Is This A Nerd Which I See Before Me?

Here's one of my favorite tee shirts. It's one of the all-stars of my regular laundry rotation.

It's got authenticity and smart, classic style. It's also black, which hides stains very well. The color hides my gut less successfully, but better than something brighter.

It also has a sociological effect that I rather enjoy: when I'm wearing it on one of my regular walks, it tricks people into making a series of incorrect assumptions about me.

From a distance, folks walking towards me might see "black tee shirt" "some sort of Medieval twisty knotwork sort of deal" plus "definitely a dagger dripping with blood" and assume that I'm a metalhead. They won't cross the street to avoid passing close to me on the sidewalk. But they might give me a wide berth.

When they get closer, they take in some additional detail, and their snap judgement changes. "Whoops! This is no metalhead! He's a theater buff! And not the kind who's into cheap Hollywood-to-Broadway transfers starring former cast members from the 'Real Housewives' franchise, either; he has enough intellectual curiosity and capacity to embrace the classics! And judging by the age of the tee shirt, Shakespeare is clearly a lifelong passion of his. O how I mischaracterized him!"

They might even suddenly regret that they're wearing a sleeveless top. No need! Whether I'm a true highbrow or not, I'm not one to look down my nose at someone's "Tinkerbell making out with Yosemite Sam" shoulder tattoo.

There's an excellent chance that their positive mischaracterization will hold even when they get a look at the back:

But a certain special segment of the population will recognize those words and realize that, no, I'm just a Gen-X Macintosh nerd.

I'm confident that many of you are within this cohort. For the rest: The Voyager Company was a pioneering creator and publisher of expanded CD-ROM titles. The Voyager Shakespeare Volume One featured a full audio performance of Macbeth starring by no less than Ian McKellen (before he became a Sir) and Judi Dench (then as now a true dame, though the Queen had yet to apply her royal rubber stamp to the paperwork).

You could listen to the performance while reading along with the pages of the script, which turned on the screen automatically. The text was rife with exhaustive notes. A whomping pile of essays completed the experience. It was really quite a thing; I wish I still had it.

And – holy cats – the title came out in 1994?! I know that I picked up this shirt at a Macworld Expo. Is this shirt really more than thirty years old?!

Well. I've covered a lot of mischaracterizations that this shirt routinely generates. If a passerby were to think "My, I don't know who this guy is or what his taste in entertainment is like. But he is an ace at garment care and laundry procedures!" they'd be right on the money. You couldn't say I haven't earned it.