Nerds Aren't Real

My lovely Comm 322 professor, Mrs. McCauliff, likes to nerd out. I like to nerd out. My friend Mark Miller likes to nerd out. It seems like everybody likes to nerd out. But when did being nerdy start becoming cool?

Before, nerds where shunned. But is it that nerds are becoming more popular? Or is it more likely that we are misusing the term? Ten years ago, no one would proclaim themselves to be a nerd. Nerds were into star wars, cargo shorts, and not talking to girls. What has changed? The nerds haven't. They are still out there. The meaning of the term nerd has changed.

Now nerds are just people who like things. A lot. It doesn't have to involve aliens or ninjas anymore. It can be as mainstream as Subway, Nike, or Coca Cola. It does not have to be obscure. If you like something with enough passion, you're a nerd. 

Nerds aren't real anymore because all it really means is that you like something, which doesn't take a lot of effort. Could we have thought of a more appropriate way to describe people who are passionate about something? Like passionate. That might be more fitting than every white girl who knows what Halo is proclaiming "I'm such a nerd!" to themselves five times in the mirror every night before they go to bed.

Can we give the term nerd back to the nerds, please. It was such a concrete word before. Now it's true meaning is lost because people want to feel unique and obscure. You're not a real nerd. Deal with it.