This may come as a shock to some of you, but I am a nerd. I do not hide this. In fact, I wear the name proudly and rejoice in its unwashed glory.
Unless, of course, I’m talking to a woman. In which case, I’m a real estate agent who likes football, sweaters, and shoe shopping.
NOTE: This has never actually happened.
Anyhow, something fired in my brain today, leading me to wonder what a group of nerds is called. I scoured the internet, leaving no page unread to find the answer (read: I did a Google search) and as far as I can tell, there is no word to describe a gathering of nerds. Oh, and a group of toads is called a ‘knot.’ No kidding.
So, my nerdish brethren, I have taken it upon myself to come up with an appropriate word to describe a gathering of nerds. I will post my best thoughts over the next two days and on the third day, I will post any suggestions you may have and come up with a final decision. I may even put it on Wikipedia!
Here are my thoughts:
A Fellowship of Nerds
An obvious Tolkien reference, which is fitting as Tolkien is the spiritual father of nerddom as we know it. ‘Fellowship’ embodies many great qualities of nerds: courage, sacrifice, not bathing for long periods of time, and above all, groups of guys running around with nary a girl in sight.
An Int of Nerds
‘Int’ is short for ‘Integer,’ a common data type in computer programming. It speaks of our love of computers, our (general) abilities with math, and is sufficiently obscure that non-nerds will go ‘huh?’
A Party of Nerds
In RPGs, a group of PCs is generally referred to as a ‘party.’ It evokes images of Saturdays playing DnD, arguing about rules, eating Cheetos and BBQ potato chips, and pretending to actually talk to girls. It is truly a quintessential nerd word.
A l33t of Nerds
L33t speak for ‘elite,’ ‘l33t’ captures the fast-paced, competitive nature of the nerd at his most formidable: when he’s flaming noobs on the internet. Whether it’s correcting people in the Orgrimmar ‘General’ chat channel or proving your point about the Enterprise E’s maximum Warp Speed on a forum, all lesser nerds tremble before the l33t.
Got an idea for the word? Reply and let me know!
Tomorrow: More terms!
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8 comments:
"We are Nerd ... Resistance is futile."
[anonymous] noRL
I think the use of "con" is necesary. What other gathering requires more lead up and preparation. Anything nerds do, they do better at a convention, and they must have a convention for it. This leads to epic quests, roads trips and mass costuming. Nerds are at their peak at the con! Perhaps combined with something else - you know, to distinguish it from salemen's conventions and the like.
Oh, and stop talking about girls as if we aren't there!
In the last panel, the little goat-guy should be saying "Where is she?" Grammar, dear boy.
I like a Pod of Nerds.
I like the idea of invoking computers (being a rather computer-oriented nerd myself). I object to the phrase "Int," however. An integer only stores 1 number. I feel this neither incorporates the fact there is more than one object in question, nor the fact that we are talking about nerds and not numbers.
I would humbly suggest an Array of nerds or, even better, a Hash of Nerds (The keys would be the names, of course).
well, first thing that comes to mind is... of course, a "Revenge" of nerds... a nod to that famous documentary from the 80s. Alternatively, a "Trilamb" of nerds is also high on the list!
Alternatively, might i also propose a "Googleplex" of nerds, this pays tribute to "that which tells us all" and the love of all nerds to alchemically unite words.
A 'con of nerds' is an awesome idea. I'm all for it.
If not, I vote for 'int of nerds'. :D
HEY! I take offense to the term nerd. The correct term is "Electronically Gifted American" thank you very much!
Heh!
Good idea with the 'con' thing. I'll think of something. And yes, I did forget about the girls (momentarily). I'll have some new, more inclusive words tonight. ;)
Whoops! You're right, there should have been a question mark there!
'Pod' is actually in use for whales, so while apt, it's not terribly flattering (not that mine are by any means).
Ooooh, 'Hash' is much better. I'll definately include that!
'Googleplex' is also great!
You'd rather be an EGA than a nerd? If you like, sure :)
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