Nerds then and now

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Have you ever noticed that nerds today are quite different from the nerds of yesteryear?

Then: Dress shirts with pocket protectors.

Now: T-shirts purchased at a science fiction convention.

Then: Crew cut.

Now: Pony tail.

Then: Seriously underweight.

Now: Seriously overweight.

At least I looked like today’s nerd long before it was fashionable!

2

A friend of mine once said, “It may be fashionable to act like a nerd. It may be fashionable to dress like a nerd. It will never be fashionable to be a nerd.”

I’d like to hear theories about why yesteryear’s nerds were skinny and today’s are overweight. It’s not like the nerds of previous generations were more athletically inclined.

3

I don’t think much has really changed. There’s just a lot of different kinds of nerds.

There’s still the science-geek nerd (pocket protector and tape on the glasses), the comic-book nerd (ponytail and sci-fi-con shirt), and so on. There’s also a bit of nerd overlap, and some variations within the taxonomic groups. For instance, the alpha nerd in a group of Japanese-anime-fan nerds will have slightly different characteristics than the rest of his/her herd, probably including a t-shirt with kanji he/she can’t read on it.

You may have hit upon a fundamental shift in the nerd demographic, though.

4

Computers?