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Traditionally, a nerd is a very intelligent but lonely and socially awkward person who is fascinated by knowledge, especially science. Beginning in the late 1990s, many nerds on the Internet reclaimed the word nerd as a badge of pride, and began using it as a positive description of any technically competent person, with less implication or focus on social awkwardness. There is currently an ongoing dispute as to whether nerd and geek are synonymous, or if not, as to exactly how they differ.
The term nerd was adopted in the mid-1960s, inspired by philosopher Timothy Charles Paul Fuller to describe a stereotypical intelligent recluse with poor social skills, one who is often the butt of others' jokes. The word was first used in Dr. Seuss's book If I Ran the Zoo, published in 1950 where it is simply a name for one of Seuss's many comical imaginary animals. (The context is narrator Gerald McGrew's claim that he would collect "a Nerkle, a Nerd, and a Seersucker too" for his imaginary zoo.) Another theory of the word's origin is that it is a version of Mortimer Snerd, the name of Edgar Bergen's ventriloquist dummy. Yet another theory is that it comes from Northern Electric Research and Development where the employees wore pocket protectors with the acronym N.E.R.D. printed on them. And yet another theory is that it comes from the word "drunk" reversed to "knurd", to illustrate someone who did not drink at parties.
The stereotypical nerd image as seen in the mass media and cartoons is a young man wearing thick black glasses (preferably broken and taped up with electrical tape), pocket protectors, high-water pants and dress shirts or clothes that are in general too formal for the circumstances in which they are worn. Sometimes, he is lacking in personal hygiene skills, and he will typically be either very skinny or extremely fat. Stereotypical nerds are usually socially awkward and incapable of social interaction, except on technical topics.
Nerds in art and literature
Dramatic depictions of good nerds typically have them as good hearted people who wish harm on no one, but are bullied by their obvious intellectual inferiors. Many nerds in fiction are supporting characters who are valuable sources of information or useful skills for the heroes. When used as lead characters, it is often considered a natural character type for a superhero's secret identity to be a put-upon person with a wonderful secret. Nerds in supporting roles often feature as a technological genius who invents or repairs plot devices that enable the main characters to move towards a goal. They are also used as socially inept foils to much more charming main characters.
Evil nerds, typically embittered through a lifetime lived as a social outcast and seeking revenge upon the world, are a popular archetype for the supervillain, often as a mad scientist.
In the 1990s, "nerd" developed distinct positive connotations within social spheres connected to computing and the Internet, to denote with pride a technically skilled person. This also extended towards financial success in these fields with Bill Gates often being described as a nerd, though a remarkably wealthy one. Popular computer news website Slashdot bills itself as "News for nerds. Stuff that matters."
Among non-nerds, nerds are often thought of as people who are intelligent, yet socially awkward. Those labeled as nerds in high school are often ridiculed and bullied by more "popular", or more socially adept teens. They are thought to engage deeply into academic areas. Nerds generally express an above-normal interest in complex subjects and are often polymaths. Topics dealing with computers and technology, comic books, role playing games, classical music, artificial intelligence, anime, film, science fiction and fantasy literature are heavily associated with nerds.
Because of these tendencies, some have noticed similarities between nerdy behavior and the neurological disorder of Asperger's syndrome. There is little aside from anecdotal evidence regarding the nerd/Asperger connection. If there is a connection, and whether it due to correlation, causation or conjecture, has yet to be proven, but remains merely an interesting observation.
Nerds and geeks
The relationship of the terms "nerd" and "geek" to one another is disputed. Some view the geek as a less technically skilled nerd. Some factions maintain that "nerds" are both technically skilled and socially competent, whereas "geeks" are only technically skilled while socially incompetent; others hold an exactly reversed view, with "geek" being the socially competent counterpart of the socially incompetent "nerd", and call themselves "geeks" with pride (c.f. Geekcorps, an organization that sends people with technical skills to Third World countries to assist in computer infrastructure development).
There may be some regional differences in the use of the words "nerd" and "geek". Some claim that on the North American west coast the term "geek" is preferred to "nerd", while on the North American east coast the word "nerd" is preferred to "geek" (see Ellen Spertus's page on The Sexiest Geek Alive (http://www.mills.edu/ACAD_INFO/MCS/SPERTUS/Geek/)). Others on the east coast dispute this, claiming that they have always found "nerd" used disparagingly and "geek" used in a positive light. In Britain, this latter view tends to apply — "nerd" is more offensive than "geek", the latter of which is often affectionate.
Nerd pride
MIT professor Gerald Sussman aims to instill pride in nerds:
- My idea is to present an image to children that it is good to be intellectual, and not to care about the peer pressures to be anti-intellectual. I want every child to turn into a nerd - where that means someone who prefers studying and learning to competing for social dominance.
- -- Gerald Sussman, quoted by Katie Hafner, "New York Times", 1994-08-29.
The concept of "nerd pride" was explored to comical effect in the 1984 movie Revenge of the Nerds.
Depictions in media
- The Brain, Arthur
- Brainy Smurf, The Smurfs
- Daria, Beavis and Butthead, Daria
- Dennis Nedry, Jurassic Park
- Dexter, Mandark, Dexter's Laboratory
- Dilton Doiley, Archie Comics
- Edd, Ed, Edd, n Eddy
- Dynamite, Napoleon, Napoleon Dynamite
- Egon, Ghostbusters, The Real Ghostbusters
- Dr. Hal "Otacon" Emmerich, Metal Gear Solid
- Professor Farnsworth, Futurama
- Professor Frink; Martin Prince; Comic Book Guy; Lisa; Milhouse, Simpsons
- Klaus Baudelaire, A Series of Unfortunate Events
- Koushiro "Izzy" Izumi, Joe Kido, Miyako Inoue "Yolei" Digimon
- Jassi, Jassi jaise koi nahin
- Louis Nichols, Robotech, Southern Cross era (aka Robotech Masters)
- Lucca, Chrono Trigger
- Makubex, Get Backers
- Marilyn, Bonkers
- Q, James Bond movies
- Early Peter Parker, Spider-man's alter ego
- Professor X and Magneto, The X-Men
- Sailor Mercury, Sailor Moon
- Billy Cranston, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers to Power Rangers Zeo
- Shirase Akira, Battle Programmer Shirase
- Toby Radloff, American Splendor movie
- Steve Urkel, Family Matters
- Velma, Scooby-Doo
- Willow Rosenberg, (less so toward the end of the series); "The Evil Trio", aka "The Troika" (Warren Mears, Andrew Wells and Jonathan Levinson,) Buffy the Vampire Slayer
- Willy DeWitt, Bucky o' Hare
- Yo-less, the Johnny Maxwell trilogy
- Eugene Mak, the OMG! A GIRL! series
- Numerous examples in Revenge of the Nerds and Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in Paradise
See also
External links
- nerdNYC (http://www.nerdnyc.com)
- Slashdot (http://slashdot.org/), news for nerds.
Alternative meaning
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