Word of the Year: 2008
This year's word, for the world of Dave at least, is 'Nerdrage'. Nerdrage is that unique state of being that is distinct in being a form of extreme rage (such as roidrage or roadrage) triggered by the act of simply being more informed and intelligent than another human being. Symptoms involve sheer disbelief that another thing with the same physical mass of thinking tissue on their shoulders would be so dense as to trigger such feelings, a distinct need to grab a nearby heavy object and get primate to fix said thing with the same physical mass of thinking tissue on their shoulders (violently), and a need to vent vociferously about said incident at length.
Events that can trigger nerdrage extend from the ordinary ("Jesus is the force that holds atomic particles together? Bwahhhh?!") or the extreme. One such extreme:
Myself: ::insert long lengthy, scientific argument for and against the act of building a space elevator::
Person B (who shall remain nameless): "Well, that just sounds dangerous. What if it fell down?"
Myself: "Depending on where the break happened, it'd either whip out into space, worst case smashing a few satellites and crashing on the moon to no real affect, or burn up on re-entry."
Person B: "Well, that's what you think."
Myself: "No, that's what science predicts. The physics of the construction dictate it. Besides, it'd have a hundred mile no fly zone, and whatever government that put it up would protect the massive investment with firepower."
Person B: "It's still dangerous."
Myself: "Okay, maybe a little? But it'd be insanely cheaper for sending stuff into orbit."
Person B: "What if it fell down?"
Myself: "I already answered that."
Person B: "Well, the people of Babel built a tower that reached Heaven."
And that was when the nerdrage hit. The Bold was for the emphasis of the statement that triggered it. Another triggering event:
Myself: "Well, you see, we need to spread human life to the rest of the universe, until we have proof that sapient life exists elsewhere. The Earth is just too fragile. Sapient life /needs/ to continue existing even if the Earth becomes unlivable."
Friend: "True, but what about the foreign origin theory, that while proteins existed in the primordial soup, that it was cellular structures in water rich comets that actually caused the triggering event for the development of primitive cells? Wouldn't that make it possible for life to exist anywhere?"
Myself: "It is possible, but until we have proof, we still have a moral imperative to work towards the conservation of life."
Waiter (who's been listening the entire time): "Well, isn't the universe just going to get sucked into a blackhole anyways? What does it matter if we're not on Earth anymore?"
This caused my engineer friend to put his head to the table with a loud bang, and my hands to shake with barely controlled nerdrage.
You have all felt nerdrage, I'd bet. Please. Post your own example, and spread the word.
Nerdrage. Let's change the world.
Events that can trigger nerdrage extend from the ordinary ("Jesus is the force that holds atomic particles together? Bwahhhh?!") or the extreme. One such extreme:
Myself: ::insert long lengthy, scientific argument for and against the act of building a space elevator::
Person B (who shall remain nameless): "Well, that just sounds dangerous. What if it fell down?"
Myself: "Depending on where the break happened, it'd either whip out into space, worst case smashing a few satellites and crashing on the moon to no real affect, or burn up on re-entry."
Person B: "Well, that's what you think."
Myself: "No, that's what science predicts. The physics of the construction dictate it. Besides, it'd have a hundred mile no fly zone, and whatever government that put it up would protect the massive investment with firepower."
Person B: "It's still dangerous."
Myself: "Okay, maybe a little? But it'd be insanely cheaper for sending stuff into orbit."
Person B: "What if it fell down?"
Myself: "I already answered that."
Person B: "Well, the people of Babel built a tower that reached Heaven."
And that was when the nerdrage hit. The Bold was for the emphasis of the statement that triggered it. Another triggering event:
Myself: "Well, you see, we need to spread human life to the rest of the universe, until we have proof that sapient life exists elsewhere. The Earth is just too fragile. Sapient life /needs/ to continue existing even if the Earth becomes unlivable."
Friend: "True, but what about the foreign origin theory, that while proteins existed in the primordial soup, that it was cellular structures in water rich comets that actually caused the triggering event for the development of primitive cells? Wouldn't that make it possible for life to exist anywhere?"
Myself: "It is possible, but until we have proof, we still have a moral imperative to work towards the conservation of life."
Waiter (who's been listening the entire time): "Well, isn't the universe just going to get sucked into a blackhole anyways? What does it matter if we're not on Earth anymore?"
This caused my engineer friend to put his head to the table with a loud bang, and my hands to shake with barely controlled nerdrage.
You have all felt nerdrage, I'd bet. Please. Post your own example, and spread the word.
Nerdrage. Let's change the world.