I accidentally came across this Star Trek board and it just occurred to me this has to be the apotheosis of nerdiness - when you wonder why Harry Kim wasn't promoted beyond the rank of Ensign for 7 yrs:
http://www.trekbbs.com/threads/harry-kim-the-7-year-ensign.114031/ (http://www.trekbbs.com/threads/harry-kim-the-7-year-ensign.114031/)
So what are your favorite examples of nerdiness?
You know you're nerdy if you actually know the mannequin model number of Elaine Benes in Seinfeld as designed by Ricky in the episode titled "The Pie" from Season 5. :D If you're a Seinfeld nerd, like I am, you'll know it's TR-6. :)
I've never really considered myself a 'nerd' really and if someone wants to call me one, then I won't be upset, because at least I enjoy the things I enjoy without pretentiousness.
You know you are nerdy if you're able to identify each 6th doctor episode by the cat badge he is wearing........... ::)
Maybe it is not nerdiness but just age or being out of touch but I thought that nerdiness mainly showed in odd/specialized knowledge about science and technology, or even GMG terrain (like knowing dozens of Koechel or BWV numbers by heart) not popular culture.
FWIW I think the obsession with pop culture minutiae certainly deserves all the fun poked at it.
Words like "nerds" and "geeks" are pejorative and are used interchangeably, but I think they have subtly different meanings. "Nerds" are people who are a bit "off" socially but are eager about academic subjects, and "geeks" are people who are a bit "off" socially who are super enthusiastic about certain hobbies to an obsessive extent.
Oddly enough, as the IT revolution has elevated the socio-economic status of many intelligent dweebs to stratospheric heights, you often see many uber-normal people claiming to be nerds/geeks.
As for me...I'm a geek through and through. I play a lot of video games...well, less than some people, but enough that gaming can definitely be called a hobby of mine. And I like talking about them (a social sin.) Sure, normal blokes will chitchat about super-popular games like Call of Duty or the latest FIFA soccer game, but if someone is down to chat about Dota 2 or Counter-Strike:Global Offensive -- yes, I'm most certainly down. I'm immersed in video-game culture, and as a 31 year old, recently bought a Nintendo 3DS. I'm a proud man-child about this. Video-games are immensely pleasurable things and one of the great joys of living in this age (but huge time sinks as well that can block out more elevated pleasures.)
In general I'm a geek in that I get enthusiastic about stuff I like in a way that I don't think non-geeks do. If I like a movie, a book, or a piece of music, I will obsess about it in a way that normal people do not, or perhaps simply don't let themselves get. I was obsessed with -- and still obsess about -- "Mad Max: Fury Road."
I love Star Trek. In fact, I love the inherently Star Treky things about Star Trek -- the utopianism, the hope about a better future (that now looks naive) where humanity gets along and nerds fit in, the staged quality of the show -- the way many scenes unfold like they are scenes in a play with characters merely talking and discussing, etc. I severely disliked the J.J Abrams' recent movies because they all together did away with these appealing elements and turned the material into being about mental midgets in space shooting lasers at each other.
It seems that "nerd" and "geek" are used almost interchangeably now. As I dimly recall (and because I am not a native anglophone I learned about most of this probably only when usage had shifted) "nerds" were academically bright (mostly but not restricted to STEM subjects) and culturally "uncool" whereas "geek" was usually used in combination with another attribute, e.g. "Star wars geek" or more generally "SciFi geek" to describe someone really into something.
Now of course there was/is considerable overlap beetween these groups (e.g. when I studied Physics in the 1990s there were quite a few classmates who seemed to have read only/mainly Douglas Adams and Feynman's funny memoirs besides science textbooks) but there were still differences. And the more infantile geek stuff, like dressing up for Star Trek events or obsessing about video games and superhero comic books was still frowned on in adult society. But at least with the arrival of "Big Bang Theory" it seems that it is now assumed that science nerds are also immersed in childish subcultures.
So, I confess to have some traits of a nerd or worse but I refuse to be grouped with any geeks, except for classical music (and this is not prototypically geekish because it is not silly 20th/21st century pop culture).
Quote from: Jo498 on December 29, 2016, 02:26:10 AM
Now of course there was/is considerable overlap beetween these groups (e.g. when I studied Physics in the 1990s there were quite a few classmates who seemed to have read only/mainly Douglas Adams and Feynman's funny memoirs besides science textbooks) but there were still differences. And the more infantile geek stuff, like dressing up for Star Trek events or obsessing about video games and superhero comic books was still frowned on in adult society. But at least with the arrival of "Big Bang Theory" it seems that it is now assumed that science nerds are also immersed in childish subcultures.
Same here (graduated with a physics degree in the 1990s). Even in a school known for its nerdiness physics majors were on the short list of the nerdiest majors. Yes the Feynman funny memoirs were popular (the guy was a cult figure in the department). Anyway I suppose physics departments from school to school weren't that different.
I studied most of the time in Germany and it was still similar. There is nothing wrong with Hitchhiker's Guide and the Feynman memoirs. Both superior to Star Wars and Star Trek. ;) But to have read basically nothing else is somewhat disturbing for otherwise highly intelligent people and the Feynman-fanboyhood could be annoying - there were quite a few other physicists at least as or more brilliant than Dick Feynman but none wrote funny memoirs although Pauli probably could have, he supposedly was very witty.
While I recall one "Trekkie" I think that the fandom of certain franchises, including comic books (those superman comic were for children in my recollection) has become far more prevalent and visible.
Quote from: Jo498 on December 29, 2016, 11:58:51 PM
the Feynman-fanboyhood could be annoying - there were quite a few other physicists at least as or more brilliant than Dick Feynman but none wrote funny memoirs although Pauli probably could have, he supposedly was very witty.
Werner Heisenberg and Max Born wrote very interesting memoirs, albeit funny is not the firsdt word that come to mind when reading them. Highly recommended.
As for physicists´ witticism, the best IMO was offered by PAM Dirac. At a conference, after finishing his lecture he asked for questions from the public. One guy raised and said "Mr. Dirac, I didn´t understand how you came up with that minus sign on the third line below the top!" (or something like that). To which Dirac replied "This is not a question but a confession. Anyone else, please?"
Quote from: Florestan on December 30, 2016, 10:13:52 AM
As for physicists´ witticism, the best IMO was offered by PAM Dirac. At a conference, after finishing his lecture he asked for questions from the public. One guy raised and said "Mr. Dirac, I didn´t understand how you came up with that minus sign on the third line below the top!" (or something like that). To which Dirac replied "This is not a question but a confession. Anyone else, please?"
;D ;D
My favourite Dirac story: A young American physicist came to Cambridge to study with the Great Professor Dirac. On the first night, he dined with Dirac and all the other professors in the Great Hall. Trying to initiate a conversation, the young American said "It's really an awful rain tonight". Dirac doesn't speak a word, but puts down knife and fork and leaves the table. The young American is petrified - "What did I do wrong??". Dirac goes to the main door, opens it, closes it, returns to the table, rearranges his napkin, picks up knife and fork and says "Yes".
But seriously, I joined this forum to write about music. Nerdiness is my comfort zone, but running into people with 92 versions of the Beethoven piano sonatas has given me acute performance anxiety... Next post Beethoven! ;)
Quote from: Amore di Viola on December 30, 2016, 11:57:17 AM
;D ;D
My favourite Dirac story: A young American physicist came to Cambridge to study with the Great Professor Dirac. On the first night, he dined with Dirac and all the other professors in the Great Hall. Trying to initiate a conversation, the young American said "It's really an awful rain tonight". Dirac doesn't speak a word, but puts down knife and fork and leaves the table. The young American is petrified - "What did I do wrong??". Dirac goes to the main door, opens it, closes it, returns to the table, rearranges his napkin, picks up knife and fork and says "Yes".
A true physicist, testing each and every (purportedly) factual statement he encounters. ;D
On a different note, Niels Bohr was allegedly rather slow at understanding any other topic except physics. In one of his books (which I can´t remember off the top of my head) George Gamow reports Bohr´s reaction to watching a western movie. Absolutely hilarious.
I think I read at least parts of Heisenberg's "Der Teil und das Ganze" (or another one containing biographical stuff) many years ago. There are actually even some entertaining anecdotes in there although they do not dominate. While brilliant in theory Heisenberg apparently was also rather lazy as a student, not at all interested in lab work and almost failed some lab/experimental classes or exams because he simply had not prepared for them. But Sommerfeld would never allow his most brilliant student to fail overall, so he convinced the examiner in experimental physics to be lenient.
Quote from: Jo498 on December 30, 2016, 12:09:41 PM
I think I read at least parts of Heisenberg's "Der Teil und das Ganze" (or another one containing biographical stuff) many years ago. There are actually even some entertaining anecdotes in there although they do not dominate. While brilliant in theory Heisenberg apparently was also rather lazy as a student, not at all interested in lab work and almost failed some lab/experimental classes or exams because he simply had not prepared for them. But Sommerfeld would never allow his most brilliant student to fail overall, so he convinced the examiner in experimental physics to be lenient.
IIRC, he played the violin and his favorite composer was Schubert. And while we´re at it, Ludwig Boltzmann´s was Beethoven.
You know you are nerdy if.......
You can quote the key and Opus number of every LvB piano composition
Quote from: Holden on December 30, 2016, 12:26:53 PM
You know you are nerdy if.......
You can quote the key and Opus number of every LvB piano composition
No. You are nerdy if you know that not all of them have an Opus number. ;D
Heisenberg played mainly piano. (According to the German wikipedia there is even a private recording of him playing Mozart's d minor concerto with an amateur group in 1966.) I dimly recall that on a classical music usenet forum in the mid/late nineties there was a person who claimed that as a student had played chamber music with Heisenberg in the 1960s in Munich.
While Feynman later played percussion and also painted (I think?) he was somewhat narrow and philistine and proud of it and this is why I find his memoirs a mixed blessing, especially for 20 yo physics students who think themselves superbly smart and everything except physics and maths nonsense or stamp collecting.
Quote from: RebLem on December 30, 2016, 12:35:51 PM
You know you're a nerd if you think the sexiest thing you have ever heard was Seven of Nine asking Harry Kim, "Do you wish to copulate?"
Perfect definition ;D :D ;D
Sarge
Quote from: PerfectWagnerite on December 28, 2016, 07:50:47 AM
I accidentally came across this Star Trek board and it just occurred to me this has to be the apotheosis of nerdiness - when you wonder why Harry Kim wasn't promoted beyond the rank of Ensign for 7 yrs:
http://www.trekbbs.com/threads/harry-kim-the-7-year-ensign.114031/ (http://www.trekbbs.com/threads/harry-kim-the-7-year-ensign.114031/)
So what are your favorite examples of nerdiness?
You know you are a nerd if you think the sexiest thing you have ever heard was Seven of Nine asking Harry Kim, "Do you wish to copulate?"
Quote from: RebLem on December 30, 2016, 12:57:23 PM
You know you are a nerd if you think the sexiest thing you have ever heard was Seven of Nine asking Harry Kim, "Do you wish to copulate?"
I remember it was Season 4 fairly early on. And then the she said "take off your clothes!". The dumbass was dumbfounded instead of complying. No wonder he never got any... and remained an ensign for 7 yrs. I also think the writer of that episode was poking fun at Asian men in general going for women (tall blonde at that) that are way way out of their league if there ever was one.
Quote from: Jo498 on December 30, 2016, 12:44:28 PM
While Feynman later played percussion and also painted (I think?) he was somewhat narrow and philistine and proud of it and this is why I find his memoirs a mixed blessing, especially for 20 yo physics students who think themselves superbly smart and everything except physics and maths nonsense or stamp collecting.
Are stamp collectors nerds? Maybe just the guys.