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2023-11: Warosu is now out of extended maintenance.

/lit/ - Literature

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5536499 No.5536499 [Reply] [Original]

>“Saying 'I notice you're a nerd' is like saying, 'Hey, I notice that you'd rather be intelligent than be stupid, that you'd rather be thoughtful than be vapid, that you believe that there are things that matter more than the arrest record of OJ Simpson. Why is that?' In fact, it seems to me that most contemporary insults are pretty lame. Even 'lame' is kind of lame. Saying 'You're lame' is like saying 'You walk with a limp.' Yeah, whatever, so does 2pac, and he's done all right for himself.” - David Foster Wallace

Why aren't you a nerd yet, /lit/?

>> No.5536509

>>5536499
Yeah I didn't think that sounded like a DFW quote.

>> No.5536513

it's more like saying "Hey, I notice you don't take care of your body, are socially crippled, have a narrow sense of aesthetic appreciation of the world that is restricted through scientific technology fetishism and degenerate sci-fi television shows, you have no fashion sense, [etc]"

Or at least that was effectively what it meant some time up to the mid 2000s when it started to mean playing popular and socially acceptable video games.

>> No.5536516

>>5536513
Go to bed, poindexter.

>> No.5536524

Mfw dfw started nerd chic

>> No.5536527

>>5536524
Looks more like Auschwitz chic.

>> No.5536532

>>5536524
NO he didn't, your'e thinking of Steve Urkel.

>> No.5536533

so i mean really there are three senses of the term 'nerd' historically speaking

1) Smart people who study a lot, are generally interested in the sciences, maybe be a little anti-social

2) Unkempt ugly degenerates with no social skills who spend their time reading low-brow fantasy, watching half-baked science fiction television (farscape, babylon 5, stargate, etc), playing warhammer 40k, playing video-games, tipping fedoras, engaging in cosplay, etc, who aren't particularly smart

3) normal people who aren't particularly smart but who kind of use the term 'nerd' in a superficial and ironic sense when they're doing something a little anti-social in the manners specified above but they clearly want everyone to know that that's not the way they usually behave

>> No.5536540

>>5536533
I'm all of those.

>> No.5536542

>>5536533
Whatever nerd

>> No.5536544

>>5536499
>yet
Because if you're not one already then it would be stupid of you to try to become one. Also, you should pity those who are the hopeless embodiment of any stereotype.

>> No.5536545

>>5536533
>Smart people
>degenerates
>normal people

You sure are making a lot of value judgments.

>> No.5536551

Nerd.

>> No.5536554

>>5536545
I'm smart, degenerate and normal all at the same time.

>> No.5536561

>>5536513
>>5536533

ALL HAIL THE KING OF /LIT/ HAS RETURNED

>> No.5536567

>>5536561
He still posts sporadically, and who cares, he doestn' have much intersting to say

>> No.5536570

>>5536499
>Saying 'You're lame' is like saying 'You walk with a limp.'
Not really, David.

>> No.5536577

Just in case of retards that don't know how to google this is a John Green quote.

>> No.5536578

>>5536570
But that's what the word literally means.

>> No.5536581

>>5536577
I wasn't interested enough to google it, but thanks for doing it anyway.

>> No.5536583

>>5536577
Same diff.

>> No.5536585

>>5536577
You must be very well read if you could recognise that quote so effectively.

>> No.5536592

John Green is D. H. Lawrence compared with David Foster Wallace

>> No.5536601

>>5536578
Doesn't matter because that's not what people mean what they use the word.

>> No.5536603

Why would you want to identify with an insult even if it is anti-intellectual. That kind of thing is for queers and sluts.

>> No.5536607

>>5536603
I'ts also for niggers.

>> No.5536611

It's not because you are a nerd that you need to look like one.
I never got this.

>> No.5536634

Of course John Green is trying to pretend that he's not a loser

>> No.5536646

>>5536634
He's an extremely successful popular novelist adored by many teenaged girls

>> No.5536651

>>5536646
And he's probably a Virgin

>> No.5536655

>>5536651
you use a capital letter as if you spoke of virgin mary

>> No.5536682

>>5536651
He's got a YouTube channel; he's probably getting teenage poon all the time, bro.

>> No.5536716

>>5536499
David was such a turd.

>> No.5536730

>>5536682
Nah a girl would probably drop her drawers and he would start stuttering and asking if he was the only one sweating

>> No.5536732

>>5536682
Also he has a son

>> No.5536744

>>5536730
I think he would fuck her pussy with his hard dick, probbaly after eating her out a littel though (he seems like the kind of considerate guy who would do that).

>> No.5536833

>>5536585
This is not the first time I've been on /lit/, so I can recognize the John Green spam.

>> No.5536847

>>5536592
So a socially crippled narcissist whose writing is trite and full of pandering to idiots.

I would say there is no difference at all between the three.

>> No.5536935

So I figured this thread is the best place to ask since my question doesn't deserve its own thread and I'm not about to shit up /lit/ more than it already is.

I'm itching to finally read Infinite Jest but I use an e-reader and I'm told it has a shit ton of notes. Will it be uncomfortable/annoying? How do endnotes even work on that thing?

>> No.5536945

>>5536533
shut up nerd

>> No.5536947

>>5536847
LAwrence wasn't any of those things, not even a narcissist..

>> No.5536950

>>5536533

>unironically using the word "degenerate"

It just had to be the tripfag.

Fuck off back to /pol/.

>> No.5536959

>>5536950
Lol yes, /pol/ is exactly where Deep&Edgy belongs.

>> No.5536967

>>5536513
>>5536533
Chad pls go. Nerds are very intelligent. Playing video games, laughing at webcomics and frequently making meme references raises your IQ significantly. Your just jellymad because all you have is your job and your girlfriend but you will never know true intellectualism.

>> No.5536970

>lol ur such a nerd
>like Sheldon from Big Bang Theory
>bazinga

>> No.5536977

>>5536967
Chad.

>> No.5537010

>>5536499
Does anyone really think that being a 'nerd' is about being intellectual? Being a nerd is about being socially and physically incompetent whilst focusing all your attention to studying or another more niche hobby (like how so many overweight neckbeards play Dota to attempt MLG status)

>> No.5537020

>>5537010
>whilst focusing all your attention to studying or another more niche hobby

I like to study Roman history in my spare time and analyze their battle strategies and shit. Interesting stuff.

A-am I a nerd?

>> No.5537025

>>5536499
It's a john green quote

>> No.5537028
File: 28 KB, 282x362, and but so.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
5537028

>>5536499
http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/57214-saying-i-notice-you-re-a-nerd-is-like-saying-hey
DFW didn't say that

>> No.5537029

>>5536935
All I can say is, that if you have a kobo, don't even bother.

>> No.5537035

>>5537029

I have a Kobo Touch, as a matter of fact.

Would a Kindle be better? If yes, why? Again, sorry for bothering but the thread is steering towards shitposting anyway so I can't be doing much damage.

>> No.5537037

>>5537020
A slight nerd, but since you only do it in your spare time, not a real one.

>> No.5537040

>>5537029
Selecting [1] type superscript endnotes on my Kobo Mini is almost impossible. So annoying.

>> No.5537041

I wish we'd all just collectively bury the word "nerd" and move on. It's basically "feminist", or "atheist" or "republican" by now, i.e a phrase that has as many different definitions and connotations as there are people using it (and probably more), rendering any discussion about - or with - it absolutely useless.

>> No.5537043

>>5537020
I'm sorry Anon, you've been diagnosed with a terminal case of bazinga

>> No.5537045

>>5536935
>>5537029
I don't know about the kobo but I had no trouble reading it with a kindle, since the endnotes were hyperlinked (and back). Arguably even more practical than real bookmarks (not even bringing the oversized thumper weight into it)

>> No.5537052

>>5537045

Endnotes are hyperlinked and back on the Kobo as well. It might be a pain in the ass to switch back and forth so often, but then again it's Infinite Jest. DFW wanted it to be a chore to read.

>> No.5537055
File: 19 KB, 236x314, a8de35173c0b87816d63a6cfc31f8517.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
5537055

>> No.5537057

>>5537043

But I have a girlfriend and a job.

>> No.5537062

>>5537057
Sheldon Cooper also ha s a job...

>> No.5537066

Saying that you're a nerd basically means you feel the need to justify your hobbies.

>> No.5537073

Reminder that nerds are the most dangerous people in America and Alex Jones is on to them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQpD9LolO-k

>> No.5537076

>>5537052
Only enough of a pain that I'd sometimes group read if I noticed several endnotes on the same page, but that's it. Maybe selecting the [x] marks on a touchscreen could get easier if you increase text size a bit

>> No.5537085

>>5537076

I see. I will start as soon as I finish BOTNS, then.