You know you've achieved nerdhood when...

[Kimblee]

You mention Ras al Ghul and your father stares at you and says 'well... i guess this means I raised you okay"

If you'd mentioned that to me, I'd think you were giving me the Arabic name of the star Algol, Beta Persei (the second brightest star in the constellation Perseus, and the first discovered eclipsing variable.)  I wouldn't have had a clue that it was Batman's greatest foe since I haven't read Batman comics in eons.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algol

Oh, that's neat!

[CuriousParty]

When you're in the computer with your hapless mother who tagged along out of boredom and you have fellow customers asking you for advice when they realize you know more than the saleguy after hearing you explain what you're looking at to said non-geeky parental unit.

As for trivial pursuit, people stopped letting me play that a long time ago.

There was this board game called Taboo, where someone would have a word or phrase and 5 common words/phrases that couldn't be used as a clue. A friend of mine and I used to drive friends nuts by using Mercedes Lackey books as our clues.

Then we just switched to Anne McCaffery when that got banned. Can't remember who it was after that. I think we switched to movies when they said no more book series.

That's my dad.  He was a merciless trivial pursuit player, mainly because he used to read volumes of the encyclopedia, plus every word of the newspaper, etc. 

I've also played Taboo, and that can be a lot of fun if you're playing with reasonably intelligent people.  So can Balderdash, the game where you have to make up word definitions, and if yours sounds the most likely you get points.  I once got a lot of points for defining "cephalomancy" as "the science of determining someone's racial and genetic makeup by measuring the bumps on their head (actually phrenology, but no one else there knew that.)  The definition of "cephalomancy" is "telling the future by boiling the head of a donkey." 

When you read the above and immediately think "well of course that's not it....'the science of' words end in ology...."   

[Fluffy Cat]

You buy a Mass Effect novel* even though you know you could probably write a better one yourself.

Its 1996ish.  You buy a SeaQuest novel.  In Spanish.  Which you can't read.

[Suze]

You buy a Mass Effect novel* even though you know you could probably write a better one yourself.

Its 1996ish.  You buy a SeaQuest novel.  In Spanish.  Which you can't read.

I bought a Batman comic in German when I was 10 -- just cause

[T'Mar of Vulcan]

Its 1996ish.  You buy a SeaQuest novel.  In Spanish.  Which you can't read.

You buy books on learning Klingon. You don't actually want to learn Klingon.

You mention Ras al Ghul and your father stares at you and says 'well... i guess this means I raised you okay"

If you'd mentioned that to me, I'd think you were giving me the Arabic name of the star Algol, Beta Persei (the second brightest star in the constellation Perseus, and the first discovered eclipsing variable.)  I wouldn't have had a clue that it was Batman's greatest foe since I haven't read Batman comics in eons.

... You read what Sirius wrote and immediately think, "Hey, the thing with the star is just like the plot of the Batman graphic novel 'Son of the Demon'!!" 

[LadyClaire]

When your office phone rings, and when you answer, the co-worker on the other end says "LadyClaire, I'm working on this crossword and I need a 7 letter word for the God of Wine....and I figured you HAD to know the answer because you know about all those old gods."

When someone at an outdoor party, while making s'mores, says "why ARE they called marshmallows, anyways?", and you provide them with a detailed answer as to the origin of marshmallows, including the original ingredients, and which ancient culture invented them.

When people will no longer play trivia games with you because you always win.

When your DF says "release the Kraken!" as a take-off on "Clash of the Titans", then quickly turns to you and says "I KNOW, I KNOW, the kraken is NOT from greek mythology..." 

When your friends no longer watch any movies based on history or mythology with you because you get too ticked off by them.

[Suze]

LadyClaire

you have discribed my life

I am only allowed to be a "moderator" on most Triva games anymore (the worst was the one for the Commodor computer (geek a long ways back) it has an a-b-c-d pad for four players and the one that punches the correct answer first wins

I don't know the answers and just guess - nobody believes me.  (Of course reading faster than anyone else might have something to do with it too)

[T'Mar of Vulcan]

... You know your SIL has become "one of us!" when you're driving on the highway and she suddenly yells, "KHAAAAAAN!" out of nowhere. Then points out the personalized number plate on the car in the lane on the left: "Khan". 

[LadyClaire]

...you name your pets after (primarily) real historical figures: (I Am) Spartacus, Titus Pullo, Lucius Vorenus, (Nikola) Tesla and Prometheus (okay, so he's mythical, but still...).

My hamsters were named Attila, Rasputin, Blackbeard, and Montezuma. Rasputin actually lived up to his name..he was mean, evil, and lived way beyond his expected lifespan.

[LadyClaire]

DF is a major geek as well. I thought I'd post a few on his behalf:

When your drink coasters are replicas of the Stargate.

When friends are afraid to ask you what you thought of the latest comic book movie, because you will launch into a rant about how that SOOOOO didn't happen in the comics, and that character would NEVER have done that, and on..and on...

Yeah, a word of advice: never ask my DF about the last 2 X-Men movies, and especially don't ask him about the Wolverine spin-off movie.

When your favorite tie has Spiderman on it..and you wear it to work.

When your tattoo is from a video game.

When your favorite picture of your SO is the one where they're standing with Walter Koenig. Even though the picture is 10 years old, and their ex SO is standing on the other side of Mr. Koenig...and you used Photoshop to remove the ex so you could still display the picture.

When you can watch any episode of Star Trek and the various spin-offs and repeat every line, word-for-word, along with the characters.

[T'Mar of Vulcan]

When you can watch any episode of Star Trek and the various spin-offs and repeat every line, word-for-word, along with the characters.

Are you me? 

... When you put on your Angel (David Boreanaz) T-shirt in preparation to watch the DVD of "Eclipse". 

[LadyClaire]

When you can watch any episode of Star Trek and the various spin-offs and repeat every line, word-for-word, along with the characters.

Are you me? 

... When you put on your Angel (David Boreanaz) T-shirt in preparation to watch the DVD of "Eclipse". 

well..that's DF. He's the star trek geek, and can repeat every.single.word of every.single.episode.

I do love Buffy and Angel, though. 

[MariaE]

.... when work sends you this in their annual Christmas card and you crack up laughing:

better !pout !cry
better watchout
lpr why
santa claus < north pole >town

cat /etc/passwd >list
ncheck list
ncheck list
cat list | grep naughty >nogiftlist
cat list | grep nice >giftlist
santa claus < north pole >town

who | grep sleeping
who | grep awake
who | egrep 'bad|good'
for (goodness sake) {
be good
}

[alegria]

.... when work sends you this in their annual Christmas card and you crack up laughing:

better !pout !cry
better watchout
lpr why
santa claus < north pole >town

cat /etc/passwd >list
ncheck list
ncheck list
cat list | grep naughty >nogiftlist
cat list | grep nice >giftlist
santa claus < north pole >town

who | grep sleeping
who | grep awake
who | egrep 'bad|good'
for (goodness sake) {
be good
}

...or you see this posted online and understand it all, despite not being a coder yourself! 

[Shea]

When you can watch any episode of Star Trek and the various spin-offs and repeat every line, word-for-word, along with the characters.

Are you me? 

My long-lost sisters! I actually made a couple of friends when I'd just moved here via the random geek-quotes method. There was party for the students in my master's program at a campus bar, and I was hanging around in a big group of people with several conversations going on at once, when one of the people I was talking to said something about someone being deserving of a special level of h3ll. At which point I and two others immediately said, "One reserved for child molesters, and people who talk at the theatre." We're friends now .

When you have a t-shirt illustrating the Norman exchange with cows wearing period helmets.

When you go to Hamlet, and mentally recite 85% of the play along with the actors.

When have written rules for drinking games to be played while watching LOTR, Doctor Who, Star Trek and Firefly, and you and your friends have actually played said games at least once.