The topic of subcultures seems like a conversation reserved for indie artists, grassroot activists, anthropologists and doctors checking for strep. Most people sitting at their computers reading this post may think to themselves, “I don’t really think I’m part of any sub-culture. I shop at Target. I watch movies on a screen. I used bar soap intertwined with bath gel depending on if I want a hard-wash or luxury bubble type body clean (which I typically reserve for Thursday mornings). I watch the Bachelor and Jersey Shore but will most likely deny it unless I can bring it up in conversation just to bash America’s flaccid scruples.” Here’s the thing – you could be a part of one and not even know it.
Recently I gave myself the opportunity to fly to Arizona in the middle of January to enjoy some well-needed Vitamin D and hang out with horse-people. After a couple of days of great conversations, sharing information and heart-to-hearts, I realized something: We’re total nerds. To anyone else who is not a horse-person and listening to our conversations, it sounds like we’re speaking English, but really, you have no idea as to what we are talking about. For example,
“So I got this buckskin gelding Arab that is about 16 hands and has a trot that is smoother than butter. He even takes the right lead w/o the use of ground work or lead rope. He is so funny you know, he’s wonderfully submissive with the alpha mare but when he gets around our yearling it’s like he’s a stud! ha ha ha ha ha!!!”
And I understood everything. And it was like we had our own secret language that no one else would know or care to know. And we would make jokes that no one else could possibly get. And we were total nerds about it. We’d get excited talking about the kind of progress the horses have made from the barn to the trail. We’d laugh at stories of how our horses would freak out at grass or throw us off because they were in a bad mood. We’d talk about having a love for this animal that is so hard to describe. We knew each other for only 3 days but we knew each other better than we know people that we’ve worked with for 3 years.
Subcultures are defined by dictionary.com as this:
- a. the cultural values and behavioral patterns distinctive of a particular group in a society.
- b. a group having social, economic, ethnic, or other traits distinctive enough to distinguish it from others within the same culture or society.
- c. a group of people who can speak the same language but are not understood by pretty much – anyone else.
- d. nerds.
(part c. & d. added by thebridge)
But I like being a nerd. I am a nerd. I married a nerd:
I love my nerdy friends. And being part of a subculture allows me to speak as nerdily as I want.
Other subcultures I can quickly identify and was once a part of:
Musicians:
I was supposed to get a four measure lead in on the keys but I forgot where we were cause the front amp was busted and I couldn’t hear anything. So I just did some vocal doobies until I heard that one bass line and I knew we were into the bridge. And I just jammed it out from there.
Improvisers:
That suggestion was weird. We just went to an organic beginning and we kinda just yes-anded our way through the first scene, but thank god it wasn’t a harold. I couldn’t imagine trying to do a harold with “corn soup butt” as the suggestion. It probably didn’t help that our audience was a bunch of drunk Cubs fans. Hey, who wants a PBR?
Speech Team:
The HDA from Wheaton Warrenville South ended up going 1,1,1 in finals. Even though in the prelims they were 2,2,3. They won’t have enough to take first as a school though. The DDA, HI and Dec from DGS was hard to beat. You can always tell who they are… speech hair.
Search Engine Optimizers
(this is me imitating my husband; self-proclaimed nerd): In order to ……. YouTube……….spreadsheet……….videos……. comedy……… made $.03 already………… hilarious!?!?!………… functionality……. query matrix.”
I shouldn’t be surprised, I grew up in subcultures.
