Talk:nerd
Any connection to "nerdiludium" (Latin for backgammon)?
Not always derogatory
In the community of skilled informaticians, words 'geek' and 'nerd' are not considered as derogatory. On a contrary - they are synonyms of true professionals devoted to their job/hobby. Maybe the etymology was derogatory but now - as the language is alive - the meaning is different. Especially in IT-specialists' world, maybe for other it remains unchanged and is still derogatory. Chesteroni 16:46, 27 March 2011 (UTC)
- Yes, your last disclaimer CYA - because is sounds like you don't hear much converstion outside your 'community'. Adopting the pejorative term and using it in a not-derogatory way does not mean the meaning has changed significantly. For an analogy, see "nigger". Same goes for 'geek' and 'engineer'. A sub-definition that might be added might be 'someone that fantasizes that they control information and people just because they are responsible for maintaining the communications hardware'. 71.164.227.51 17:36, 24 September 2011 (UTC)
Alternative Etymology
During my first day at Dartmouth College, I was told that students there were either 'drunks' (geologists rolled kegs of beer into their classrooms, as the sun set) or 'knurds' ('drunk' spelled backward). All, somehow, were fine scholars. (Check an early scene in 'MASH', the movie.) Dartmouth has a ski jump, from its days as training site for the winter Olympics, I was told. (Not all may have been so scholarly.)
'Dr Seuss' had written for the student magazine while there; and I suspect an industrious scholar might find a reference in one of these early articles for 'knurd'. Whether the word preceded Geissel's attendance, I don't know. However, I used 'knurd' as common slang at college long before I was aware of 'nerd' in national use. -Bruce Bathurst, Geologist 209.218.108.22 23:06, 22 March 2011 (UTC)
- Would be nice to have a date for this reminiscence. Bmclaughlin9 (talk) 16:56, 11 July 2012 (UTC)
Def is way off.
"intellectual,skilled in one or more fields, and generally introverted." That def is WAY off. First, it says that simply being intellectual makes you a nerd. second, it says that nerds are introverted. The key term is "overly intellectual". Having A's in school doesn't necessarily make one nerdy.
As for the introversion, that may not be the case. Most nerds are either socially excluded (not allowed in conversations and peer groups), or socially inept (lacking social skills entirely.) I have heard of many nerds in schools that want to be extroverted, but cant, because of bullies, sometimes leading them to suicide. If they were introverted, they wouldn't care.
Also, "nerd" is a really common term for referring to a person heavily obsessed with a fantasy interest (e.g. comics, Pokémon), both as a derogatory ref and a reclaimed term.
Nerd is one of the few derogatory terms with no standard definition. It just refers to people with odd interests, personalities, appearance, etc. It also has a different meaning when reclaimed by a targeted group (e.g. scientists, retro video game enthusiasts). The more common derogatory meaning is "a person who is overly intellectual, obsessive, odd, or socially impaired." But in reclaimed usage, it refers to any person heavily interested in something. Ticklewickleukulele (talk) 21:20, 14 October 2012 (UTC)