Despite the fact that I am 20 years old, my mother still sometimes looks at me and shakes her head. "I don't understand you sometimes. Why would you wear that out?"I think she's talking about my shirt. It proclaims, in swirly black script, "Prufrock is my homeboy."

Gone are the days of our parents, when being a nerd automatically condemned anyone between the ages of eight and 88 to mockery and, it goes without saying, datelessness. No, nerds have now joined the "say it loud; I'm smart and I'm proud" movement wholeheartedly, and by wholeheartedly, I mean by splashing their nerditude across their hearts.

These days, Poindexter pride abounds in T-shirts running somewhere between indie and intellectual, and the center of the geek chic galaxy lies, of course, on the Internet.

One of my personal favorites is the aptly named ThinkGeek Web site. Aside from nifty science cubicle adornments and dorkware like official lightsaber replicas, ThinkGeek sells the epitome of nerdy duds. "Bah, humbug!" they say to Threadless' hipster aesthetic! Except, they would probably frame it more like, "0100001001100001011010000010110000-100000011010000111010101101101-01100010011101010110011100100001." Yes, this is the site that features the "You Are Dumb" shirts, v.1.0 and v.2.0, that proclaim the former in binary just so dorks in need of a self-esteem boost can gloat that their friends don't speak computer fluently. If the smarm of that one is a little much, then by all means do not deign to click on the Wi-Fi-detecting shirt link. But do check out the caffeine, capsaicin, ethanol and theobromine molecule shirts for a tastier brand of fun. The site also sells the classic pi shirts, "No, I will not fix your computer" shirt and delightfully racy HTTPanties.

If ThinkGeek's almost overwhelmingly great selection of unadulterated sartorial nerditude hits you like a phaser set to "stun," check out nerdyshirts.com. Despite the name, the site has fare for the less technosexual, more pop-generic geeks among us. Sure, there's the "I <3 Google" shirt and the "Oh hi im on ur shirt" salute to the lolcat, but any self-respecting Superbad fan would go for a T-shirt on which is printed "I am McLovin." Many of the gamer-oriented shirts on the site wouldn't look out of place on any ol' product of the early '90s, especially compared to ThinkGeek's "+20 Shirt of Smiting."

Speaking of gaming, anyone who has ever missed two or more consecutive meals due to a World of Warcraft addiction might find a little piece of heaven at www.jinx.com. Jinx sells more standard fare of the "your computer sucks" and "I <3 a nerd!" variety, but the site specializes, of course, in shirts referring to frags and pwnage, often with a Hot Topic-esque shot of gore (a 12-sided die over a splash of blood with the number 20 facing up comes to mind). For clarification on the mindset of those who might usually purchase from Jinx, see the shirt that cries to the world, "I am not a geek! I'm a level 12 Paladin."

Soon enough, the slogans and witty video game visual references become repetitive. Luckily, there's always shirt.woot.com for unique T-shirts that generally straddle the line between indie and geek chic, with the added bonus of free shipping and a $10 price tag. The gimmick is that user submissions are sold at this price for 24 hours; leftover shirts can be bought for $15, and the shopper has the entertaining option of voting in a "woot-off" that determines upcoming designs to be sold. As an added bonus, there's a usually snarky and always hilarious description of the shirt provided on the site, as well as links to the gadget-selling woot.com and self-explanatory wine.woot.com.

I could list five more sites of varying obscurity that provide shirts, hats and underwear for any proud nerd. In fact, a peremptory Google search of "nerdy t-shirt" comes up with about 657,000 hits. But please, young Padawan, avoid CafePress (too expensive for the shoddy quality), and may the Force be with you in your quest for a shirt that asks onlookers to "Talk nerdy to me." In fact, I may have just seen one that asks it in Imperial Basic.