Anyone else alarmed by this whole 'nerd-chic' style?

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gnatterfly
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31 Jan 2013, 4:48 pm

I hate when people tell me that "Oh my God! YOU would LOVE Portlandia!!" (to which I always respond with: "Oh? What country is that in?" or "Have you seen Big Bang Theory?!" (to which I always respond: "I've read the theory, yes. It holds up. Have you seen String Theory?") I'm getting really annoyed by this crap. Nobody EVER just approached me to talk before, but now all these Hipsters think that Black-Rimmed Glasses and Cultural allusions to 80's Cartoons is "nerdy." It's not...it's just douchey! I'm too busy studying to give a damn about TV shows, or fashion statements (I dress in comfy clothes and natrualizers...)
I'm a very utilitarian person. If it isn't serving a purpose then what's the point? I don't wear clothes for fun, I wear them to keep warm. I don't flounce around in a pretend vintage dress and ballet flats and expect everyone to notice how high-brow I am. I just answer all the tough questions in the tough classes....
Anyone else like having no social life, lots of studying to do and an appreciation for Utilitarian garb?


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btbnnyr
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31 Jan 2013, 5:04 pm

I don't care about that stuff that you described, the nerd chic stuff. It's boring to me.



gnatterfly
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31 Jan 2013, 5:17 pm

ME TOO!! ! That's why I hate when people try to start a conversation with me, by assuming that I'm so out of touch that they can introduce me to a regulated, formulated, psuedo-indie cultural program....it feels crappy and hurts my feelings....


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psychegots
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31 Jan 2013, 5:38 pm

"I'm too cool for these popular things!" - You sound pretty hipster to me, no wonder people assume that you are one :lol:



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31 Jan 2013, 8:37 pm

I'm the same way - I cannot comprehend this cultural phenomenon:
Why would someone want to wear gigantic, thick, plastic glasses that don't even aid in enhancing vision?
Why would a guy want to wear nutcrackingly skinny pants?
Why do women wear pants with fake pockets?
Why are people quoting garbage from 4chan, The Big Bang Theory, Star Trek ("Beam me up, Scotty" wasn't actually said in the series) and Battlestar Galactica when all they know about the shows is whatever is plastered on a $20.00 T-shirt at Hot Topic?

...It makes absolutely no sense to me... :?



Anomiel
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31 Jan 2013, 9:48 pm

gnatterfly wrote:
ME TOO!! ! That's why I hate when people try to start a conversation with me, by assuming that I'm so out of touch that they can introduce me to a regulated, formulated, psuedo-indie cultural program....it feels crappy and hurts my feelings....



Not everyone saying that means it as an insult. Like "how are you?" actually being a greeting phrase and not a question. "Have you seen [superpopular tv-show]?" = "Are you a fan of this too? Let's talk about it!". Though they can also assume that you just don't watch much TV, and judging by what you said they're right. Which is a fairly neutral assumption. If they are snotty about choosing to know more than you on the subject or presume that you must be just like this popular media image of nerds they are mistaken but it's not clear from what you said if that is happening.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1izup2uX3U[/youtube]

As for hipsterdom "co-opting the aesthetic of nerd culture" I don't really have much formed opinions on that. I never embraced it as mine in the first place, but I do think it is stupid to label anything at all "nerdy" even if it's currently trendy. You do know that lots and lots of people with different tastes actually are "nerdy" and you don't get to decide what genuine "nerd-clothes" are? But that is not the only thing happening with that fashion. I've also seen it described as co-opting the culture of low-income white people. In a offensive ironic way, of course. http://tigerbeatdown.com/2011/10/08/the ... -of-class/
And lots of other cultures. In a "this warbonnet is so awesome it's totally cool if I wear it to a party if I like it right?" way. And then there is this
http://tigerbeatdown.com/2009/08/04/mom ... k-grandpa/
http://meloukhia.net/2009/07/hipster_racism.html

Are you certain you know the subcultural affiliation of strangers from their way of dressing? Are ballet flats offensive to you? Whatever I choose to "flounce around in" has no bearing on my intelligence, thank you very much. And whatever you choose to "flounce around in" doesn't either. Or was your statement of "not wearing dresses/answering all the tough questions" just about you being angry for thinking you might be mistaken for a hipster because you're smart, and not about how no one thinking clothes are fun can be smart? I don't think that is likely to happen if they have any understanding of fashion.

You could always listen to this song on repeat until it's untrendy again, it's fun
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4snBkoMwLw[/youtube]



btbnnyr
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31 Jan 2013, 10:16 pm

Are there really people who wear big black glasses without needing to wear them for vision problems?



Dillogic
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01 Feb 2013, 12:47 am

We're the in thing man, juice it.



EstherJ
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02 Feb 2013, 12:06 pm

I agree with the OP except for the clothing.

Perhaps its because I'm a woman and I like to feel like I look good.
But I don't care about how other people feel about my clothes. I care how I feel.

As for the rest, let me study. Study study study.



LimitedSlip
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02 Feb 2013, 12:26 pm

I find it irritating as all hell. Especially when people decide to compare me to Sheldon and it's like no...I am not Sheldon, I find Sheldon annoying, I was doing math for fun and fixing 486DX2s long before having diarrhea of the mouth was cool. Then you have girls claiming to be geeks while the geekiest thing they own is an android and they don't even know what it means to root it and wouldn't "get it" if you told them what it meant.



ianorlin
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02 Feb 2013, 7:27 pm

btbnnyr wrote:
Are there really people who wear big black glasses without needing to wear them for vision problems?
They could help stop stuff from getting in your eyes but a pair of saftey goggles would be better but probably look even nerdier and they are often uncomfortable.



cyberdad
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02 Feb 2013, 9:12 pm

gnatterfly wrote:
I hate when people tell me that "Oh my God! YOU would LOVE Portlandia!!" (to which I always respond with: "Oh? What country is that in?" or "Have you seen Big Bang Theory?!" (to which I always respond: "I've read the theory, yes. It holds up. Have you seen String Theory?") I'm getting really annoyed by this crap. Nobody EVER just approached me to talk before, but now all these Hipsters think that Black-Rimmed Glasses and Cultural allusions to 80's Cartoons is "nerdy." It's not...it's just douchey! I'm too busy studying to give a damn about TV shows, or fashion statements (I dress in comfy clothes and natrualizers...)
I'm a very utilitarian person. If it isn't serving a purpose then what's the point? I don't wear clothes for fun, I wear them to keep warm. I don't flounce around in a pretend vintage dress and ballet flats and expect everyone to notice how high-brow I am. I just answer all the tough questions in the tough classes....
Anyone else like having no social life, lots of studying to do and an appreciation for Utilitarian garb?


As somebody who is neither fashion concious, 'avant garde' or trying to set new trends I tend to find the NT fixation to look trendy but maintain individuality a kind of oxymoron.

There is a strong tribal urge to look goth, preppy, grunge etc...usually involving mortagting your house and 50% of your income to pay for a wardrobe. All this is to fit in socially, but at the same time NTs get insulted if you tell them they are dressing like somebody else. Too funny.

I dress utalitarian (if it's cold I wear warm clothes etc) and buy from warehouses linked to kmart/target despite wearing cheap clothes limiting my ability to be taken seriously by those who consider it mandaotry for social networking and climbing social ladders.

Dressing up is one of those NT social things that suck big time...



luminaeus
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03 Feb 2013, 2:44 pm

Maddox sums it up pretty well: http://thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.c ... not_a_nerd

Cool people pretend to be uncool just to show how totally cool they are. It's not really all that different than the people who used to spend an hour meticulously sculpting their hair to look like they just got out of bed.

But it has to be fake to be cool. Real life geeks and nerds remain overlooked. Nobody is going to find my just-out-of-bed look to be sexy because I actually did just get out of bed.



gnatterfly
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05 Feb 2013, 8:56 am

also, why are womens' jackets so thin? I can't understand why you would pay money for a clothing item that doesn't do anything....shoes too...they are so fragile, and not waterproof at all...I like my lands end all weather mocs I got back in 2003 from Sears....and London fog ranchers jackets/carhart jackets for winter....I still can't wrap my head around fashion....


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gnatterfly
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05 Feb 2013, 9:03 am

Great videos Anomiel
The self-fulfilling prophecy one describes me to a T!


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MjrMajorMajor
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05 Feb 2013, 9:23 am

I like Portlandia, personally. Nerd chic is nothing new, everything rotates in cycles. People will find the next recycled shiny button, and move on.