nerd

The first documented appearance of the word nerd is as the name of a creature in Dr. Seuss's book If I Ran the Zoo (1950), in which the narrator Gerald McGrew claims that he would collect "a Nerkle, a Nerd, and a Seersucker too" for his imaginary zoo.American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition, p. 1212, Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston – New York – London, 1992.Geisel, Theodor Seuss, If I Ran the Zoo, p. 47, Random House Books for Young Readers. New York, 1950. The slang meaning of the term dates to 1951.{{OEtymD|nerd}} That year, Newsweek magazine reported on its popular use as a synonym for drip or square in Detroit, Michigan.Newsweek [https://books.google.com/books?id=6oYoAQAAMAAJ&q=%22regrettably+,+a+nerd+%22 'Jelly Tot, Square Bear-Man!'] (1951-10-8), p. 28 By the early 1960s, usage of the term had spread throughout the United States, and even as far as Scotland.Gregory J. Marsh in Special Collections at the Swarthmore College library as reported in [http://www3.iath.virginia.edu/lists_archive/Humanist/v04/0074.html Humanist Discussion Group] {{webarchive|url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080131223744/http://www3.iath.virginia.edu/lists_archive/Humanist/v04/0074.html |date=2008-01-31 }} (1990-6-28) Vol. 4, No. 0235.Glasgow, Scotland, Sunday Mail (1957-02-10). At some point, the word took on connotations of bookishness and social ineptitude.

An alternate spelling,The many spellings of Nurd, Fall 1970 (revised [http://polyglotinc.blogspot.com/2015/07/the-many-spellings-of-nurd-or-is-it-nerd.html online] 2015) as nurd or gnurd, also began to appear in the mid-1960s, or early 1970s.Current Slang: A Quarterly Glossary of Slang Expressions Currently In Use (1971). Vol. V, No. 4, Spring 1971, p. 17 Author Philip K. Dick claimed to have coined the "nurd" spelling in 1973, but its first recorded use appeared in a 1965 student publication at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI).Personal Correspondence (1973-9-4) reported on [http://www.eldacur.com/~brons/NerdCorner/NerdMail.html#PKDick the web]RPI Bachelor (1965), V14 #1 Oral tradition there holds that the word is derived from knurd (drunk spelled backwards), which was used to describe people who studied rather than partied. The term gnurd (spelled with the "g") was in use at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) by the year 1965.More Mathematical People (D.J. Albers, J.L. Alexanderson and C. Reid), p. 105 (1990). Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich. The term "nurd" was also in use at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as early as 1971.{{Citation |url=http://tech.mit.edu/V90/PDF/V90-N57.pdf |work=The Daily Reamer, Volume 69, No. 20 |page=6 |date=February 3, 1971 |title=Johnson honors Nurd for saving Institute |publisher=Massachusetts Institute of Technology |postscript=. |access-date=14 May 2014 |archive-date=22 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201022020354/http://tech.mit.edu/V90/PDF/V90-N57.pdf |url-status=dead }}

According to Online Etymology Dictionary, the word is an alteration of the 1940s term "nert" (meaning "stupid or crazy person"), which is in itself an alteration of "nut" (nutcase).{{refn|name=Harper}}

The term was popularized in the 1970s by its heavy use in the sitcom Happy Days.{{Citation

| first1 = David

| last1 = Fantle

| first2 = Tom

| last2 = Johnson

| title = Reel to Real: 25 Years of Celebrity Interviews

| publisher = Badger Books Inc.

|date=November 2003

| chapter = "Nerd" is the Word: Henry Winkler, August 1981

| pages = 239–242

}} On January 28, 1978, recurring characters The Nerds premiered on Saturday Night Live. The term was further popularized in the 1984 film Revenge of the Nerds.

Because of the nerd stereotype, many intelligent people are often thought of as nerdy. This belief can be harmful, as it can cause high-school students to "switch off their lights" out of fear of being branded as a nerd,{{cite news |last= Anderegg |first=Mr |title= In Praise of Nerds |url= http://www.economist.com/node/10493332 |newspaper= The Economist |date=12 January 2008}} and cause otherwise appealing people to be considered nerdy simply for their intellect.

It has been argued that intellectuals are automatically nerdy because they were secretly envied, arrogant, or out of touch. However, Paul Graham stated in his essay, "Why Nerds are Unpopular", that intellect is neutral, meaning that many high school students neither admire nor deride classmates for intelligence itself. He also states that it is only the correlation that makes smart teens automatically seem nerdy, and personally defines a nerd as someone deemed not socially adept enough. Additionally, he says that the reason why many smart kids are unpopular is that they "don't have time for the activities required for popularity," since they instead prioritize intellectual, solitary pursuits, at the cost of being branded as "nerds." He also goes on to criticize suburbia and the public education system for enabling a popularity contest.{{cite web|last=Graham|first=Paul|title=Why Nerds are Unpopular|url=http://www.paulgraham.com/nerds.html}}

Stereotypical nerd appearance, often lampooned in caricatures, can include very large glasses, dental braces, buck teeth, severe acne and pants worn high at the waist. Following suit of popular use in emoticons, Unicode released in 2015 its "Nerd Face" character, featuring some of those stereotypes: 🤓 (code point U+1F913). In the media, many nerds are males, portrayed as being physically unfit, either overweight or skinny due to lack of physical exercise.Lori Kendall. "OH NO! I'M A NERD!": Hegemonic Masculinity on an Online Forum. Gender Society. 14: 256. (2000)Ron Eglash. Race, Sex, and Nerds. Social Text. 20: 49 (2002)

It has been suggested by some, such as linguist Mary Bucholtz, that being a nerd may be a state of being "hyperwhite" and rejecting African-American culture and slang that "cool" white children use.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/29/magazine/29wwln-idealab-t.html?_r=1&ref=magazine&oref=slogin|title= Who's a Nerd, Anyway? |access-date=2007-07-28 |author=Benjamin Nugent|date=July 29, 2007|work=The New York Times Magazine}} However, after the Revenge of the Nerds movie franchise (with multicultural nerds), and the introduction of the Steve Urkel character on the television series Family Matters, nerds have been seen in all races and colors as well as more recently being a frequent young East Asian or Indian male stereotype in North America. Portrayal of "nerd girls", in films such as She's Out of Control, Welcome to the Dollhouse and She's All That depicts that smart but nerdy women might suffer later in life if they do not focus on improving their physical attractiveness.{{Cite book|last=Gateward|first=Frances K.|author2=Murray Pomerance|author2-link = Murray Pomerance |title=Sugar, spice, and everything nice: cinemas of girlhood|publisher=Wayne State University Press|year=2002|isbn=978-0-8143-2918-4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ywsajx7jqAMC&q=nerd+girl&pg=PA239|access-date=2009-07-23}}

In the United States, a 2010 study published in the Journal of International and Intercultural Communication indicated that Asian Americans are perceived as most likely to be nerds, followed by White Americans, while non-White Hispanics and African Americans were perceived as least likely to be nerds. These stereotypes stem from concepts of Orientalism and Primitivism, as discussed in Ron Eglash's essay "Race, Sex, and Nerds: From Black Geeks to Asian American Hipsters".Eglash, R. 'Race, Sex, And Nerds: FROM BLACK GEEKS TO ASIAN AMERICAN HIPSTERS'. Social Text 20.2 71 (2002): 49–64. Web. 11 Dec. 2015.

Some of the stereotypical behaviors associated with the "nerd" stereotype have correlations with the traits of Asperger syndrome or other autism spectrum conditions.{{Cite web|url=https://aspergers101.com/high-functioning-autism-vs-asperers-syndrome/|title = High-Functioning Autism vs. Asperger Syndrome| date=15 October 2013 }}

Some measures of "nerdiness" are now considered desirable by many commentators. To some, "nerd" suggests a person who is intelligent, respectful, interesting, dedicated, individualistic, and able to earn a large salary doing what they love. Stereotypical nerd qualities are evolving, going from awkwardness and social ostracism to an allegedly more widespread acceptance and sometimes even celebration of their differences. Many so-called "nerdy people" have accumulated large fortunes, and many are able to find their niche in the American computer industry, concentrated in California's Silicon Valley, the Greater Seattle area (working for companies like Amazon or Microsoft), and the Silicon Slopes.{{cite news|last=Cringely|first=Robert|title=Triumph of the Nerds: A History of the Computer|url=https://www.pbs.org/nerds/timeline/micro.html|access-date=26 June 2012|newspaper=Public Broadcasting Service}} These engineers and programmers have influenced popular culture in many ways, caught the attention of the media, and effectively designed a new category of everyday objects.

Being adept with computers, often considered a "nerdy" interest, is now widespread and even an expectation in professional and academic spaces. Many celebrities in the first decade of the 2000s publicly expressed interest in smartphones and other handheld devices. Similarly, many stereotypical "nerdy" interests, such as video games, tabletop RPGs, comic book franchises, and fantasy and science fiction works, are now international popular culture hits.{{cite news|last=Woyke|first=Elizabeth|title=Celebrity Nerds Come Out|url=https://www.forbes.com/2008/09/19/celebrity-geeks-gadgets-tech-personal-cx_ew_0919celeb.html|access-date=26 June 2012|newspaper=Forbes|date=19 September 2008}}

Johannes Grenzfurthner, researcher, self-proclaimed nerd and director of nerd documentary Traceroute, reflects on the emergence of nerds and nerd culture:

{{blockquote|I think that the figure of the nerd provides a beautiful template for analyzing the transformation of the disciplinary society into the control society. The nerd, in his cliche form, first stepped out upon the world stage in the mid-1970s, when we were beginning to hear the first rumblings of what would become the Cambrian explosion of the information society. The nerd must serve as comic relief for the future-anxieties of Western society. ...The germ cell of burgeoning nerdism is difference. The yearning to be understood, to find opportunities to share experiences, to not be left alone with one's bizarre interest. At the same time one derives an almost perverse pleasure from wallowing in this deficit. Nerds love deficiency: that of the other, but also their own. Nerds are eager explorers, who enjoy measuring themselves against one another and also compete aggressively. And yet the nerd's existence also comprises an element of the occult, of mystery. The way in which this power is expressed or focused is very important.|Johannes Grenzfurthner, interviewed by Thomas Kaestle, Boing Boing, 14 April 2016{{cite news|url=http://boingboing.net/2016/04/14/the-story-of-traceroute-about.html|title=The story of Traceroute, about a Leitnerd's quest: Johannes Grenzfurthner talks about Traceroute|publisher=Boing Boing|first=Thomas|last=Kaestle|date=14 April 2016|access-date=1 January 2017}}}}

In the 1984 film Revenge of the Nerds, Robert Carradine worked to embody the nerd stereotype; in doing so, he helped create a definitive image of nerds.{{Cite news | last = Singer | first = Jon | title = Carradine hits the jackpot as Lewis Skolnick | magazine = Lumino | date = 2005-08-28 | url = http://www.luminomagazine.com/mw/content/view/341/10/ | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160101085415/http://www.luminomagazine.com/mw/content/view/341/10/ | archive-date = 2016-01-01 }} Additionally, the storyline presaged, and may have helped inspire, the "nerd pride" that emerged in the late 1990s.{{speculation inline|date=November 2021}} American Splendor regular Toby Radloff claims this was the movie that inspired him to become "The Genuine Nerd from Cleveland, Ohio".{{Cite news | last = Hensley | first = Dennis | title = Revenge of the nerd: American Splendor's Toby Radloff is out and proud about his sexuality and his nerddom | magazine = The Advocate | date = 2003-09-02 | url = http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1589/is_2003_Sept_2/ai_110737685 | access-date = 22 July 2007 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071117062557/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1589/is_2003_Sept_2/ai_110737685 | archive-date = 17 November 2007 | url-status = dead }} In the American Splendor film, Toby's friend, American Splendor author Harvey Pekar, was less receptive to the movie, believing it to be hopelessly idealistic, explaining that Toby, an adult low income file clerk, had nothing in common with the middle class kids in the film who would eventually attain college degrees, success, and cease being perceived as nerds. Many, however, seem to share Radloff's view, as "nerd pride" has become more widespread in the years since. MIT professor Gerald Sussman, for example, seeks to instill pride in nerds:

{{blockquote|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, which can unfortunately cause the downward spiral into social rejection.|Gerald Sussman, quoted by Katie Hafner, The New York Times, 29 August 1993{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/08/29/business/woman-computer-nerd-and-proud.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm|title=Woman, Computer Nerd – and Proud|newspaper=The New York Times|first=Katie|last=Hafner|date=29 August 1993|access-date=11 June 2011}}}}

Individuals who are labeled as "nerds" are often the target of bullying due to a range of reasons that may include physical appearance or social background. Paul Graham has suggested that the reason nerds are frequently singled out for bullying is their indifference to popularity or social context, in the face of a youth culture that views popularity as paramount. However, research findings suggest that bullies are often as socially inept as their academically better-performing victims,{{Cite journal|last=Nicholson|first=Christie|date=2010-07-10|title=Bully or Victim? More Similar Than We Might Think|url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/bully-or-victim-more-similar-than-w-10-07-10|journal=Scientific American (Supplemental Podcast)|access-date=2017-07-06}} and that popularity fails to confer protection from bullying.{{cite news |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2014/04/01/297700322/being-popular-doesn-t-protect-kids-from-bullying-in-high-school|title=Becoming More Popular Doesn't Protect Teens From Bullying|access-date=2017-07-06|author=Mannvi Singh|date=April 1, 2014|work=NPR Health Shots – Health News From NPR}} Other commentators have pointed out that pervasive harassment of intellectually-oriented youth began only in the mid-twentieth century.{{cite web|last=Evans|first=RJ|title=A Short Illustrated History of the Nerd|url=http://www.kuriositas.com/2011/06/short-illustrated-history-of-nerd.html|access-date=2017-07-06}}{{cite web|author=Thanks Always Returns|title=The origin of nerds|url=http://www.thanksalwaysreturns.net/TheOriginOfNerds.html|access-date=2017-07-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170907033545/http://www.thanksalwaysreturns.net/TheOriginOfNerds.html|archive-date=7 September 2017|url-status=dead}}

• "White & Nerdy" by "Weird Al" Yankovic, a parody of the song "Ridin'" by Chamillionaire ft. Krayzie Bone, prominently features and celebrates aspects of nerd culture.{{cite book|last1=Williams|first1=Justin A.|title=The Cambridge Companion to Hip-Hop|date=2015|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9781107037465|page=227|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ha0PBgAAQBAJ&q=White+%26+Nerdy+weird+al+parody&pg=PA227}}
• Slashdot uses the tagline "News for nerds. Stuff that matters."
• Charles J. Sykes wrote "Be nice to nerds. You may end up working for them." This quotation, as well as the passage it was taken from, has been popularized on the Internet in the 2000s. It has occasionally been incorrectly attributed to Bill Gates.{{Cite web | last1 = Mikkelson | first1 = Barbara | last2 = Mikkelson | first2 = David P. | title = Some Rules Kids Won't Learn in School | year = 2000 | url = http://www.snopes.com/language/document/liferule.asp | access-date = 2007-07-22 }}
• In Spain, Nerd Pride Day has been observed on May 25 since 2006,{{cite web | url=http://www.forevergeek.com/2010/05/celebrate_geek_pride_day_2010/ | title=Celebrate Geek Pride Day 2010 | date=24 May 2010 | access-date=20 April 2014 | author=Tassara-Twigg, Noemi | archive-date=21 April 2014 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140421064142/http://www.forevergeek.com/2010/05/celebrate_geek_pride_day_2010/ | url-status=dead }} the same day as Towel Day, another somewhat nerdy holiday.{{cite web | url=http://newsok.com/happy-geeknerd-pride-day/article/3792939 | title=Happy Geek/Nerd Pride Day! | publisher=NewsOK.com | date=25 May 2010 | access-date=20 April 2014 | author=Price, Matthew}} The date was picked as it is the anniversary of the release of Star Wars.{{cite web | url=http://chemistry.about.com/b/2012/05/25/happy-geek-pride-day-2.htm | title=Happy Geek Pride Day! | publisher=About.com | date=25 May 2012 | access-date=20 April 2014 | author=Helmenstine, Anne Marie | archive-date=21 April 2014 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140421064411/http://chemistry.about.com/b/2012/05/25/happy-geek-pride-day-2.htm | url-status=dead }}
• Australian events such as Oz Comic-Con (a large comic book and cosplay convention, similar to San Diego Comic-Con) and Supernova, are incredibly popular events among the culture of people who identify themselves as nerds. In 2016, Oz Comic-Con in Perth saw almost 20,000 cosplayers and comic book fans meet to celebrate the event, hence being named a "professionally organised Woodstock for geeks".{{Cite web|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-01/fans-embrace-comic-con-perth/7293654|title=Fantasy fans to flock Perth Oz Comic-Con spectacle|date=2016-04-01|website=ABC News|language=en-AU|access-date=2016-05-16}}
• Fans of the Vlogbrothers (a YouTube channel starring John and Hank Green) call themselves "nerdfighters" and refer to the fan base as a whole as "Nerdfighteria".{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/a-note-on-nerdfighters|title=A Note on Nerdfighters|date=March 13, 2013|magazine=The New Yorker|access-date=September 20, 2020}}

{{div col|colwidth=30em}}

• Angry Video Game Nerd
• Anti intellectualism
• Chigyu
• Egghead
• Fandom
• Geek
• Grok
• Hipster
• Intellectualism
• Nerdcore
• Otaku
• Preppy
• Techbro
• Video game culture

{{div col end}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite journal|last= Bucholtz |first= Mary|title= 'Why be normal?': Language and identity practices in a community of nerd girls |journal=Language in Society |year=1999|volume=28 |issue= 2|pages= 203–23|author-link=Mary Bucholtz |doi= 10.1017/s0047404599002043|doi-broken-date= 1 November 2024|url= https://cloudfront.escholarship.org/dist/prd/content/qt73c1p4j9/qt73c1p4j9.pdf|doi-access= free}}
• {{cite book|last=Frayling |first= Christopher|title=Mad, Bad And Dangerous?: The Scientist and the Cinema |year= 2005 |publisher= Reaktion Books |author-link= Christopher Frayling}}
• [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0820887/ Genuine Nerd (2006)] – Feature-length documentary on Toby Radloff.
• {{cite journal |last = Kendall |first = Lori |year= 1999 |title= 'The Nerd Within': Mass Media and the Negotiation of Identity Among Computer-Using Men |journal=The Journal of Men's Studies |volume=7 |issue= 3 |pages= 353–69|doi = 10.3149/jms.0703.353 |s2cid = 144398035 }}
• {{cite journal |last = Kendall |first = Lori | author-mask = 3 |year= 1999 |title= Nerd Nation: Images of Nerds in U.S. Popular Culture |journal= International Journal of Cultural Studies |volume= 2 |issue= 2 |pages= 260–83 |doi= 10.1177/136787799900200206|s2cid = 146186669 }}
• {{cite journal |last =Kendall |first = Lori | author-mask = 3 |year= 2000 |title= 'Oh No! I'm a Nerd!': Hegemonic Masculinity on an Online Forum |journal= Gender & Society |volume= 14 |issue= 2 |pages=256–74 |doi= 10.1177/089124300014002003|s2cid = 145705135 }}
• Newitz, A. & Anders, C. (Eds) She's Such a Geek: Women Write About Science, Technology, and Other Nerdy Stuff. Seal Press, 2006.
• {{cite book |last= Nugent |first= Benjamin |title= American Nerd: The Story of My People |year= 2008 |publisher= Scribner |location= New York |isbn= 978-0-7432-8801-9 |url-access= registration |url= https://archive.org/details/americannerdstor00nuge }}
• {{Citation | last = Okada | first = Toshio | title = Otaku Gaku Nyumon | language = ja |trans-title=Introduction to Otakuology | publisher = Ohta Verlag | place = Tokyo | year = 1996}}.

{{wiktionary|nerd}}

• "[https://web.archive.org/web/20070622003744/http://geekstudies.org/papers/mit5-presentation-notes.pdf The Well-Dressed Geek: Media Appropriation and Subcultural Style]" (Paper by Jason Tocci presented at the MIT5 conference. PDF, 180kb).
• [http://www.paulgraham.com/nerds.html "Why Nerds are Unpopular"], an essay by Paul Graham about the conformist society in American high schools.
• [http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/pub/2000/5/the-nerds-have-won "The Nerds Have Won"], an article by Brian Hayes in American Scientist, September–October 2000.

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