I know it’s an unpopular opinion given current circumstances, but I’ve always been a huge nerd about Russia. The history, the geography, the music, etc. And as an American, I’ve always found it fascinating how U.S.-Russian relations have fluctuated over time. We’ve gone from allies, to enemies, to frenemies. This doesn’t mean I support Z or Putin, of course. What are you a nerd about?
Eurovision
I am a bit nerdy about programming language and a lot less nerdy about hardware.
I maybe partial to some Lord of the Rings.
I used to be a huge nerd about the Elder Scrolls universe but I admit it’s been a hot minute since I’ve played Skyrim so my overall interest has waned a bit.
Someone recently finished remastering all of Morrowind 👀
Wait, WHAT?! Alright well now I know what I’m doing, thanks for the info!
Mate, love a bit of Russian lore and all that. If you want to have a bit of an eye opener, give The First Circle by Alexander Solzhenitsyn a read. It’s funny but you’ll feel guilty laughing.
i’m a nerd about still thinking being a nerd should refer to intellectual pursuits and not just about liking something a lot…
my interpretation is that a nerd is someone who knows a lot about a thing they really like.
Is it not intellectual to like something a lot and dive head first into it and learn as much as possible about it? Wanting to learn about something starts off with a spark of passion
Russian turn of the century history buff? yes.
Star Wars fandom universe? no.
i mean, im happy for anyone to enjoy what they enjoy… i just don’t think that’s what nerd ever meant.
but words change, so whatever… i just remember when i was a nerd for liking math and computer programming…
now i’m not a nerd because i don’t wear costumes and such…Both definitions of nerd have co-existed for decades now. “Nerd” on its own is used as you described, a person devoted to intellectual, academic, or technical pursuits or interests.
However, if you scroll down a bit, you’ll see:
also : a person preoccupied with or devoted to a particular activity or field of interest
So a “something” nerd, e.g. a theatre nerd, Star Wars nerd, or what have you, is distinct from using “nerd” on its own. Both definitions are equally valid and widely-understood.
Linguistic prescriptivism is lame #DescriptivistGang😎
I always think I’m a nerd about video games until I come across someone who’s played more than me. But I’ll go on and on about certain games and franchises if someone lets me.
You don’t have to be the ultimate nerd to still be a nerd about it. I’m the same way - there are massive game franchises I’ve never touched, but I’ll get in deep on the ones I do play, but I only have about 2 friends who game so I never get the chance.
By nerd, do you mean expert or enthusiast?
I believe nerd usually leans more towards enthusiast, while geek leans more towards expert, at least in contemporary language
I think the Simpsons would disagree but what do I know.
Simpsons nerd!
Boardgames! I used to be more into trading card games like Magic, but got tired of the cost and constant churn, and he spent the last couple years delving deeper into boardgames, including hosting a weekly game night that regularly has 8-10 people :)
Love your organization! We are struggling hard with that, we have a lot of littler games and idk where to put them.
Very nice collection. We have a few cross over. What’s your opinion of Voidfall?
It’s really fun! It’s definitely a completely different kind of game than an Eclipse or Twilight Imperium, but if you like heavy euros there’s a lot to like about it. I really enjoy the unique technologies in each game, and the ability to define your own scoring criteria through agendas.
Ankh is a fun game but boi howdy does it take a while. That said though, one of my favorites it Scythe and that can take a while too. Have you been to GenCon?
I haven’t! I’ve been to a couple smaller conventions local to me, and definitely would like to attend one of the “big ones” like GenCon :-)
Inis and Brian Boru!
High five.
If Innovation is not in any of those small boxes, my recommendation is to try out Innovation(because you’ve covered everything else nicely). (c:
It’s there! Right on top of the Root boxes :)
I love Brian Boru, but I’m still not very good at it! The drafting feels like it has a pretty high skill ceiling.
As someone with ADHD, there is no end to the number of things that fascinate me in life, and as such, I tend to obssess and nerd out on a lot of things. Probably my biggest nerd things are this:
Sonic the Hedgehog: I was gifted a SEGA Game Gear with Sonic 2 for my 9th birthday (30 years ago) and I loved everything about the world and characters. I’ve been a loyal fan ever since. I own every American comic book that’s been released, I’ve seen all the various shows and movies, and I’ve played most of the games (minus the rare arcade games and games on consoles I never owned, e.g. the Nintendo DS). I even built a website to keep a logical reading order of all the main comic series that have been released. It’s a few months out of date right now; my personal life got super busy these past few months, but I’m finally free to update it again. It’s considered a valuable resource in the Sonic fandom, as the comics can get really confusing without a reading order to guide you. Especially the old “Archie Comics” Sonic series. They had so many miniseries and spinoff comics that it gets confusing really fast.
James Bond: I dunno why, but I really got into spies back in jr high school. Back then, I loved the movie Harriet the Spy and enjoyed the film GoldenEye. The video game GoldenEye 007 came out for the Nintendo 64 and my friends and I were obsessed with it. Then my dad bought me two VHS collections (yes, I’m old) of all the James Bond films and I spent my summer vacation nerding out over all the old films, from the '60s and onward. I learned James Bond was the origin of so many action/spy tropes I had seen parodied in cartoons and movies. The bald villain with a scar and a Persian kitty in his lap. The gadgets, the cars, the well-dressed gentleman spy, plots to rule the world, etc. All pay homage to James Bond films. I really got into it.
I especially loved learning about Ian Fleming, the original author of the James Bond books, and how he was a British Naval Commander during WWII and worked Intelligence for the allies. His work was more boring desk work than save-the-world action, and his original novel version of Bond definitely had more desk work than his movie counterpart. I actually did a whole James Bond movie marathon, including all the official and non-official films, and reviewed them in depth on my movie review blog. I even compared them a little to the books they’re based on, where it was applicable. Most of the movies are completely independent of the books. Some only share a book title and nothing else, e.g. Moonraker. The books and movies are very different from each other.
Movies/TV shows: As you may have guessed from my last link, I also nerd out about movies and TV shows. I’ve watched thousands of films in my life and hundreds of TV shows. I still consider it a fun hobby; I haven’t gotten to the point of learning about filmmaking techniques, obsessing over actors or directors, watching awards shows, etc. But I really enjoy getting lost in a good story for an hour or two, and I started a review blog to analyze and break down just what is so good (or bad) about the storytelling in movies and TV shows.
My last movie marathon (a Studio Ghibli marathon) was interrupted by an Internet outage and I haven’t had time to pick it back up in a long while. But I finally find myself with loads of free time again, so I might finally complete that marathon in the coming months.
There are so many other things I’d consider myself a nerd of, but these are a sample of the larger nerdom topics I enjoy.
Cool! Can totally relate.
I like me some Tolkien. Not just the LOTR stuff, though that’s the bulk of it, but I’ve read some of his other books as well as the unfinished works as well. I really enjoy his worldbuilding and the old school storytelling where the hero doesn’t always do so well, mythical creatures aren’t so kind and cute, and dangerous thing lurk, waiting for you off the beaten path.
I’m a software engineer who, for whatever reason, has trouble getting into sci fi and fantasy. I geek out about physics and history and my colleagues have frequently tried to get me into sci fi and fantasy things but unless it’s like Asimov or Vonnegut level, I get bored.
With history, I love non-military history. I will read anything about how normal people (or oppressed people) lived during times of peace but I find military history a little boring unless it’s really a turning point.
With physics, I’m very into cosmology and particle physics (to the point where I have fridge magnets of the standard model particles and a pillow with the CMB on it) but the practical side isn’t my thing. I would be a terrible civil engineer.
Birds, photography and running
Combining all three sounds like a perfect afternoon.
Well, maybe put down the 400mm lens before going running.
That’s where micro fourthirds cameras and phone cameras come in :)
Paramotoring and Home Assistant consume much of my free time
You may not like it, but this is the ideal lifestyle
U PARAMOTOR TOO
Music and especially everything audiophile related. I got so many CDs at home, all ripped to .flac, and all of it is on my android Sony Walkman that I carry with me 24/7. Nothing beats listening to your favorite album through a pair of 1000$ earbuds while laying in bed, working or taking the bus.
😳
Sweet, though! I’m too cheap and my ears too wrecked to be too much of an audiophile lol. I do have a bunch of decent vintage gear, CDs, records, 4-tracks, and some cassettes.
What ear buds are those, at that price? Hope you don’t mind sharing.
Of course not! They’re the ThieAudio Monarch Mk II, absolutely amazing pair of IEMs.
Holy… They do look super professional and audiophile-y. What qualities to they have that warrant this price point? Super low interference, etc?
Well, a lot of things really. IEMs are different to regular earbuds in the way that instead of one speaker in the shell that does all the work, there are several smaller ones that are tuned to a specific frequency of the audio spectrum, which means that the audio engineers that make these can focus on making each of the smaller speakers sound good in their specific range instead of trying to make a single one sound good over the entire audio range.
What I love about these specific pair of IEMs is that they got a pretty great soundstage for being earbuds, and they are absolute beasts when it comes to clarity. The buds are super well balanced across the entire spectrum, and no part feels bloated or “tinny”. That combined with the super great clarity makes it absolutely dreamlike to listen to, being able to hear the “vibrato” of guitar strings as they linger after a chord, or the great bass riffs of songs without having the bass frequency spectrum being obnoxiously loud and bloated. I was completely shellshocked when I first listened to them.
