Re:Really? (Score 1)

I think the trick to meeting anyone, gay or straight, is simply going to places where you are interested in going, talking to people who are interested in the same things you are, and being willing to take the social risks involved in such endeavors. However, for those of us saddling two distinct ways of talking, the issue becomes translating one assumed vocabulary (geek-speak?) into another (non-geek-speak?). I don't have many suggestions, unfortunately, as I've yet to master that trick myself. What I do know, however, is that it is very easy to appear elitist or arrogant when one doesn't conform to the vocabulary of the audience (whether geek or jock or academic, etc.) and that, in my experience, this can lead to more loneliness than anything else. I know that, while I would be fascinated to have a conversation about supersymmetry or the history of thermodynamics, and would most likely ask some really basic questions about it, I'm also in the minority of people who have no problem admitting I know next-to-nothing about a topic but can still be interested in it. I think many people, however, would find such conversations relatively off-putting and would rapidly change the topic just to save face.