Particular ways of communication in nerd/geek blogs: linguistic expressions related to the productions of Star Wars and Star Trek franchises

Abstract

Several blogs produced by members of nerd/geek youth cultural groups have disseminated linguistic expressions that take specific meanings for these ‘urban tribes’, orchestrating the processes by which their identities have been discursively produced. Within this perspective and based on discussions by the poststructuralist Cultural Studies and foregrounding blogs as spaces for knowledge production, the authors discuss how expressions from the film series Star Wars and Star Trek are employed in the blogs to establish particular modes of nerd/geek communication. Seven blogs available on the Internet, out of a set of 97, were analyzed between September and October 2013. Excerpts from blogs based on the concept of cultural representation were discussed. They showed that such expressions as ‘padawan’, ‘may strength be with you’ and ‘long and prosper life’ indicate, respectively, apprentices and forms of farewell in situations in which a major challenge has to be faced.