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    Original post 
Note: This thread was proposed by amathieu13.

This is a confused trope all around. The name implies that the trope is about a character who is nerdy, but outgoing and sociable, as opposed to Stereotypical Nerds who are typically a Shrinking Violet, The Quiet One, and otherwise withdrawn due to shyness, awkwardness, bullying, or all of the above.

The actual definition however is a nerd who is unaware of their own nerdiness and often acts like a Casanova Wannabe. Off the bat, it's not immediately clear how being a Casanova Wannabe relates with being oblivious to one's own nerdiness, but I'm 99% sure this is a hangover from when this was an expy trope named "The Urkel", based on the character Steve Urkel from Family Matters, a Black and Nerdy Casanova Wannabe.

So I went into the wick check to see if the trope was being interpreted correctly. What I found was a ZCE /pothole magnet issue along with misuse: 60% of examples were either ZC Es/potholes. Only 14% were in-line with the "oblivious to one's nerdiness" definition. 16% were examples that went with the interpretation implied by the title and focused on nerdy characters being social and friendly. Only 5 of the 50 examples I saw even mentioned being a Casanova Wannabe or something related to it.

We could expand the trope to include the misuse (if we did so that would bump up correct examples to 30%; better but still not great), but I'm not sure "friendly/social nerd" is a meaningful split from Stereotypical Nerd. While many nerd characters are friendless loners, there are also many who are friendly and sociable, just within their own friend group and amongst other nerdy characters. And plenty stereotypical nerds have their social awkwardness manifest as a clumsy overeagerness to make friends; they're friendly but lack the ability to read social cues, making their attempts to do so awkward.

I do think the idea of "Oblivious to one's nerdiness" is tropeworthy, but more so as "Uncool and unashamed/unbothered by it". Stereotypical Nerds are often depicted as being either natural introverts or become introverted due to social reinforcement that their interests and hobbies are lame, uncool, and therefore shameful. Thinking back to Urkel, Urkel doesn't care about any of that. He's his chipper geeky/nerdy talkative self regardless of what others say or think about him.

Now, how distinct that is from Proud to Be a Geek is debatable. Maybe it'd be better to move away from the nerd focus to a more generalized "loser" focus. All that being said, I didn't come across any in the wick check that neatly fits that definition either, so that's probably an idea for the salvage yard or TLP.

Options:

I'm ok with any of the options (and likely any others folks can come up with) apart from expansion.

Wick check:

Wicks Checked: 50

  • Correct - 7 (14%)
  • Potentially correct if just being "not shy"/sociable is enough - 8 (16%)
  • Misuse - 5 (10%)
  • ZCE/zero context potholes - 30 (60%)

Definition: A nerd who is unaware of how nerdy they are and often acts the Casanova Wannabe thinking they are much suaver than they are.


    Correct 
  • Superbad: Fogell, aka McLovin, seems to have no idea how dorky he is and puts himself out in social situations.
  • Zoey 101 - Quinn: A rare female example, mainly in the early seasons where she dresses like a dork, and doesn't realize how much the others find her behavior strange and awkward. In later seasons, she becomes more of a normal and pretty nerd who just happens to have an interest in science.
  • Total Drama Tiki Jungle: Basically the extent of his character. Gary is friendly, dorky, and fancies himself suave around Meg but certainly isn't.
  • Red Dwarf - Arnold: Part of the reason why his fellow Dwarfers dislike Rimmer is because he's extremely outspoken about the various nerdy things he enjoys (Hammond organs, telephone pole and diesel engine spotting, James Last music, muzak, morris dancing, Risk, etc), never seeming to realise the others find this all incredibly boring and find him irritating for trying to shove it in their faces all the time.
  • Pastamonsters The Proxies - Ticci, Small Name, Big Ego: He thinks he's quite the ladies man and is a Extraverted Nerd who thinks of himself as a 'cool kid'.
  • Lizzie McGuire - Larry: Eccentric, stereotypically nerdy and uncool, Casanova Wannabe and Small Name, Big Ego, so yes, he fills this out.
  • Family Ties - Irwin: He's extremely awkward, and wears Nerd Glasses and nerdy outfits. He's aware of his unpopularity, but he's still clingy to other people and shamelessly hits on Mallory.

    Potentially correct if just being "not shy"/sociable is enough 
  • The Poison Apples: Molly is a huge nerd (her favourite book is the Oxford English Dictionary) and average-looking but she isn't shy, tends to take over conversations when no one asks her to and is less affected by her Friendless Background than Alice (who at least had some friends, if not close ones).
  • Fuzzboy Total Pokemon Series: Nedrick gets along with just about everyone and goes out of his way to talk to new people, but is still a total dork who is trying to become the ultimate ninja.
  • The Inkworld Trilogy - Orpheus: Although he mentions that he was an outcast due to his love for reading and nerdiness, his demanour is actually rather social, being able to talk to strangers and confront new situations with a lot of ease and apparent self-confidence.
  • THE iDOLM@STER: SideM - Kyosuke: Among the Intelligence idols, Kyosuke stands out as one of the more excitable, fun-loving members.
  • Sailor Moon Juuban Municipal Junior High School - Umino: Indubitably a nerd, but very outgoing and talkative with shades of the Casanova Wannabe (although this aspect disappears after he gets a girlfriend).
  • Questionable Content - Tilly: Despite their geeky presentation, Tilly isn't the least bit shy and jumps at the chance to befriend Hannelore and Winslow.
  • Pokémon Tabletop Utopus Region - Amber: A large part of her Season 2 character development is opening up to others more, and finding more occasions to celebrate life.
  • My Candy Love Others - Samuel: His attire is sterotypically nerdy, and he's both very friendly and currently in a relationship.

    Misuse 
  • Young Sheldon: Other Characters - Tam: He tries so desperately to hang with the cool crowd and date hot chicks. And he fails miserably every time. - doesn't discuss lack of awareness of being a nerd
  • The Suite Life of Zack & Cody - Agnes: A female example, as she's a rather dorky girl who acts annoying and clingy towards the title characters. - being annoying and clingy doesn't really mean they are unaware of their geekiness. Being an Abhorrent Admirer is part of being a Stereotypical Nerd, for example.
  • The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel - Josh: A football player, and also an avid gamer. - playing video games does not auto make someone a nerd and this has 0 mention of them being oblivious to their nerdiness.
  • The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius - Sheen: An eccentric comic book-loving nerd. Unlike most examples, though, he's very unintelligent. - doesn't discuss lack of awareness of being a nerd
  • Escape from Furnace - Zee: Is aware of his nerdiness but doesn't necessarily try to hide it. character has to be unaware of their nerdiness

    ZCE and zero context potholes 

Edited by GastonRabbit on Jul 23rd 2023 at 4:19:57 AM

GastonRabbit MOD Sounds good on paper (he/him) from Robinson, Illinois, USA (General of TV Troops) Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
Sounds good on paper (he/him)
#26: Jul 23rd 2023 at 1:38:31 AM

Calling in favor of disambiguating.

I'll disambiguate the page soon if nobody beats me to it; I'm taking a break from editing for now.

Edited by GastonRabbit on Jul 23rd 2023 at 3:42:30 AM

Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.
GastonRabbit Sounds good on paper (he/him) from Robinson, Illinois, USA (General of TV Troops) Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
Sounds good on paper (he/him)
#27: Jul 23rd 2023 at 2:20:09 AM

Disambiguated the page. Here are the wicks.

Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.
amathieu13 Since: Aug, 2013
#28: Jul 23rd 2023 at 5:19:13 AM

I think we can also cut the Nerdy Extravert redirect since it has 0 links to it and has only ever had 9 visitors anyways.

Edited by amathieu13 on Jul 23rd 2023 at 8:19:32 AM

GastonRabbit Sounds good on paper (he/him) from Robinson, Illinois, USA (General of TV Troops) Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
Sounds good on paper (he/him)
#29: Jul 23rd 2023 at 5:39:03 AM

[up]I cut it because the fact that it's not being used onsite nor onsite meant I agree that it's not needed

Edited by GastonRabbit on Jul 23rd 2023 at 7:39:15 AM

Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.
Berrenta How sweet it is from Texas Since: Apr, 2015 Relationship Status: Can't buy me love
How sweet it is
#30: Jul 23rd 2023 at 8:29:54 AM

Notified the Pantheon thread as there's an assigned deity for the trope.

she/her | TRS needs your help! | Contributor of Trope Report
amathieu13 Since: Aug, 2013
#31: Jul 26th 2023 at 12:16:44 AM

190 left

130. Character namespace is all that's left

Edited by amathieu13 on Jul 26th 2023 at 4:10:24 AM

amathieu13 Since: Aug, 2013
#32: Jul 26th 2023 at 6:30:41 AM

Finished. Can close.

(adding that despite being cut, the rediret Nerdy Extravert is still showing up as a Green Link rather than a Red Link)

Edited by amathieu13 on Jul 26th 2023 at 9:32:34 AM

MacronNotes (she/her) (Captain) Relationship Status: Less than three
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