Is There Such a Thing as a Fake Nerd?

So while I was looking for fake nerdy curse words for a different (hopefully forthcoming) post, I stumbled upon fake nerds. According to Urban Dictionary, this is a fake nerd:

A Fake-Ass person who has seen shows like “Big Bang Theory” (or to a lesser extent “Twilight”) and have mixed in the Modern Hipster culture and styles of wearing Fake “Ray-Bans” and 80’s style clothes. They have played some kind of Popular video game such as “Call of Duty, Madden/Fifa or a singing/music game” and think that they are also “Gamers” They claim they are nerdy because they they do these things or Hang out with similarly minded individuals. They are completely fake because they have no real sense of what a nerd is. They are also the same people who make fun of people for playing Xbox or PS3 too much, or play World Of Warcraft in their spare time. Real Nerds are disgusted by the way posers, pretend to be like them.

Here are my feels on the above sentiment. I don’t feel it’s my place to judge how big of a nerd someone is. You put me next to certain people and I’m sure that I come across as completely un-nerdy. Put me next to others and I’m the biggest nerd on the planet. It’s all relative and it’s all subjective.

And the other thing. I don’t think you reach some certain, exact, precise point that makes you a nerd. It’s not like gaining a level in a video game. There is no specific rite of passage to becoming a nerd; no line between total nerd and not-a-total-nerd. That’s mainly because there are so many aspects of being a nerd that you can never master them all.

But the thing is, even according to the above definition, there is appreciation for being a nerd. And personally, that’s all I’m looking for in a friend. And I will never ever call someone out for being a “fake nerd.”

7 thoughts on “Is There Such a Thing as a Fake Nerd?”

Well-said. Nerds are a very diverse bunch, and now that the mainstream has figured this out, more people can see the nerd in them. Even though I do get frustrated with people who are only casually into someone I am passionate about (this happened more with the X Games and how anything “extreme” was cool for a while), I don’t consider them fake unless they do something that proves otherwise.

ladybacula on October 7, 2012 at 8:23 pm said:

Thank you! I think anyone can be a nerd as long as they truly want to be.
- AwakenedSamus on October 8, 2012 at 8:47 pm said:
  
  I’m currently in a “can’t do the sound on my computer” type environment, but if my memory serves; this is Kevin Smith talking about Twilight:
  
  and basically saying that “these guys are nerds, you can make fun of them sure, but recognize that these guys are legit and are here to say”. And then he made fun of the movies a lot.
  
  So basically, yeah I love this article because its just so darn true. I don’t judge people’s nerd-level or anything mostly because you need some sort of bench mark on nerdiness that doesn’t exist.
  
  This is coming from a huge wrestling nerd who gets a lot of eyebrow raises.
  - ladybacula on October 9, 2012 at 6:40 pm said:
    
    I’m a huge politics nerd (and am currently basking in all of the awesome that surrounds my life) so I totally understand what it means to be a nerd in something that isn’t usually described as nerdy.