Were/Are you a nerd in high school?

[RedImperator]

I was a nerd, but I was mostly left alone because I kept a low profile compared to some of the other nerds (full blown "Spock ears" types). Also, there was this whole bomb threat thing in 10th grade that sorta got blown out of proportion and eventually involved the police, and after that I kinda got the impression that some of the people who might have picked on me thought I was a psycho, so they went after softer targets.

[Cyborg Stan]

Probably. I never paid attention much, so it was hard to tell.

Nobody really bothered with me, period.

I wasn't taller, fatter, or really more athletic than most other people, but I have a relatively large frame with the ability to soak up and deal out quite a bit of kinetic energy. (Case in point was my habit of figuring out ways to open doors using my foot without slowing down my steps, usually using kicks. I had strange looks when I tried to explain that it was actually an intricate and complicated system depending on the door, the shoe, injuries, weather, etc and that I simply did it to amuse myself.) Since I have a rather emotion-deprived (Not quite expressionless - for some reason, everybody thought I was pissed off constantly for reasons I never quite understood.) face and the fact I normally walked around three times as fast as a normal person, whenever I had the chance...

I suppose it also had to do with the fact that I could never make small talk - the only conversation I ever had was if the others around me were talking and I slip in an inane or witty comment - the fact that I never, ever in the course of my entire high school (and probably middle and elementary school career) called anyone by name, never initiated a conversation or any greetings, and at best (considering my walking speed, my reaction times when talking to people) usually grunted or said 'Huh?' five seconds after someone greets me.

A few people were friendly to me on occasinin, but I think I had around the order of one friend, who after freshman year apparently got bored of me and decided to make new friends. I doubt it really had anything to do with me as much as a change in scheludes and and it being a yearly ritual - apparently she changed her circle of school friends every school year, a concept which utterly baffles me. After this, our contact became less and less regular and broke off completely a bit over a year ago when I determined that we pretty much share nothing in common.

Now, as for the intelligence/sci-fi/fantasy parts of the nerd bit - I think I was considered extremely smart by alot of people and outright hilarious when I did presentations. I also had at one occurance someone outright tell me that I scared the crap out them simply by what I consider ordinary habits - in a school where miliant lesbians get caught fisting each other in the girls room (Where the bathrooms get cleaned once a week so there are large puddles of piss and piles of crap on the floor.), where someone runs for class president in clown make-up and a speech that goes 'I simply want your respect', and where the entire sloped side overlooking the secondary football field is termed "Smoker's Hill" because that's where all the teachers and students go to smoke cigarettes and pot - so I consider it an oddball badge of pride. Now, computer-wise, I suppose I was considered competant, but there were others that were considered computer geniuses, considering there were legends out there like some 'Smoke' person who apparently became a hack/programmer for the Department of Defense and the founder of Anandtech. (Being a magnet schoool, I there was a very strong nerd contingent.) I don't know how well people knew my sci-fi leanings, but I suppose it might've gotten around that I did a few essays on why Star Wars would beat Star Trek (Which had more to do with the fact I can recite most of the basics off the top of my head and thus I don't have to go out of my way to do research.)

It occured to me that this answers why more than what the original question asked, and thus I went on a bit of a tangent. I suppose I would say I seriously doubt that I was treated differently because of my nerdish-ways, although I would be the last to find out if that were the case. I think in the second half of the freshmen year in high school, there were a group of people that heckled me everytime I walked past, but I think that had more to do with the minor incident in which I punted a basketball in gym class and it hit someone sitting in the bleachers, also causing the back of the head to hit against the metal construct.

[Frank Hipper]

Jr. high/middle school, yes. Halfway through 8th grade, we moved from Hamilton, Ohio to Redondo Beach, CA. Unwittingly, and because it was closest to home, mom and dad enrolled us into the juvenile delinquent middle school. You cannot imagine the hell. I had no idea I even had an accent. But I sure learned. When you answer a question and the entire class laughs, you know there's something wrong. Tracy Lords went there, and was one of the very few "cool" kids that treated me decent.
High school was a completely different story. Not once did I recieve any kind of abuse. Tracy Lords and I are on the same page of the yearbook, BTW.

[Nathan F]

Not really. Not the 'coolest', not really a 'nerd'. Where I am from, bout everybody came from the same town, so, we were of too similar a background to tease or taunt.

I guess I was just kind of middle of the road.

[Illuminatus Primus]

I'm not a nerd.

I've had a couple one-punch things before nearby people stopped me from continuing to lay the smackdown.

People don't mess with/mock me because I'll tell them to blow me or shut the fuck up. And back it up.

I've had girlfriends, and girls find me attractive (those I don't piss off because they're just ignorant; though I don't say anything unless ignorance is thrown at me).

A girl I liked last year called me a "rebellious saint" because I don't like conformist scenes and think a lot of people are stupid but I'm not "bad" in the sense I don't have sex with the really easy loose females and I don't get drunk or smoke.

That's about the worse any particular clique says about me. And that's the one who thinks that the worst Whigger poseurs are teh hottest boyz eva!

Morons.

[Master of Ossus]

I was a nerd in HS, but not in college.

[Darth Yoshi]

To call me a nerd would insult nerds everywhere, and also makes my life seem more interesting than it actually is. However, I've never been picked on.

[aerius]

Tracy Lords went there, and was one of the very few "cool" kids that treated me decent.
High school was a completely different story. Not once did I recieve any kind of abuse. Tracy Lords and I are on the same page of the yearbook, BTW.

Cool, I guess I'm not the only one who went to school with a famous person. In my case I was in the same high school as swimsuit model Estella Warren, and I sorta knew her through my swimmer friends. I can't say I talked to her much or anything, but we sorta recognized each other since we had a bunch of mutual friends who hung out together and we'd see each other at these gatherings.

[Alferd Packer]

Yes, I was a nerd until senior year. I came back from a summer in California slim, tanned, and a smooth fucking pimp. I was up to my elbows in it fromhence. Since then, I've gone back to my nerdish roots, but goddamn if I didn't have a kickass senior year.

[Uraniun235]

In elementary and middle school I took shit for being a nerd. But in high school that really changed... after freshman year I really didn't take any shit at all, from anyone... which was and still is baffling because I'm definitely overweight and I'm definitely a nerd. From the way people talk to me I figure I could probably be actually popular if I weren't so socially inept.

Now, there are people that flame me on a forum one of them started, but they all post anonymously and have repeatedly ignored my challenge to say anything to my face, so they don't count.

[Captain tycho]

I wasn't really a nerd, but certianly not a jock.
So, I was a semi-nerd.
I was into science and history, and liked the few sci-fi shows that were on back when I was in middle-school, so I was a nerd, I guess.

[Gandalf]

I'm quite the Uber-nerd, when word got around about that, people approaced me with the strangest questions;
"Speak some Klingon!"
"Why do you like Star Trek"
"Star Wars is better"

EDIT: I'd like to add I have a girlfriend now, there is hope for all of us.

[fgalkin]

I would hav been a nerd in any other school, but, fortunately, my school has such huge amounts of intelligent people, that I don't really stand out.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

[Vympel]

Definitely a nerd back in the day. Fuck- I left school four and a half years ago. I'm in the fifth and final year of my uni degree. Woot.

[Crazy_Vasey]

Yeah. Even worse because they knew I would take the bait and fight back. I must have gotten into a hundred fights of varying intensities and it got worse every fucking time.

[Raptor 597]

Yes, though I could be higher in the social ladder if I wanted I play Chess instead.

[Rathark]

I was a bit of an under-achieving nerd.

Now, in that anally retentive era, what was the PC term for nerd ...?
Was there one ...?

[Dalton]

Now, in that anally retentive era, what was the PC term for nerd ...?
Was there one ...?

Of course not. Nerds were generally not a politically active nor desirable demographic. If the politicians are not interested in your "special interest group", then don't expect them to kiss your ass and invent fake terms to soothe your dangerously brittle sense of self-worth.

EDIT: Not directed at you, Rathark; rather, a generic "you".

[RogueIce]

Will she become an officer when she joins up?

Or if you meet when you join up will she have to call you 'Sir'?

No, enlisting. Going to do college in the Navy. However, from the time she enters boot camp until four years later, there will be a few months before her contract is up and the time I receive (hopefully) my commission, so yes, she would have to salute and call me "sir" for a bit.

Not that it helps any with the romantic part, but in fact makes it worse (fraternization or however you spell it).

[Enforcer Talen]

I was a nerd, but I was mostly left alone because I kept a low profile compared to some of the other nerds (full blown "Spock ears" types). Also, there was this whole bomb threat thing in 10th grade that sorta got blown out of proportion and eventually involved the police, and after that I kinda got the impression that some of the people who might have picked on me thought I was a psycho, so they went after softer targets.

damn. that's almost the story of my life.

[Peregrin Toker]

I'M A NERD, AND I'M PROUD OF IT!!

[Zaia]

I'm a band nerd supreme.

Hmm, band fag is the more common term these days. I know, I was there too.

Can I just say how much I completely abhor and utterly despise this word? Right up there with 'nigger' in my book. "Band nerd" or "band geek" is just a bit annoying, but the word 'fag' is usually used in such a hateful way... Yuck. If I ever catch any punks at my school talking to my kids like that, I'll probably lose my job for rearranging their faces.


So, obviously, I was a band nerd to the fullest, but never really got picked on for it or anything. In elementary school, everyone was in band, so that was no biggie. In my first year of intermediate school (7th grade), band had a lot of the cool people in it and the teacher was awesome, so band was cool. Then I switched to a Maryland middle school (8th grade), where the teacher sucked and there were still some cool kids in the band, so it was ok to be in band. In high school there were less cool kids in band, but at that point I didn't give a shit because I was in just about every instrumental and vocal music class offered, so I didn't have to see non-music people for the most part.

Of course, then I got to college, where the coolest thing in the world is to be a percussion major. So, band nerdiness isn't all that bad. And of course, now, there's the teaching thing that I do, which is kinda dorky I guess, but I also have playing gigs (with local orchestras, musical productions, statewide arts programs, etc.) which my friends think is the coolest job ever.

[Slartibartfast]

In this country we don't have a clear distinction between "nerd" and "popular" (that's why TV shows about U.S. schools always flop, they're so "unreal"). By your country(ies) standards, I would have been considered a nerd because I liked computers and was good at math, and there was this lamer who actually called me that once. After I kicked his ass thoroughly for a week or so, he stopped saying it to my face... he yelled it at me from a safe distance.

I didn't care too much anyway, because he was more or less considered the village idiot, very obnoxious, nobody really liked him for being such a jerk.

[jegs2]

Revenge of the Nerds was on Comedy Central, so I figured I'd ask how many of you were treated shittily in high school because of being a nerd or something like that?

Actually, I laughed all the way through that movie until I caught a reflection of myself in the mirror. However, while in high school, I was more of an outcast than a nerd. Nerds make good grades -- I generally made C's, D's, and F's (graduating HS with an extremely low GPA). It would take four years of enlisted military service to turn me around...

Actually, I'm enjoying being a nerd now, and I joke about it to my fellow officers, who for some reason don't consider me a nerd (and my wife won't hear of it -- she maintains she did not marry a nerd). Perhaps I'm just a nerd wannabe...

[darthdavid]

Sorta.