Neeeeerds!

I recently had the good fortune to attend a meet of some of the Scottish members of SFX Magazine’s forum in Glasgow. It was good fun, yes it was only an afternoon and there were only 8 of us, but as a geek, being in the company of other geeks is fun. In fact, this is true in general and regardless of the focus of your geeky tendencies.

In a recent Top gear the challenge was to buy a classic car and race it in a classics time trial event. At the car auction at the start Clarkson and Hammond were being slightly disparaging of the enthusiasts, the John major voice came out along with the classic phrase “I think you’ll find” which is now pretty much used inside most fandoms to represent the joy in geeky pedantry. However by the end they were ruminating on how nice it was not to have to hide the excesses of their hobby (In this case, cars) and this is what I get when I meet up with reilly2040 and other nerds, you can use references as humour, in jokes and talk about the subject of your geekery without fear that the other parties will be bored or about to mock you. In short this is presumably what fans of football and trendy music, plus probably eastenders and “in” TV shows get every day.

You see, just about all of us have something that enthuses us; I have a good few, must be a personality trait that I take laser like interest in various things. None of them particularly useful (My wife wished I’d do the same but with Plumbing, or gas fitting, or car mechanics) If you have a hobby or an interest, you are probably a geek. Yes its usually bundled on for Sci-Fi fans, but geeks take many forms, and indeed, within their specific geek/nerddom there are subdivisions going to a fractal level, You like Cars, well are you interested in mechanics, motor sport or cars themselves, Cars? Supercars, performance, classic, vintage or Modding? With subjects like cars, most music and gaming, plus the obvious SF and Fantasy, we know we’re nerds; the difference is in the ones who have massive fan bases, making interest near universal, Football, Sports in general and fashionable music. You meet people who have a great interest in these subjects, but would never call themselves a nerd. Sir Terry Pratchett has pointed this out on many occasions. There is sometimes a sneering “I’m not like you” from the football fan, or the guy on his way to a trendy indy gig. In truth the only difference is the football fans biggest fear is being the lone supporter in a workplace, while SF fans have to feel out others like us.

It’s why all the smaller fandoms meet, be it in Metal Bars or at the end of station platforms. We all know the score in those locations and we can bring down the screens that we put up to interact with everyone else, all of whom are similarly hiding their own secret Nerd tendencies, we’ll play up our interest in football, (Or indeed talk about that as it may be as big a love as our love of Motorways) but somewhere you want to talk about something else to a like minded person.

So, attend meets, talk on forums and engage with your fellow geeks. You won’t regret it.