JULY
20, 2001
Geek
mythology
By
Dylan
Boey
Nerds have not exacted their revenge until now, thanks to
fashion and technology. The more out you are, the more in you
are. Go figure
A nerd is the last person you would want to be caught talking
to at a party, yet the first one to approach for the 29th number
in the running decimals of pi.
'Nerds are the classic outsiders,' says Assistant Professor
Scott Schaffer in an e-mail interview with LTW. He is a sociologist
at the Millersville University of Pennsylvania, and managing editor
for the Journal of Mundane Behaviour, an online publication which
studies mundane routines.
He says: 'Generally, nerds don't fit into our pre-conceived
notions of what people supposedly strive to be - pretty and popular.
They are not often considered attractive, nor are they concerned
with fashion or the usual material possessions. They are outside
the consumerist front.'
The nerd is the antithesis of fashion. Yet, as with street culture,
anything in the real world can be parodied and used by fashion
trendsetters like Comme des Garcons, Hugo Boss and Calvin Klein.
In fact, nerdwear was a hit on the catwalks of Paris, Milan
and London in April, with models decked in outfits emulating the
dress sense of Silicon Valley's geek gods.
At the height of the IT boom last year, pseudo-nerds also made
an appearance.
These are folks who want to be as chic as geeks, but do not
want the boredom of true nerd-dom. Decked out in short-sleeved
button-downs, optical prints, gingham-checked pants and rectangular
geek glasses, the pseudo-nerd has become the new epitome of cool.
Once ridiculed for his profound intellect, the nerd as fashion
icon is perhaps indicative of the newfound respect for the breed's
single-minded quest for knowledge.
So who are these book-burrowers- turned-fashion-muses? Associate
Professor Chang Weiming has a definition.
'Nerds are people with very limited interests and their interests
tend to be of a very specific nature, usually in the sciences
and technology, thus deemed not very interesting to the mainstream,'
says Prof Chang, who is from the National University of Singapore's
department of Social and Cultural Psychology.
'Society likes to equate boredom with nerds. But it is all in
the eye of the beholder,' says Prof Chang, who declines to reveal
her age.
Dr Anthony Chan, 52, a psychology lecturer at NUS, says that
no formal studies on nerds or boring personalities have been done.
'The word 'nerd' has no meaning. Like the term 'kiasu', it is
an abused word in the English language, often based on individual
perception. It is just a label,' he says. 'In South American cultures,
if you are not into sports or if you are not beautiful, then you
are boring, you are a nerd. So it all depends on what your values
are.'
Prof Schaffer says: 'If we stop concerning ourselves with what
is supposedly interesting, we might find more value in what actually
is interesting.'
Seen in that light, nerds might actually be ahead of their time.
Their interests might seem obscure to non-nerds but it hardly
means that they are boring.
He adds: 'Nerds might be more concerned with computer programming,
the intricacies of the battle plans from the War of 1812, or playing
glissandos on the accordion. But they find joy in these things.'
Prof Chang agrees. 'Nerds have sophistication too, but in knowledge,
not in lifestyles,' she says. 'They only seem boring to people
because their interests are limited in offering the kinds of information
that might be engaging to other people.'
Muses Dr Chan: 'The word 'nerd' should be taken in a good light.
While it can be degrading, it also praises these people. As a
nerd, you might not be the most popular person around but you
are secretly admired for your drive for knowledge.
'At the end of the day, people are rewarded by their achievements,
be it good grades or the circuit plan for a microchip, and not
by what people think of them.'
Prof Chang concludes: 'The US President is a nerd. Bill Gates
is a nerd. At some point in our lives, we might also have been
nerds. And if you had not noticed by now, by virtue of who they
are, nerds have always ruled the world.'
Off the catwalks and onto the world stage. Nerds of the world
unite. It is time to take a bow.
NERD SPECIES
So you think one geek is like another? You can't be more wrong.
LTW gives you a rundown on the major nerd species here, including
the most interesting - the wan-nerd-be
the library nerd
who?: Zit-ridden, nose-in-book and typically scrawny, you cannot
miss him. An avid subscriber to Time magazine and a platinum card
member of the neighbourhood library, the Library Nerd is the original
from whom all other nerds spool. Most recently, you might have
spotted him in the hotseat of TV's Who Wants To Be A Millionaire,
inching his way up the money tree without resorting to any lifelines.
a.k.a: The Bookworm.
10 years ago he was: Harry Potter, Encyclopaedia Brown (fictional
youth sleuth) or a GEP student at Raffles Institution.
10 years from now he will be: Woody Allen or Stephen Hawking.
typical line: 'That's my final answer.'
worships: His secondary school maths teacher.
the techno geek
who? Perhaps the most celebrated and marketable of all nerds
given that we are living in an IT age, the Techno Geek is also
the most sought after among women - that is if they can decipher
his tech-speak. Fond of using metasyntactic vocabulary, software
acronyms and hardware jargon, you have to talk the talk to get
into the same bandwidth as him. Once seen lugging an iBook around,
he now carries a sleek Palmtop in his shirt pocket. Way cool.
a.k.a: The Computer Whiz.
10 years ago he was: Jason Fox from the Foxtrot comics.
10 years from now he will be: Bill Gates, Sim Wong Hoo or The
Three Horsemen from The X-Files.
typical line: 'Let's go watch the computer de-frag.'
worships: Dana Scully, Aki Ross and Lara Croft.
the office dweeb
who?: The only one who reads and archives company journals since
1981, the Office Dweeb is every company's best-kept secret. Having
deviced the most comprehensive filing system this side of the
office, he is now set to make Powerpoint presentations of all
his accounting logbooks. Take cover. In his spare time, the Office
Dweeb plays a mean game of badminton or ping pong.
a.k.a: The Accountant.
10 years ago he was: 'Finch' in American Pie.
10 years from now he will be: Dilbert, Biscuit in Ally McBeal,
Chen Hanwei in Love Me, Love Me Not.
typical line: 'Let me give you a hand. They say I'm good at fax.'
worships: Cheryl Fox from ChannelNews Asia or Lucy Liu as a dominatrix
lecturer in Charlie's Angels.
the wan-nerd-be
who?: Do not be deceived by this quasi-geek, who is anything
but. Nursing an obvious hangover from last season's nerdwear collection,
the wan-nerd-be is immaculate in his black-rimmed spectacles,
short-sleeved shirts, gangsta ties and non-pleated pants.
But the association stops there. This weekend nerd only dresses
like one. Like a superhero who has to self-contain all traces
of conventional chic to pass off as a geek, he will rip off his
nerdy shell once he tires of his wardrobe. A dead giveaway of
this counterfeit is that he has a dress sense. Definitely un-nerdlike.
a.k.a: The Pseudo Nerd.
10 years ago he was: Jonathan Lipinski from Stuart Little, Daniel
Radcliffe from Harry Potter.
10 years from now he will be: Drew Carey, Najip Ali or Eric Khoo.
typical line: 'Check out my new frames from Alexander McQueen.'
worships: Shirley Manson from Garbage, Stella McCartney from Chloe.
the nerdette
who?: She's bookish, frumpy and usually overshadowed by her
male nerd counterparts. 'The female nerd is less noticeable because
she has another identity to contend with first - being female,'
explains American sociologist Scott Schaffer, managing editor
for the online Journal of Mundane Behaviour. Usually a St John's
Ambulance or school band alumni-type, the nerdette knits, plays
a killer Revolutionary Etude on the ivories, and loves woolly
cardigans. More girl-geek than girl-guide, the Nerdette typically
favours 60 Minutes and 48 Hours. Nothing too fancy, please.
a.k.a: The Female Nerd.
10 years ago she was: Heather Matarazzo in Welcome To The Dollhouse,
Keiko Agena in Gilmore Girls, Alyson Hannigan in American Pie.
10 years from now she will be: Abigail in Under One Roof, Pamela
Oei in Ah Girl.
typical line: 'One time at band camp...'
worships: Barbara Walters and Margaret Thatcher.
Copyright
@ 2000 Singapore Press Holdings. All rights reserved.
