What makes us #Nerds?
#TalkNerdyToMeLover's Steven Feldman
According to the New Oxford American Dictionary, a “nerd” (n, /nәrd/) is (a) *a foolish or contemptible person who lacks social skills or is boringly studious* or (b) *an intelligent, single-minded expert in a particular technical discipline or profession.*
* * Holy crap does that need to be updated. And I’m not just talking about “let’s jump on urbandictionary.com and make something up.” I’m talking, “get me that Webster guy on the phone like now.” That definition is an anachronism. There are no more Steve Urkels. Who the fuck wears a pocket protector? For every deluded person who thinks nerds are shut-ins living in their parents’ basement, there is an honest-to-god nerd running a company or creating the Next Big Thing.
Besides, to me nerds are some of the most social, fun-living and creative people I know. And, most importantly, we’re inclusive. Can’t write HTML code to save your life? You can still be a nerd. Never watched an episode of “Buffy”? Hey, it’s cool. Buy a Zune because “the iPod will never take
off”? Everyone makes mistakes.
Why do I consider myself a nerd? That’s a tricky question. Some random examples of what makes me a nerd:
- I never spent a day at Disneyland which lasted less than 12 hours
- I affixed a label to the front of my Kindle cover which reads “Don’t
Panic”
- My prized possession is JJ Abrams’ nametag from a press event
- I once laughed my ass off at a Simpsons episode being broadcast in Spanish, even though I don’t speak Spanish.
· I’ve had nightmares about video games I was having trouble beating
I could go on, but that’s all blah blah blah… Truth is I had the “traditional” trappings of a nerd at first. As a teenager, I was way into sci-fi before it was cool. I even read Shatner’s lamentable “Tek War.” I had a small circle of friends and was invisible to everyone else. I did musical theater before “Glee” made it acceptable. I was bookish, but nowhere near the top of my class. In deference to our dear friends at Oxford, I suppose you could I fell more on the “foolish” and “lacks social skills” side of things, rather than “boringly studious” and “single-minded expert.” Or to put it all much more succinctly: I was a teenager, duh.
But lets fast forward a dozen or so years. As I sit as a 31-year-old who is comfortable in his own skin rather than a gawky kid, not only have I come to embrace and love my nerdiness, but I’ve also come to realize what makes me a nerd. Not what makes a nerd, mind you, but what makes *me* a nerd.
I’m a nerd because I love a good story.
When you get right down to it, why do I read comics? Why do I have a stack of graphic novels longer than a set of World Book Encyclopedias (hey, remember those)? Why do I play video games? What made me sit through six often-frustrating seasons of “Lost,” but give up on “Heroes”? Why do I love Pixar films, even though my parents can’t understand why an adult would want to see “cartoons”? It’s the story, stupid.
I have an overactive imagination. Always have. I’m a creativity junkie. And all those comics, video games, sci-fi shows and Pixar movies give me that sweet, sweet nerd fix. It goes back to the accepting nature of nerds. We don’t discriminate over the way a story is presented. Grab our attention, challenge our preconceptions, show us something we’ve never seen before and who gives a frak about the medium? We are the first to recognize quality over crap…and oh man, there is so much crap out there. We’re you’re first, last and only line of defense against crap in all its forms. You don’t tell us what works, we tell you. It’s the reason The Dark Knight was a work of art, but Batman & Robin is a big stinking turd: one is an amazing story which just *happens* to be a comic book movie, and the other was created thinking, “yeah it blows but the nerds will eat it up.” Wrong. We know. We always know.
So yeah, for me, I think it all stems from love of a good story. We take it all in, and when we’re full of happiness, we recycle it as our gift to the world by creating our own. More comic artists, more bloggers, more filmmakers, more video game designers, more authors. No one thought Mark Zuckerberg or Geoff Johns were cool until *we* stood up and said “hey, this nerd is onto something.”
So beware, non-nerdy citizens. Because it’s hip to be square once more.