Model “T”
When all else fails, the safest bet for a nerd of any stripe is a T-shirt. Valued for its durability, versatility, and timelessness, the T-shirt is the ideal medium for conveying your geeky sentiment of choice. THREADLESS.COM has emerged as the king of the online T-shirt retailers, and for good reason. You can get snappily designed tees with slogans such as IF YOU’RE INTERESTED IN TIME TRAVEL, MEET ME LAST THURSDAY or ALLOW ME TO EXPLAIN THROUGH INTERPRETIVE DANCE, or pictures of Superman heat-visioning his own TV dinner or unicorns fornicating against a rainbow backdrop.
Back on buyolympia.com, you can tell the world that you heart public transportation or that you’re a graphic designer who favors CMYK over RGB and Helvetica over Garamond, or that in tough moments you ask yourself, WHAT WOULD DEVO DO?
Thinkgeek.com, of course, offers a healthy selection of apparel encompassing the full geek spectrum. You’ve got the shirt with the built-in HELLO, MY NAME IS tag already filled in with Inigo Montoya, a shirt with a Super Mario Bros. question block and the assessment I’D HIT THAT, or even, yes, a genuine chain-mail tee.
Buying for a code-head? How about a shirt with a properly validating </BODY> front and back — or, as perhaps something everyone can understand, <GEEK> and </GEEK>.
Some people say it is better to give than to receive, but don’t be surprised if while perusing these geeky gift options, you find yourself lingering over the LEGO, weighing the merits of serif versus sans-serif fonts, or asking a waitress, “I can has Diet Coke?” Truly, the greatest gift you can give yourself is that of self-realization — in this case, embracing your own inner geek. And when you’re ready to tell the world, don’t worry — there’s a T-shirt out there that can do the job.
Georgiana Cohen’s LOLCat named Quidder swallowed a tapioca-infused Firefly and turned into an inaction figure. She’s currently browsing the Archie McPhee holiday catalogue for a replacement and can be reached atgeorgy@leadpencil.net.
