GuitarBizarre

Not aiming this at you Roxy, but this got me thinking -

I get the impression a lot of the time people say this, what they mean is the now-stereotypical "acceptable" nerd, where it's actually someone with a very slightly greater than average interest in an already hugely acceptable part of pop culture, like comic books or films. Or someone who says "OMG SPACE IS AMAZING" based on the things they've seen a nice colorful photograph of but don't really have any idea about.

Reading the "I ****ing love science" facebook page does not make someone nerdy or show their deep and innate desire for learning. It shows that they enjoy it when someone else takes hugely complex scientific discoveries and nutshells them in no more than 5 approachable sentences.

The number of times I've seen people describe themselves as nerdy or geeky, then COMPLETELY switch off the second someone says more than ten words about a deep topic because they're bored of hearing about it is kind of disheartening. More than that, I actually find it kind of embarrassing to be linked in with these people. The stereotype is based around people with niche interests and deep knowledge, or a desire for knowledge. The popular nerd doesn't have either, but trades on the fact other popular nerds will never actually engage in a conversation that reveals that fact.

I can sit and talk about fountain pens for hours. I can sit and talk about computer science for even longer, etc. I have a wealth of knowledge on diverse topics that I will happily sit there and discuss until I fall asleep trying.

To me, having someone come up and say "Lol I'm so geeky I'm a real nerd lol" then completely shut off the moment I try and discuss anything in depth, is actually kind of insulting.

I mean, look at the web page for I ****ing love science.

It's nothing but "Hey look at this pretty picture!", really. A nice false colour image of something way out in space, a quick tagline about how "Scientists think <something>" or it "Could be doing <something", no discussion about why anyone thinks that, and a fanciful story. All fluff.

Is there a place for that? Hell yes there is. Some of that **** is cool as hell - but it should be a stepping stone to saying "Wow how does this really work?", not a pathetic show and tell of stuff someone else thinks.

Mass media representations of nerds have really come in hard on the acceptable nerd train and it's really cheapening, to me, the actual merit of having a truly deep interest in a topic. Rather than making it acceptable to have that depth of knowledge, and glorifying making it accessible, it's simply encouraging people to advertise their interest without actually takign the next step of putting any time or thought into it.

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