We do not wash our pits in the pool of sacred tears

I think I'm pretty up-front about the fact that I'm a nerd. I like to read, I always got good grades, and I've always enjoyed going to school. Nerd. J, on the other hand, is a geek. He was much more popular in high school, but he's really into computers, technology and gaming. Geek. We understand this about each other. Now sometimes our nerd and geek worlds intersect: we both like to watch Star Trek and Star Wars, I know how to Photoshop, and J tolerates my analytical dissections of the symbolism in Up and Saving Private Ryan. But I will never understand the whole gaming thing. For the last week or so, J's been going into his basement man cave after the rest of us go to bed (what? He doesn't want to go to sleep at 9? Shocking!) and playing whatever the latest version of Call of Duty is. I do not get the allure of pretending to kill pretend people for 4 hours a day, but as long as he's happy. Occasionally, however, I pick up on some of his gaming lingo and try to use it in daily life. Last night, I asked him if he was going to do downstairs and "frag some noobs" (translated that means "killing newbie players with fragmenting grenades"...I think). But after I said it, I couldn't stop laughing. Not just because I sounded like a moron, but the withering look J gave me was hilarious. Ahh, if only I'd had a camera. That look hovered somewhere between pity and disgust...but I could tell he really wanted to say "Yeah, I am!" Geek.