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I voted no, simply because I don't equate "nerd-ism" to a knowledgeable person. Keith is a self-taught person in topics he enjoys and discuses it in a civil manner, not condescending to the person who doesn't know much about the topic. For myself, I don't see that as a nerd -- if you want to know all about what really interest you, how does it make you "nerdy"? You just want to be the best you can be, and wanting to learn, unfortunately, risks getting you labels.
I really believe it has to do with how the knowledge comes off to the other person and how you use the knowledge. In general, if you're not an asshole for knowing things and be smarmy and mean to the other person you will not get the label "nerd" in negative light. I believe that "nerd" will be use in either jest (i.e. "Haha you know so much, nerd!") or as an insult (i.e. "You didn't know that [rattle off a fact in a mean, condescending tone]" "Shut up you fucking nerd"). But this all has to relate to the experience you have with a person (i.e. Keith and the Gamestore guys = bad example, The conversation about wrestling = good example). So social skills must play a role.
I think this is where we have blurred the line over the years. I say this because I have majored in Linguistics and so many terms have blurred it's hard to really pin point true definitions.
This, based on the NOW and ADULTS. The past, it's different, and it depends on what experience you had in school. My version of nerds were quite different than Keith's.
I'm going through the same issue with regards to the word "professionalism". It's really becoming blurred, I believe.
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