The way people complain about nerds

Gelzo

^^Really? You've never once seen Chagen complain about nerds?

glennmagusharvey

I guess I missed them.  Care to point them out?

Gelzo

It's been a while since I've seen him do it.

Looking through his comments, the most recent case was here. http://itjustbugsme.com/forums/discussion/comment/58219#Comment_58219

"Jesus fucking christ.

• Calm the fuck down. U MAD? 
  
  Nerds always RAEG at the most insigificant things."
  
  
  But that's not really the best example.

LouieW

Kino,
^Depends...do they like nerdy things?

I think that is kind of what is at issue here. I am not really sure what liking nerdy things entails or what proportion of one's interests need to revolve around nerdy things for one to be a nerd.

MousaThe14,

In
short, there is something there that heavily overlaps with the nerd and
geek definitions that would probably describe many in Tvtropes or con
goers or self proclaimed geeks/nerds, however we don't have a word for
them yet. I don't think I was clear. Was I clear?

I think you were clear, assuming I understood you correctly. So the term that currently has no name describes someone who has what one might call nerdy interests, but who is not particularly smart or good at games per se?  Do you think that the whole "casual/hardcore" distinction comes into play here a bit?

Ooh,
that's a good one. I think the answer is yes and no though mostly yes,
especially professors who re so immersed in their intellectual pursuits
that they choose to teach it. Wile I doubt every graduate student is a
nerd I imagine that the mode of them would be of this was somehow
measurable. While the intellect and expertise in a lot of technical and
academic skills are a large par of the definition, I feel as though i
should not have skimped out on how there is still a certain level of
social inadequate or at least. This is all very complicated stuff to
figure out, it's sort of why I attempted to encourage conversation and
insight on my analyses because I don't have all the answers.

I think that labeling professors and such as nerds is a bit strange though. It might just be me, but I think that hearing the word nerd applied to someone older than high school/college age is kind of weird. I guess I just tend to associate it with school social dynamics and the like. I suppose that is kind of where being socially inadequate comes into it.

I think that once one is actually in a career, one kind of has to have some kind of specialization or knowledge base. I guess that whether or not that is academic per se does differentiate people a bit though.

Khwarizmi,

"Nerd" is an insult for somebody who is perceived to be overly weak, studious, finicky or intellectual.

This is pretty much the definition with which I am familiar. The second one you mentioned is fairly new to me. Still, I think that because a good number of people still use the term negatively, self-labeling oneself as one does not make much too much sense to me. I might just not understand the whole idea of "taking a word back" that used to be used as a pejorative.

Gelzo,

Regarding "nerd", it has so many interpretations that the
denotation doesn't help with the definition nearly as much as
connotations. You're not incorrect to call someone a nerd because they
have a strong interest in some academic pursuit, because they play video
games, nor because they are intelligent, but you can certainly have one
trait without the others.

It's kind of like the word "hipster".

I can certainly understand what you mean about the connotations mattering more than the definition. If it really is like the word "hipster" then I wonder if it really has much of a meaning at all. From what I can tell, "hipster" is not a very descriptive term at all and few seem to want to be called one.

glennmagusharvey,

I think your definition resembles Khwarizmi's if I understand it correctly. That being said, do you personally think that it makes sense to self-label as a nerd? I admit that I am kind of curious about people's opinions on that specific point.

glennmagusharvey

Self-labeling as "nerd" or "geek" generally implies the positive meanings (specialized knowledge in certain fields) without the negative connotations (lack of social skills, etc.).

It's used to find people with similar interests.

MousaThe14

I found help, I'll need to find a way to incorporate it in my second follow up but I figured it was still relevant. amazing what you can stumble upon in the escapist fora.

I think you were clear, assuming I understood you correctly. So the term that currently has no name describes someone who has what one might call nerdy interests, but who is not particularly smart or good at games per se?  Do you think that the whole "casual/hardcore" distinction comes into play here a bit?

Exactly, so I was clear, good, because I thought I was getting into rambling territory.  The term doesn't exist but the people that fit the group are there an from what I can see, that group is huge. I never considered the "casual/hardcore" argument before, mostly because I find the terms to be asinine and detrimental to the current development o video games, bu I think you have a pint and they do probably contribute to this whole "definitional" situation. Now that I think about it the "Hardcore" term or at least the most dedicated are most likely the ones who would fall under the geek label and there are just many degrees of hardcore.  However, casual may be closer to describe the nameless group of niche interest lovers, it just doesn't fall under video games anymore. My best bet for the term at this point would be a Casual Geek or something to that effect. It's far better than the omnigeek term I tried to coin.

I think that labeling professors and such as nerds is a bit strange though. It might just be me, but I think that hearing the word nerd applied to someone older than high school/college age is kind of weird. I guess I just tend to associate it with school social dynamics and the like. I suppose that is kind of where being socially inadequate comes into it.

Don't worry, it felt strange for me too which is sort of why I was having trouble answering that question. I think at a certain age the labels stop being important unless you purposefully are involved in investigating said labels.