> Your comment is analogous to complaining that Big Bang Theory has watered down the word 'nerd', so now someone can no longer extrapolate patterns he finds at

> Your comment is analogous to complaining that Big Bang Theory has watered down the word 'nerd', so now someone can no longer extrapolate patterns he finds at MIT and comic-con and describe them as nerd culture. I don't see how the second clause follows from the first. Maybe it's just different definitions of "watered down." I think things like Big Bang Theory and the assimilation of nerd culture into the mainstream have watered it down, and are analogous. MIT and comic-con are still nerd culture, but now all these other things are too, so that when you say the word "nerd" to someone, you have no idea what it means to them. It could be "true nerd culture" or anything else. Words like nerd and hipster used to have meaning; in other words, they were controversial, polarizing terms that triggered emotional responses and strong opinions. Now they're very general and common descriptions, that's what is meant by watered down.