There a many people in this world that know the ins and outs of World of Warcraft, Star Trek, Star Wars and Magic the Gathering. These people are often labeled as "nerds" for knowing what many would consider far too much information about said forms of entertainment. I'm gonna let everyone in on a little secret: we're all nerds. Everyone on the face of this planet is a living, breathing nerd.Don't believe me? You don't think that you too can be a nerd? You're in denial. Being a nerd extends far beyond the reaches of possessing vast knowledge about Frodo and his pals from the Lord of the Rings trilogy. There are all types of nerds. A person that knows everything there is to know about Friends. I'm positive that there are more than a handful of people that can quote some of Joey's funniest lines and remember the exact episode those lines came from. These people are Friends nerds. Then you've got comic book nerds that know every inch of Spider-Man's history. These guys would be Spidey nerds. People that are well informed on computers? They know the name of every part, model type and all the other pieces that I can't even remember as I type this. Nerds.
What about people in the music and singing business, like say, the judges on American Idol? Most would call them experts but that's really just a polite way of saying they're nerds. One might ask "How can they be nerds?" Better question, how can they not be nerds? I'm guessing many don't see them as nerds because most would say knowing a lot about music would make them experts, where as knowing how to play a good game of Yu-Gi-Oh! would make someone a nerd. Somewhere along the line someone decided to substitute the word 'expert' with 'nerd' and the world has been running with it ever since. To me, there really is no difference between the two. We're all nerds in some form or another. Me, I'm a Spider-Man nerd, a video game nerd, and a nerd on other things that currently escape me at the moment.
You know there's really nothing wrong with being a nerd. I've got a friend who owns the first four seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation on DVD and probably knows more about that series than I ever will (and for the record, TNG is the best Star Trek series.) Nerds are cool people and without them, I think many of us would be lost on a lot of things. God bless, nerds.
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