John Topley’s Weblog

When is a nerd not a nerd? It depends on the subject that the person is nerdish about, it would seem. I'd probably be classed a nerd in many circles because I know more than the average person about computers. I'm interested in them—damn it—I'm passionate about the subject and yet I'm in a relationship, I don't have a huge beard and people have told me that I possess the odd social skill.

So why am I considered a nerd because I know that holding down the Alt key and then typing 0169 on the numeric keypad produces the copyright symbol, but someone who knows that Manchester United played at Maine Road (Manchester City's old ground) during the Second World War is not a nerd? That's equally nerdy to me. I could start to compile a list of cool and uncool list of subjects that people get nerdish about:

The fact is that I don't have a problem with people being nerds because I think that it's good and healthy for someone to be enthusiastic about a subject and to want to learn a lot about it. As long as it doesn't take over their lives completely and they leave a bit of time for watching Star Trek.