nerds are people who subscribe to High Times magazine. They show centerfold clippings of sweet, sweet multi-hued buds to their friends. They obsess over growing methods, ordering instructional DVDs. They own heat guns.
• Fighting Nerds are obsessed with no-holds barred ultimate fighting. They read Sherdog.com and download videos of fighting over the internet, and interviews with fighters in Japanese. Wrestling Nerds may be grouped in this category, especially if they jump off of their parents’ roofs and elbow-drop onto their friends.

There are Gun Nerds, Gym Nerds, Sports Nerds, Train Nerds (who chafe at being nicknamed “Foamers” by the MTA because they start foaming at the mouth whenever they talk about trains), Motorcycle Nerds, Music Nerds, Car Nerds, Fashion Nerds, Drama Nerds, Film Nerds, Poetry Nerds, Dog Nerds, Cat Nerds, Horse Nerds… I bet there are even Sex Nerds (people who collect strange sex toys and vintage pornography).

The Internet is a huge driving force in Nerd-dom because it fans our obsessions by allowing us to connect with other, like-minded and equally obsessed people. It also gives us access to tons of information to feed our hobbies. At no other time in history have we had so much access to gigantic mountains of totally useless information.

So what I’m trying to say here is that is no one who isn’t some kind of nerd these days.

Like Anthony Edwards pretty much said at the end of “Revenge of the Nerds”, we are all nerds. We have met the nerd, and he is us.

I would like to meet a woman who is a Golamco Nerd.