Come and fess up to the ways in which you are really square/bit of a nerd

I used to do cross-stitch (in my spare time) now I'm limited to listening (and enjoying) gardener's World on radio 4!

With you on the telly, Progressive - though I add general science docs and anything space related. Our 4.5 year old twins are quite excited about rockets and the planets and I'm proud and supportive but wary of stifling an early interest with over enthusiasm.

Also a big 'plane nerd. If you are and have a smartphone (what nerd hasn't ?), get the Planefinder app - it shows you all the planes in your area and you can find out what they are. Last summer I was forever sitting in the garden, calling out things like "look, that's Lufthansa going from Frankfurt to JFK, it left 15 minutes late".

By the time I die I will probably have read all of Wikipedia.

I'm obsessed with english folk music

I'm about to go into politics

TV wise I rarely watch anything but documentaries on physics on BBC4

I love railways. I love maps. Particularly I love railway maps.

I can never resist correcting historical errors in popular culture.

I was once overhead at a party discussing the definition of the M4 measure of money supply with another friend. There was mockery.

Massive Sci fi fan;
Star wars
battlestar
farscape
DS9
etc

ds1's middle name is Luke in honour of Luke Skywalker

I also love;
Tudor history
History of the papacy
Victorian/Edwardian Farm (watched A LOT by me and ds1)
Study humantities, specifically art history.

I am geek and PROUD

Hahahah this is a great thread!!!

I used to be very geeky but no so much now, this years poor weather ruined my veg patch and broke my heart.

Also watch Countryfile esp for the Weather for the week ahead. I LOVE weather, and climate studies, but I could honestly spend my time chasing storms, recreating weather or simulating storms.

I dont do any of this for a job, but I do have two of my own lab coats :-)

Think this may be my favourite ever MN thread!

I recognise so many traits here... I also love science fiction and fantasy books (currently on latest volume of A Song of Ice and Fire and am eking it out as I don't want to finish it too long before the next one comes out!)

I regularly correct historical inaccuracies in films. Eleanor of Aquitaine is my all time hero and I too have a crush on William Marshall.

I'm in IT, not that geeky on it's own but I regularly go out to schools to spread my love of science and engineering to young unsuspecting girls!

Vive la geek!

[feels at home]

My job is based around heavy duty computer coding,
I have a computer based degree,
I rebuilt my home PC last week because it was going too slowly,
I've accidentally cooked the graphics on my Xbox360 through over use and mourn every day I can't afford to replace it right now,
I tabletop roleplay - DnD, nWOD, L5R, 7S, etc, (Any other roleplayers out there? )
When I'm not roleplaying I'm board gaming,
Studied Japanese...in order to understand Anime/Manga/jRPGs,
My computer wallpapers are all Anime/Manga/jRPG characters,
Absorb fantasy novels - LOTR, WoT, etc,
I'm reading DD (18 months) Star Wars as a bedtime story.

Can I stay?

Stubbornstains

I've always believed in pursuing knowledge and interests for the sheer pleasure of doing so rather then what material/occupational benefits they might bring.

I am thrilled and proud though, of all the women on here with their eclectic interests, interesting jobs, occupations and brilliant quirky minds.

stubbornstains I think you are right. I was just ranting to discussing with DH the other day that it shocks me that there are still people, male and female, who think it is in some way endearing for a woman to be, or pretend to be, 'a bit thick', for want of a better way of putting it. Mind you, I went into my rant after watching some permatanned loon on Celebrity Mastermind, Stacey someone, making an utter fool of herself and then giggling in a 'little old me' way. I understand that not everyone is academic, or well educated, but a general air of being uninformed and proud of it really depresses me.

I love radio 4 including the archers
I love computer games
I know how a computer works
I've built my own pc before

I now have an overwhelming urge to get a big jigsaw

Oh yes, I forgot pedantry. Parents both retired teachers, so had it beaten drilled into us from our first words.

Am I alone in finding this thread refreshingly feminist, too? Geekery- which I would define as the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake - is often seen as a male characteristic. As if women were uninterested in "stuff" outside their narrow sphere of existence......

fuzzpig I read Eats Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss a few years ago on the subject of grammar, as a light read rather than a serious academical study. But, the reviews on Amazon are not particularly favourable, and some of them say that her knowledge is lacking, and that she is very sneering - its so long since I read it that I can't remember to be honest.

Or you could go and live with my elderly parents for a week. My mum is a retired primary school teacher and my dad is a pedantic perfectionist, so although I was not formally taught correct grammar at school (which is shocking, as far as I am concerned) I had it drilled into me at home from day one .

All together now....

Hmm hmm hmm...GEEK OUT! Le geek clique- c'est chic....hmm hmm hmm..GEEK OUT!

At last, my MN niche!

Jigsaws - yup, DD1 (7yo) had left a puzzle out on the roll one evening. Dh pointed out to his mother and me that if we didn't stop, we'd have finished it before she came back to it the next morning. We were just doing a little bit to help her along... (PS Puzzlerolls - ideal way to hide jigsaw...)

Countryfile/UC/OC - oh yes, Dh and I keep scores during UC and OC and crow when we win

History - am scientist by day, history freak by night. Platagenets a big fave, followed by Tudors. Am struggling with Oliver Cromwell tho'. DH and I looove castles, and regularly drag take the children to visit them, where I tell them stories about what happened, and what their life might have been like, I think my children are the only one who don't want to be princesses...

When in labour with DD3, got annoyed when I had to stop playing cards with DH so the midwife could check on me - didn't she understand I was whupping his sorry ass even when in labour.

DH has and wears a T-shirt saying 'RNA - the other nucleic acid' and was delighted when a 12-yo (roughly!) boy came up to chat to him in a playground and tell him how cool his (DH's) T-shirt was, and that he (the boy) wanted to be a scientist when he grew up.

We went fossil-hunting during our honeymoon.

Read lots of sci-fi, do puzzles (Prof Layton, anyone?). However, I am proud of it all, and don't hide it (or perhaps don't have any cool friends )

oh me too...
I love crossstitch / tapestry, but can't knit.
Complete Harry Potter fan,
I love ziplock bags but got to be the proper ones with zips, not press together.
But my really secret is, I have a thing for Sharpie pens
I have a secret stash, in many colours, that my boys would like to liberate but would do so on pain of death

Have just been out walking the dog and every now and again I would snort with laughter all to myself at Scuttle and her wheelie bin obsession.

Wow you so win LOVE you casual references to bin make and models.

Question for you clever grammar nerds :o

Where can I go to improve my grammar? Can you recommend a book please? Thanks

I got exceedingly excited today because DH told me there is a musical of Swallows and Amazons! :o

I have to do a maths test in an hour, I'm really looking forward to it.

crystal they're lovely! bet it's gorgeous! :)

Not really, though I do check spelling, grammar and style for a living.

I think my dd is though, she pores over her solar system book and draws endless pictures of tectonic plates. And she squealed with delight when her new music theory book arrived.

Yes Snapespeare that's the place I got my necklace from. Luckily my name has no J or O.
I was the reserve member on a University Challenge team, but our team wasn't picked to be on the program that year .

Can I throw into the general index of geekery an interest (fanatical or otherwise) in the Marlowe novels of Antonia Forest? At Christmas I found a copy of 'The Attic Term' in a charity shop for 80p. More than anything else, that really made my year

And my geeky delight was complete when the Mastermind contestant last week picked Forest's novels as her specialist subject

Geeks and nerds are cool. It's cool to be clever. Especially a clever woman.