Indexed and Nerdy

17 Following

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A sample of The Geek Hierarchy.

Tropes about nerds, geeks, and their various aspects. Contrast with The Bully and Sports Tropes.

Tropes:

• Adorkable: When the audience thinks a nerdy character is cute.
• Asian and Nerdy: An (East) Asian character is depicted as a nerd.
  • Bollywood Nerd: A nerd of Indian or South Asian descent.
• Badass Bookworm: Who said nerds can't kick ass?
• Basement Dweller: A grown man with no life who still lives with his mother and wastes his time online geeking out over his fandoms.
• Bespectacled Cutie: A sweet, dorky bespectacled character who's adorable because of their glasses.
• Black and Nerdy: A nerd of Black African, African American, or Caribbean descent.
• Braces-Based Bullying: Bullying somebody because they have braces.
• Bullying the Bespectacled: Bullying somebody because they wear glasses.
• Camera Fiend: A person obsessed with photography and photographic gear.
• Character-Driven Strategy: How they play board games, card games, video games and so on reflects on a person's character.
• Closet Geek: Someone who hides their affiliation with a certain fandom.
• Converted Fanboy: A normal character is persuaded to try something nerdy and winds up liking it.
• Cute Bookworm: A nerd who's very cute.
• Dork in a Sweater: Dorks who wear sweaters.
• Dork Knight: A character who is brave and righteous despite being socially awkward.
• Endearingly Dorky: Endearingly socially awkward and dorky.
• Even Nerds Have Standards: Nerds have limitations on their habits.
• Evil Nerd: A nerd who is evil, usually because of having been bullied too much.
• Extracurricular Enthusiast: Someone who's involved in lots of extracurricular activities.
• Fanboy: A male fan of a certain piece of media.
• Fangirl: A female fan of a certain piece of media.
• Game of Nerds: Nerds love baseball.
• Gamer Chick: A female nerd who is big (and skilled) into games.
• Geek: A socially awkward fandom affiliate.
• Geek Physiques: Nerds are either very skinny or very fat.
• Geek Reference Pool: The belief that all nerds are collectively into the same stuff.
• Geeky Analogy: A nerd explains something using a reference typically only another nerd would understand.
• Geeky Turn-On: Someone becomes romantically interested in someone due to their nerdiness.
• Give Geeks a Chance: Nerds finally get a date.
• Goofy Buckteeth: Nerds (among other characters) with buckteeth.
• Hollywood Autism: Stereotypical autistic nerds who tend to be depicted as socially inept and obsessed with niche interests.
• Homework Slave: Bullying someone else, usually a nerd, into doing your homework for you.
• Horny Scientist: A scientist with sexual intent.
• Insufferable Genius: A self-absorbed nerd who endlessly brags about their superior intellect.
• Jewish and Nerdy: A nerd of Jewish ethnicity or religion.
• Jock Dad, Nerd Son: An athletic dad (jock) and geeky son (nerd).
• Lovable Nerd: A nerd with entertaining characteristics.
• Meganekko (some implementations): Cute dorky anime female who wears glasses.
• Nerd Action Hero: Who said nerds can't be heroic?
• Nerdgasm: Something fascinates a nerd so much to the point it sexually arouses them.
• Nerd Glasses: A nerd who wears glasses.
• Nerd Hoard: A nerd's prized collection of items from their hobbies/interests.
• Nerd in Evil's Helmet: An intimidating villain is later revealed to actually be a wimpy nerd.
• Nerd Nanny: A non-nerdy girl who hangs out with nerdy guys.
• Nerds Are Naïve: Nerdy, geeky, and dorky characters are clueless about the world around them, especially anything related to sex, dating, and romance.
• Nerds Are Pervs: Nerds are portrayed as hyper-focused on sex, to an almost unhealthy or creepy degree.
• Nerds Are Sexy: Nerds are portrayed as desirable by other characters.
• Nerds Are Virgins: Nerds have yet to have sex.
• Nerds Love Tough Schoolwork: Nerds are all for complicated schoolwork.
• Nerds Speak Klingon: A nerdy/geeky character speaks a fictional language to emphasize their love for a certain series (mostly sci-fi).
• Nerdy Bully: The Bully is also a nerd.
• Nerdy Inhaler: A nerd with asthma uses an inhaler to counteract their allergies.
• Nerdy Nasalness: Nerds are portrayed as having nasally voices.
• Omnidisciplinary Scientist: A scientist who is (or wants to be) knowledgeable in every form of science that the plot requires.
• Opaque Nerd Glasses: A nerd wears glasses with opaque lenses that obscure their eyes.
• Otaku: Nerdy anime/manga fans.
  • Occidental Otaku: Western nerds who love anime/manga or other Japanese pop culture.
• Picked Last: The nerdiest character in the group is chosen to be in a team last, usually to spitefully point out how unpopular they are.
• Polka Dork: If you like polka, you must be an outcast.
• Pop-Cultured Badass: A badass character is well-versed in popular media (not necessarily considered a nerd though).
• Proud to Be a Geek: A nerd/geek is proud of who they are and they aren't ashamed to say that.
• Public Hater, Private Fan: A character pretends to hate a fandom they're secretly a part of.
• Rail Enthusiast: People who are interested in railroads.
• Redheads Are Uncool: Ginger-haired characters are depicted as losers.
• Revenge of the Nerd: When a bullied nerd becomes attractive and takes revenge on everyone who picked on them.
• Rich Genius: You might be an egghead, but you sure make a ton for it!
• Saw "Star Wars" Twenty-Seven Times: A nerd/geek is so unbelievably obsessed with a work (usually a movie/TV show) that they've experienced it dozens of times.
• Sickly Neurotic Geek: A character with an illness that makes them very nerdy.
• The Smart Guy: The intellect of The Team.
• Stereotypical Nerd: An unattractive (by physical features or styling), socially inept, and socially unpopular stock character with geeky interests.
• Tech Bro: A guy who works in a tech company or has a tech-affiliated job, but is nonetheless jockish.
• Trekkie: A devoted Star Trek fan.