Nerdiness in your daily life. Are you "out"?

[The Larch]

For the purpose of this poll, consider nerdiness anything from watching Monty Python movies, gaming to dressing up as an anime character and going mew at unknown people. Small anecdothe first:

So, today while having lunch and chatting with a couple of co-workers that are heavily into imported TV shows (it's something extremely popular over here in the last few years) one of them mentioned that she was following the new Game of Thrones HBO show, but hadn't read the novels. So we start to talk about it, and I fill her with the details she didn't get from just watching the show. At some point she mentions that some friends of her play some kind of Game of Thrones RPG, and asks me if I do. And I can't bring myself to admit it.

This is something that I've been doing since I was a teenager, hiding either partially or totally the depth of my nerdiness, out of, mostly, shame or fear of embarrassment. When I started playing RPGs I hid it from my parents. Only my closer friends in high school knew about it. When my buddies dressed up for carnival I never joined them. When I started working I never mentioned it to co-workers. Gradually I've phased out all the nerdier t-shirts I used to have. Only my equally nerdy buddies know it perfectly well, and when I meet new groups of people if they don't know it first I don't usually bring it up.

So, what about you? Is it only me the one who is behaving like a weirdo or is nerdiness still percieved as some sort of social stigma?

[DGuller]

Is there a difference between being a nerd and being a geek?  I'm unambiguously geeky, but I've never done stereotypically nerdy things, like watching Star Wars intentionally or reading a comic.

[katmai]

I don't know. Nerdiness as you describe it here is such part of mainstream culture now it seems to me.

[Ed Anger]

I really dislike folks who can't restrain their nerd shit. Keep it in the closet folks.

I don't want to walk into a Gamestop to pick up a manly sports game and see two grown men hitting each other with lightsabers. Fucking Nerds.

[Malthus]

Meh, I am what I am. I don't hide anything.

[jimmy olsen]

I don't know. Nerdiness as you describe it here is such part of mainstream culture now it seems to me.

Yeah, and it seems to be getting more so every year.

[The Larch]

I don't know. Nerdiness as you describe it here is such part of mainstream culture now it seems to me.

Even the "going mew at people" part? 

[Valmy]

My history/sports nerdiness is pretty up front.

[katmai]

I don't know. Nerdiness as you describe it here is such part of mainstream culture now it seems to me.

Even the "going mew at people" part? 

Anime freaks need to diaf

[Syt]

- Open about: mainstream games, history, baseball, metal + classical music
- Open to a few: RPGing, animes/mangas, comics, horror/splatter movies, Star Wars, Star Trek, computer wargames
- Open to no one I know in real life: making maps, world building, making private mods for games (e.g. graphics/unis/logos for OOTP, some scenario building etc.), watching sfdebris reviews etc.

[katmai]

But I mean big bang theory is popular on tv, as is stuff like mythbusters. Comic book adaptations are all over the big screen...

[Ed Anger]

I don't know. Nerdiness as you describe it here is such part of mainstream culture now it seems to me.

Even the "going mew at people" part? 

Anime freaks need to diaf

squee

[The Larch]

But I mean big bang theory is popular on tv, as is stuff like mythbusters. Comic book adaptations are all over the big screen...

About Big Bang Theory, yeah, the series is popular and mainstream, but what the characters themselves do is many times mocked. Then again they're over the top stereotypes.

[Ed Anger]

I have noticed my tolerance declining rapidly as I get older.

[Drakken]

Is there a difference between being a nerd and being a geek?  I'm unambiguously geeky, but I've never done stereotypically nerdy things, like watching Star Wars intentionally or reading a comic.

Is Vin Diesel a nerd? Because according to Larch's definition, he certainly would since he is a D&D addict and even wrote D&D fanfics. Ask any chick whether Vin Diesel is a geek, though.

I object to a definition of "nerd" tied to a trade. A nerd is a socially inept dweeb acting like an inferior and treated as such by others, whether he plays chess or is a master karateka. The activities or pursuits associated to it is due to correlation, not causation.

To me, there is nothing to be proud to be labeled a nerd, period. It's by definition derogatory; if you are labeled a nerd, you are doing something wrong and should get your shit together. Geek is just an attempt to put a positive spin to it to make it easier to live with, but they remain nerds by any other name.