Pop culture

Is anyone else really REALLY concerned about Elmer Fudd? Hunting rabbits is one thing, but being willing to shoot and kill an obviously sentient rabbit capable of speach and advanced decision making shows signs of being a serial killer in the making, to me.

• 59. I'm capable of making it sound like I've inhaled helium without needing to touch the stuff. It's a party trick with limited applications

I would just like to make a few clarifications on what is and is not acceptable regarding attire and actions for the modern nerd who is attempting to camoflague himself as a normal person. For those of you out of the closet, loud and proud about being a geek, I both salute you and offer my apologies that this post will have nothing for you.

1. It is not ok to wear main-stream-pop-culture shirts. Main stream pop culture would be things like Star Wars, Family Guy, Simpsons, Southpark, Lord of the Rings

2. It IS ok to wear non-main-stream-culture shirts, especially nerd ones. The fewer people who 'get' the joke/reference, the better. Everyone else just thinks it's an odd shirt (not unusual, all shirts these days seem to follow some bizarre pattern cooked up by piccasso on acid), but those who get it, REALLY get it. Examples of this would be a shirt with a Red Dwarf quote, a picture of Pintsize (from www.questionablecontent.com) saying something inappropriate, anything from Farscape. Basically if the general populace doesn't realise it's a nerd-shirt, you're fine.

3. Keep fantasy-jewelry to a minimum. You may be able to get away with the ring of power around your neck (although for guys it may look a bit odd), but probably not a crown.

4. The Jedi-Padawan-braid is a no-go. Just... don't even try.

5. The minute you wear a pauldron out into public, you've failed.

6. If you use the following words: 'Pauldron', any word for a specific type of sword (not just generic 'sword'), 'D6' (double points if you use a number other then six) in refering to dice, ANY Klingon, ANY Elvish, 'Star Wars extended universe', roleplay (in non sex situations), Warhammer (in any context), any MMO aside from Warcraft (and even then it's sketchy), then you have failed and been compromised.

7. Attempting to use the force, particularly to choke people, is an instant failure.

8. Never ever try to quantify someone's charisma score. Out loud.

9. You're allowed to admit to gaming. Just don't use the terms 'DPS', 'Tank', 'crack', 'torrent', 'chipped', 'zerg rush', or anything similar.

Note, these are all just for passing as a 'norm' in public. In private and amongst friends, talk about D20's in klingon while wearing the ring of power around your neck and a T-shirt that says has Darth Vader saying "I want YOU" in a parody of the Uncle Sam poster as much as you want.