Where have all the real nerds gone?

A strange phenomenon is happening at the hellhole. There's a strange spark in the air like a storm is brewing. A storm that causes up to be down and left to be right and right to be wrong. But if loving caped crusaders, mystery men, masked vigilantes, and the like is wrong, then I don't want to be right. I proudly wore their emblems on my chest before Sheldon Cooper and crew made them... cool?

The super hero shirts that usually just collected dust have started selling like hotcakes, which as evidenced by the Greensburg IHOP opening weekend, is pretty darn fast. I assumed this was because of the mass influx of super hero films and excitement for the upcoming Avengers and Dark Knight Rises, but this doesn't seem to be the case. Apparently there are a lot of people under the assumption that these are Big Bang theory shirts. I'm not sure if they believe that the creators of The Big Bang theory created a whole nerdy realm of fictional superheroes for the nerdy main characters to obsess over. I'll admit the show is a few steps above most of the sitcoms nowadays and is, at times, even clever. But not that clever. These caped crusaders have been around for a rather long time.

I became rather fascinated with this "Big Bang" phenomena and began to observe those who perused the nerdy shirt table. Only the real nerds went for the shirts that proclaimed "Marvel" in the traditional block letters surrounded by the actual characters. However, the shirts with only the symbol were fair game for those who weren't even sure who they represented... or just assumed that everyone would realize they were ironically referencing the Big Bang crew. How do conversations with these guys go? Something like this:

Me: Oh, you like The Flash?

Customer: Who?

Me: The Flash...DC Comics... superspeed?

Customer: No, I like The Big Bang theory.

Me: Oh. People will totally get that just by you wearing this shirt.

Customer: ...Sheldon has one.

Me: ... Sheldon also knows who the Flash is.

Now, I'm not the biggest nerd in the world, but buying a nerdy shirt just because it was worn in a tv show you like would be like me thinking I know Italian just because I like Fellini films... which I do... and I was convinced I knew Italian after writing a paper on him... but that's not the point. Maybe look for a "Bazinga" shirt or something that directly references the show before us nerds try to recruit you into our pack.