This is strange.
I did all three of these in the 20 min. prior to reading this post.
Maby not to strage because they are regular activities of mine.
It is because they haven’t learned to be cool. (nerds = not cool)
They haven’t learned that they must conform to the rest of the world and supress any urges to have non-authorized fun.
Nerds!
Doh, the hamster ate my post, and/or blocked out my view of your post. I was trying to reply to elmwood, not to you. In addition, I was saying I don’t agree withe Matrix explination, but I was trying to tell elmwood it was the popular theory.
I agree and disagree with you.
I think Trunk is possibly right in his assertion that stair leaping is a physical skill that can be mastered outside any hint of competition or judgement. But I also I agree that stair vaulting is done for fun and not to attract mates. It is fun doing something that you have mastered, even if no-one else cares. If it was a pathetic attempt to attract mates, why do married nerds do it? Why do we do it when no one is watching? No, stari jumping is just for fun and no nerd cares what it looks like.
However, while the nerd is not thinking about attracting a mate by the act of stair jumping, I can state that while stair jumping most unmated nerds are thinking about attracting a mate. And mated nerds are thinking about mating with their mate. Haven’t you people ever seen “Revenge of the Nerds”? What kind of nerd doesn’t think about sex all the time? Nerds are just not willing to do some of the conformist things some people think are required to bring those thoughts to reality.
I don’t think that stair-leaping is something that has to be MASTERED, per se, but it’s definitely nerdy to like to learn random physical skills, such as juggling, balancing things on one’s nose, skipping stones, tying knots, throwing playing cards, and so forth. If anyone wants to brawl with me in the above-described Minor Nerd Event Pentathlon, I’m there!
(But don’t think that means that nerds can only engage in non-standard physical activities… nerds are surprisingly often good at sports, both in specific and in general. Who do you think invented Ultimate Frisbee?)
I…uh…well I suppose it’s not always nerdy…
I think we’re going to need to see some pics, just for jumping techniques, of course 
Hey, remember, when a girl stumbles into a nerd thread, she is a precious natural resource to be shared and enjoyed by all, and should not be scared or startled away. Treat her as if she were a timid woodland creature!
That’s how I do it, too, at least where the handrails are close enough together. Except I didn’t learn in the Navy. See, there used to be a black cat that allowed us in her house, and she liked to sleep on the basement stairs. So whenever going down to the basement, I had to skip the stair she was sleeping on. Except that she picked a stair to sleep on at random. And the stairs were dark. And she was, as mentioned, a black cat. So I had to start either turning on the lights, or paying close attention… Or, skip all the steps.
Relevant both to this and to #1: Nerds move because we want to get from point A to point B. So why not get to point B quickly?
Huh. I don’t run, but I crack my neck when it’s stiff, and I run down stairs. Why? I like running down stairs. It’s fun. And my neck gets stiff from reading, computer stuff, tension, too much dancing, whatever.
It never occurred to me that those things were uncool. I don’t really understand why I should worry that cracking my sore neck looks uncool. I know my husband (former trenchcoat wearing quasi-goth D&D playing martial arts guy) runs down stairs, too. I should ask him if he thinks those behaviours are specific to nerds.
Out of curiousty, Trunk, what’s wrong with bo? Is iado or kendo or stickfighting superior?
I feel like a chipmunk now.
A big old nerdy chipmunk. I like to tell people “I’m not a girl, I’m an engineer.”
Anyway, as for the skirt thing - it’s fun with those flowy types of skirts. I really like how they move when I jump down stairs. Even without skirts it’s fun though.
Er…wearing pants or shorts instead of skirts. Not just without skirts.
And I’ll see if I can get a pic in the next couple days…
Take notes dude, this is how it’s done:
BTW, did anyone ever catch ALL CAPS GUY on the Atlanta Craigslist? That guy was absolutely brilliant. I have a saved archives although I haven’t checked in the last month to see if he’s still around.
Well, holy hell. I didn’t read this far down before replying. Tokyo, you win.
Lissa There’s nothing wrong per se with cracking your neck, it’s just the manner in which I described - really, really obvious. Given that the nerds I know all think they can “still make Airborne Ranger by 35” despite the fact that their only exercise in the last 1X years consists of 1) Random pointless sprints and 3) Jumping down stairs.
Now, if you were going to, as one poster mentioned, crack your neck like those guys in *Bloodsport * and other martial arts movies, that’d be cool. Just remember, as much of a badass as that guy looks, he always gets his ass kicked in the end.
It’s frightening how close this is to what my answer is going to be.
I believe that you see these brief little physical flashes from the nerd because he is generally unatheletic, out of shape (being thing does not equal being in shape), and lacks the real desire or discipline to be either. However, the nerd in his heart of hearts does not want to believe that he couldn’t be both, or secretly isn’t both if pressed (much like the mild mannered hero in a bad comic book who discovers unknown and untapped strength when pressed). Therefore, he does these things under the deluded belief that by running 15 yards as fast as he can, he is showing his capability (and in his head, he really is running incredibly fast, although in “real time” it’s the equivalent of a 6.2 40 yard dash).
Yes, nerds are all completely lacking in self-awareness or any sense of reality. I think fat nerds know they’re fat, and skinny weak nerds know they’re skinny and weak. Playing around and pretending isn’t the same as being deluded.
Anyhow, there are plenty of nerds who are perfectly reasonably fit. There is some connection between out-of-shapeness and nerddom, and it goes two ways: people who start out out of shape, ie, fat kids, are more likely to be sucked into nerddom in the first place, because it’s somewhere where they’ll be judged on the content of their character, or perhaps their knowledge of Star Trek trivia, instead of their weight. And if someone’s primary hobby is Dungeons and Dragons, that makes it somewhat less likely that that person is in great shape, compared to someone who’s primary hobby is, say, Tennis. Which doesn’t mean someone can’t play D&D and run marathons. It just means that the data point “person X plays D&D” makes it a bit less likely that person X has any other single hobby, such as tennis. Similarly, “person X likes to drink beer, go to bars, and watch football on TV” makes it less likely that person X is fit.
So, overall, nerds are probably a bit less fit than the average population. But only a bit. Of course, the average population isn’t very fit, either. I mean, aside from tautological answers like “fitness buffs” or “athletes”, what group IS fit?
… but, I don’t do ANY of these nerdy things!!!
:: hands in nerd ID card ::