View source for Even Nerds Have Standards

{{trope}}
{{quote|''OK, now you've crossed over into the realm of '''supernerds''', whereby even '''regular''' nerds steal your lunch money and throw rocks at you.''
|'''Ethan''', ''[[Ctrl+Alt+Del]]''}}

Basically this is the notion that [[Nerd]] interests can be tiered, and that what's on the lower tiers can make other nerds glad they aren't that nerdy.

Sometimes expressed in the form of "You're the kind of nerd that other nerds would beat up and [[Dead Unicorn Trope|steal your lunch money]]". Often when [[Nerds Love Tough Schoolwork]], the regular nerds will mock those nerds.

This can also stem from the idea that [[Nerds Are Virgins]] doesn't apply to moderate or light nerds. The more nerdy you are, the more [[You Need to Get Laid]].

A [[Sub-Trope]] of [[Everyone Has Standards]].

Compare with [[Acceptable Hobby Targets]], [[Hypocritical Fandom]].

{{noreallife|this can lead to [[Broken Base]]s accusing the other side of being more geeky, [[Rule of Cautious Editing Judgment|but we don't need to note that here]]. Besides, articulation of such arguments tends to be, well, geekier than either side.}}


{{examples|References to Nerd Standards:}}
== Comic Books ==
* In [[The Simpsons (Comic Book)|comic book version of ''The Simpsons'']]: The school was once ruled by those with a high intelligence and strict attendance, which meant nerds were the bullies. Jimbo was targeted by them, before becoming the bully he’s known today.
* Even the [[Legion of Super-Heroes (comics)|Legion of Substitute Heroes]] wasn’t willing to include Arm-Fall-Off-Boy, [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|as the name suggest]] his main power is [[Detachment Combat|removing his arms to use as clubs]].

== [[Film]] ==
* [[Roger Ebert]] described the title character of ''[[Napoleon Dynamite]]'' as "the kind of nerd other nerds avoid."
* ''[[Welcome to The Dollhouse]]'': Dawn [[Embarrassing Nickname|"Weiner Dog"]] Weiner sees some kids beat up some nerdy kid. She goes over to him, asking if he's okay. His response: "Get away from me, Weiner Dog!"
* In ''[[Shrek]] the Third'', even the school nerds pick on class loser Arthur.
* ''[[Ted (film)|Ted]]'': John is even told to get lost by a bullied classmate.

== [[Literature]] ==
* ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]'': When [[Douglas Adams]] revealed that the question which produced the Ultimate Answer (42) was {{spoiler|What is six times nine?}}, somebody pointed out that the math actually did add up... if you use base 13. Adams responded, "[[Self-Deprecation|I may be a sad individual]], but I don't make jokes in base 13."
* Stanley Howler from the [[Discworld]] book ''[[Going Postal (Discworld)|Going Postal]]'' is so obsessed with his pin collection, even the other pin collectors in Ankh-Morpork think he's "a bit weird about pins". Then Moist von Lipwig invents the postage stamp, and Stanley proceeds to obsess over ''those'', inventing stamp collecting (and becoming incredibly dismissive about people who are "still" collecting pins).

== [[Live-Action TV]] ==
* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'': When Buffy fails to get on the cheerleading squad early in Season 1, her mother suggests that she join the yearbook staff. Buffy responds, "Have you ''seen'' the people that work on the yearbook? ''Nerds'' pick on them."
* Some of the Krelboyne kids in ''[[Malcolm in the Middle]]''.
{{quote|'''Dabney:''' I know you think I'm a mama's boy.
'''Malcolm:''' No, Dabney, the ''mama's boys'' are getting together and laughing at you. With their mothers! }}
* From ''[[Two of a Kind]]'':
{{quote|'''Mary Kate:''' Dad, you know those kids who blow their nose and then spend just a little too much time looking at it in the tissue?
'''Kevin:''' Yeah...
'''Mary Kate:''' Well, even THEY won't talk to Ethan! }}
* In ''[[Red Dwarf]]'', Arnold Rimmer maybe an [[Extroverted Nerd]], but he even believes that Dwayne Dibbley “so geeky, he couldn't even get into a science fiction convention”.

== [[Video Games]] ==
* ''[[Backyard Sports]]''' [[The Smart Guy|Dmitri]], a nerd who loves statistics, thinks Reese, who is a nerd who plays ''way too many'' video games and collects ''way too many'' stamps and action figures, is ''way too nerdy''.
* ''[[Ratchet & Clank]]'': In the first game, Ratchet calls Al a “nerd” when Al talking about robotics despite being curious about space travel and wanting to meet Captain Qwark himself.

== [[Web Comics]] ==
* ''[[DM of the Rings]]'' had a roleplaying specific version in [http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=653 strip #10].
{{quote|Even more reviled than a typical roleplayer is a roleplayer who insists on ''[[The Roleplayer|roleplaying]]''. When the dorks need to feel superior, ''this'' is the guy they denounce as a dork. Honestly. The only person worse than him is the DM himself.}}
* In [http://www.cad-comic.com/cad/20050420 this] ''[[Ctrl+Alt+Del]]'' strip, Ethan said that Lucas had "crossed over into the realm of supernerds, whereby even regular nerds steal your lunch money and throw rocks at you" over his excitement on having discovered the ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'' CCG.
* The hierarchy is referenced in [http://www.weregeek.com/2009/12/07/ this page] of ''[[Weregeek]]''.
** Despite this one instance though the comic in general averts this showing all forms of Geek as people out to have harmless fun (who also may or may not be monsters of some kind).
* ''[[Dork Tower]]'' has a running joke about furries being the absolute bottom rung of the gaming community.
** And then there's...
{{quote|'''Ken''': The geeks beat you up in school when the jocks were finished with you, didn't they...
'''Matt''': The math club developed a special 'take a number' system just for me! }}
** In one strip, Matt imagines strangling and screaming at an overexcited roleplayer who can't stop telling strangers everything about his character, because [[Stop Being Stereotypical|it makes normal people think all roleplayers are freaks like him]].
* A variation in ''[[Mac Hall]]'' [http://www.machall.com/view.php?date=2002-05-26 here].

== [[Web Original]] ==
* In ''[[Berserk Abridged]]'', Guts, who is a [[Final Fantasy VII|Zack]] [[Cosplay]]er, thinks [[LARP]]ing is too nerdy for him.
* A common joke in ''[[Sci Fi Debris]]'' reviews.
* [[The Nostalgia Chick]], who portrays herself as an obsessively geeky shut-in, delights in mocking squealing fangirls and people who write bad fanfiction.
** Of course, the Chick ([[Watsonian Versus Doylist|as opposed to Lindsay Ellis]]) is a [[Closet Geek]] in denial about her own nerdiness.
** She also has a few obligatory swipes at LARPers in her ''[[Labyrinth]]'' review.
* Yahtzee of ''[[Zero Punctuation]]'' describes ''[[EVE Online]]'' players as "the nerds who are to nerds what nerds are to normal people", with an appropriate series of illustrations.
* The "[http://brunching.com/geekhierarchy.html Geek Hierarchy]" chart by [[Lore Sjoberg]], originally published at the Brunching Shuttlecocks humour site.
* ''[[Commodore HUSTLE]]'' includes this delightful exchange:
{{quote|'''Graham''': They're LARPers. It's like what Jer does with the dice and the bits of paper, except the people Jer hangs out with look down on these guys.}}
* The ''[[Cracked.com]]'' series ''[[After Hours (web animation)|After Hours]]'' is entirely about four geeks who sit around a diner discussing pop culture as [[Serious Business]]. Nevertheless one of them, Daniel O'Brien, is even geekier than the others and tends to get a lot of looks of mixed confusion/scorn/pity when he says something particularly nerdy. It's [[Self-Deprecation]], of course, Dan is the show's writer.
* [[The Angry Video Game Nerd]]: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Oem60yvtUY Atari Sports] episode, the nerd calls out on sport fans.
** He also appeared never wanting to play {{spoiler| ET: The Extraterrestrial – Atari Game}} as seen as the end of [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DB9GM-a7lR0 Spielberg Games]. This was before a team of research [[Hilarious in Hindsight|actually found the cartridges in a New Mexican Desert, just as plans for film about it was in production]].
* In the web video series called ''[[Doppelgänger]]'', Victor isn’t allowed to join a clique of nerds.

== [[Western Animation]] ==
* ''[[The Simpsons]]'' visit Ikea:
{{quote|'''Lisa:''' ''(picks up a pencil holder)'' Ooh, I want to get the krünk.
'''Marge:''' Mmmm, you don't want something that overshadows the pencils. ''(holds up another pencil caddy)'' How about this pöpli?
'''Lisa:''' Mom, no! Everyone at school picks on the pöpli kids - even I do. ''(under breath)'' Just hate them so much. }}
** And when Bart accidentally revealed that he has a ''stamp collection'', even Lisa laughed at him.
{{quote|'''[[Behind the Black|Nelson]]:''' Stamp collection? Ha ha!}}
** Lisa also laughed at Bart when he accidentally joined the Junior Campers during a [[Drunk on Milk|Squishy bender]]
{{quote|'''Lisa:''' The few. The proud. The geeky.}}
** On a Halloween episode tale, "Don't Have a Cow, Mankind", Lisa checks a book Homer was about to attack Bart with. When she sees it was "Arsenio" book, Lisa lets Homer go for it for a while to learn Bart is [[The Immune| immune]] to the zombie outbreak.
** In "Diggs", even Millhouse didn’t want Bart to sit next to him after eating a dead frog, though he’s already shared a comb with the boy who had thrown up on a boy who wet his pants at the winter carnival… in other words, he wouldn’t gave Bart 20 dollars for the stunt.
* On ''[[Phineas and Ferb]],'' even [[Bollywood Nerd|Baljeet]] considers [[Loony Fan|Irving]] to be a nerd.
** Another episode has a sci-fi and fantasy convention, fresh off [[Fandom Rivalry|a war between the two fandoms]], unite in mocking a teenage fan of the kiddie character [[Periphery Hatedom|Ducky Momo]].
* In ''[[The Fairly OddParents]]'' younger Cosmo, who is apparently the biggest loser in his school, gets beat up by every clique group, even the nerds.
* ''[[Family Guy]]'': Meg Griffin may as well be the black sleep of the family, but even she won’t date Neil Goldman, a classmate who’s a geeky outcast like her.
* In the ''[[South Park]]'' episode "Return of the Fellowship of the Ring to the Two Towers", the kids are playing like they are characters in ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', but Cartman then makes fun of kids who are playing like they are in ''[[Harry Potter]]''.
* In the end of the ''[[Danny Phantom]]'' episode "Lucky in Love", the nerd calls Danny, Tucker, and Sam "losers".
** In the early season, Tucker himself hates being called a "nerd" and "Techno-Geek". In one episode, he has gotten sick of it, but by the end he started to [[Proud to Be a Geek|like being a "Techno-Geek"]].
* In the ''[[Rocko's Modern Life]]'' episode "Canned", Rocko passes two comic book geeks, one of which is gushing about how [[Perverse Sexual Lust|he thinks the "elf wenches" in his favorite fantasy comic are way hotter than real women]]. The other geek responds "Wow... you're an ''idiot.''"
* ''[[Total Drama]]'' [[Inverted Trope|inverts]] this—according to his [[All There in the Manual|online bio]], the reason [[Cool Loser|Cody]] thinks of himself as cool is because he hangs out with a bunch of friends even geekier than he is.
* In ''[[The Looney Tunes Show]]'', there's a flashback to [[Everyone Went to School Together|everyone's]] high school days, and we find out that {{spoiler|even Pete Puma and Marvin Martian, established losers in this particular continuity, refused to sit with Daffy}}.
* ''[[Static Shock]]'': Nerds even attacked Eddie Felson, known as Weird Eddie, who would later become the villain, Speedwarp.

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[[Category:Comedy Tropes]]
[[Category:Indexed and Nerdy]]
[[Category:Truth in Television]]