Nerd

For other uses, see Nerd (disambiguation).

Nerd, as a stereotypical or archetypal designation, refers to somebody who passionately pursues intellectual or esoteric interests - such as books and video games, rather than having a social life, participating in organized sports, or other mainstream activities. The Merriam-Webster definition is an "unstylish, unattractive, or socially inept person; especially: one slavishly devoted to intellectual or academic pursuits." [1]

History

The term "nerd", meaning a dull person goes back at least to 1951, when it was reported as a relatively new usage in Detroit, Michigan first by Newsweek and then the St. Joseph, Michigan, Herald-Press. By the early 1960s, usage of the term as a synonym for "square" (a dull person) spread through the United States and as far as Scotland. Over time, it took on connotations of bookishness as well as social ineptitude. The word itself first appeared in Dr. Seuss's book If I Ran the Zoo, published in 1950, where it simply names one of Seuss's many comical imaginary animals. (The narrator Gerald McGrew claims that he would collect "a Nerkle, a Nerd, and a Seersucker too" for his imaginary zoo.)

Another theory of the word's origin sees it as a variation on Mortimer Snerd, the name of Edgar Bergen's ventriloquist dummy. Yet another theory traces the term to Northern Electric Research and Development, suggesting images of engineers wearing pocket protectors with the acronym N.E.R.D. printed on them. In the 1933 film, Dinner at Eight, Jean Harlow's character replies to her husband's suggestion that she might enjoy mingling with Washington "cabinet members' wives" by saying, "Nerds!... A lot of sour-faced frumps with last year's clothes on, pinning medals on Girl Scouts and pouring tea for the DARs..." [Spelling is from Turner DVD subtitles and not verified by the original script.] (However, this may be an intentional softening of the expletive "Nuts!", which was considered vulgar at the time.)

Finally, oral history at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, holds that the word was coined there, spelled as "knurd" ("drunk" spelled backwards), to describe those who studied rather than partied. (This usage predates a similar coinage of "knurd" by author Terry Pratchett.) The term itself was used heavily in the American 1974 – 1984 television comedy Happy Days which was set in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in the mid-1950s. In the 1940s, the word "weakling" or "whimp" was used before the word "nerd" was used widely. Comic book ads for Charles Atlas weights and workout books were often accompanied by a short comic strip about a skinny "weakling" and his girlfriend at the beach. In the strip, a muscular bully kicks sand on the weakling. His girlfriend leaves him for the bully. The weakling exercises (using Atlas's trademarked "Dynamic Tension" method) until he has bigger muscles than the bully. He then defeats the bully in a fist fight. The girl leaves the bully, and joins the former weakling again as his girlfriend. This simple comic strip may have shaped nerd-versus-bully storylines thereafter. The nature of the strip tapped into men's fears, hormones, and competitive instincts over women.

Popular culture

Dramatic depictions of good nerds typically reveal them to be good-hearted people who wish harm on no one, but are bullied by their obvious intellectual inferiors. Many nerds in fiction play roles as supporting characters who provide valuable sources of information or useful skills for the heroes. Nerds as lead characters often have a secret identity as a superhero such as "the spud"; in these cases, a put-upon person has a wonderful secret (examples include Peter Parker/Spider-Man and Clark Kent/Superman). Nerds in supporting roles often feature as technological geniuses who invent or repair various devices that enable the main characters to move towards a goal. They also serve as socially inept foils to much more charming main characters, and are sometimes depicted as being lovelorn and longing for attractive females who are beyond their status.

Nerds are often used for comic relief, for example by overconfidently making advances towards a woman they like but being rebuffed in a rude (but funny) manner. Sometimes they are made to be overconfident to the point of obnoxiousness, to make them seem deserving of their poor treatment.

Evil nerds, typically embittered from a lifetime as a social outcast and seeking revenge upon the world, provide a popular archetype for the supervillain, often as a mad scientist. This suggests that these characters represent the subconscious cultural fear that the highly intelligent have the ability to do great harm, and a willingness to do it. This seems to be the modern equivalent of the portrayal of scientists in the science fiction "bug movies" of the 1950s, representing societal fears about the harmful effects that nuclear power might cause.. A more modern example of the evil nerd is enemy computer programmer Boris Grischenko in the James Bond film GoldenEye. Grishenko also embodies the obnoxious aspect in some nerds, with his catchphrase, "Yes! I am invincible!" after having cracked a computer code.

The total opposite of a nerd is shown in Jay Ward's "Mr. Know-It-All" cartoon segments. Bullwinkle, aka Mr. Know-It-All, thinks he can do certain things, when he cannot due to his stupidity. In the cartoons, Boris Badenov (or some other evil character) usually beats up Mr. Know-It-All. Meanwhile, the time-traveling duo from this cartoon series — Mister Peabody, a talking dog, and his boy, Sherman — are both nerds; they both sport dark-rimmed glasses, and the dog wears a bow tie.

The artist "Weird Al" Yankovic composed a song entitled White and Nerdy. In the song he lists typical characteristics of a nerd, such as being an avid Star Trek viewer, knowing programming code, playing Dungeons and Dragons, and editing Wikipedia.

Nerds' taste in music is often very varied but they usually listen to "underground" music movements which are unpopular in their culture.

Characteristics

Non-nerds often think of nerds as intelligent yet socially awkward people. Nerds generally express an above-normal interest in complex subjects and often function as polymaths. Topics dealing with science, technology, comic books, complex board games (particularly chess), role-playing games, classical music, artificial intelligence, and science fiction, horror and fantasy literature books, TV shows and movies have all become heavily associated with nerds, as have conventions relating to these various topics.

Despite their crucial function as a class within modern society, there has been almost no serious and methodologically-reliable academic research published on geeks/nerds, apart from a handful of studies of their consumption-based fan cultures. Some commentators have noticed similarities between pronounced nerdy behavior and the neurological disorder known as high-functioning Asperger syndrome. The lack of studies of nerds means that we have no basis for proving such a correlation, causal or other relationship between the two types.

In the practice of psychology, geeks and nerds can be said to be Myers-Briggs Type Indicator INTP, ENTP or INTJ, and, in various cases, ENTJ. However, due to speculation over the difference of nerds and geeks, the types cannot be sorted into their subsequent classifications. Also, all types have the ability to be nerds, whereas the INTJ, INTP, ENTP, and ENTJ are near definites for being nerds. However, due to the stereotypical shyness and social ineptitude associated with nerds, the INTP and INTJ are more likely to be classified into that group than their Extroverted counterparts. These two types are the Introverted iNtuitive Thinkers. As Introverts they are stimulated by thoughts and ideas, rather than people and things. They are often quite happy spending hours absorbed in solitary activities. As iNtuitives, they are more inclined toward abstract concepts and subtle connections than in concrete examples or direct experience. As Thinkers, they are more adept in logic and reason than feelings or emotions. This combination makes INT's masters of mathematics, logic, and science, but rather oblivious to social graces. Both INTJs and INTPs tend to be outwardly nerdy and actively rebel against social rules they view as irrational and meaningless. However, INTJs tend to learn to put on a facade of surface conformism to draw less attention to themselves. For example long hair is, not surprisingly, common with INTP men, whereas INTJ men would keep their hair cut low, and dress conservatively.

In the works of Riso and Hudson, specifically Understanding the Enneagram revised edition, page 180, point 10, the term "nerd" is used as a primary reference to (and indication of being) Enneagram type 5.Most of them like to have fun just like a normal person but they still do unusual things such as playing chess and 10 hrs of runescape

Contemporary pride

Many nerds are proud of their title as a nerd. As early as the mid-1980s, "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 toward financial success in these fields, with Bill Gates himself often described as a nerd, though a remarkably wealthy one. The 1990s is generally considered a time when the nerds finally "got their revenge", and many became fabulously wealthy as a result of the high-tech explosion. The popular computer-news website Slashdot uses the tagline "News for nerds. Stuff that matters." Similarly, the quote "Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one." — Charles J. Sykes, has been, ironically, popularized by the internet and incorrectly attributed to Bill Gates.

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, which can unfortunately cause the downward spiral into social rejection."

— Gerald Sussman, quoted by Katie Hafner, The New York Times, 29 August 1994

The 1984 movie Revenge of the Nerds explored the concept of "nerd pride" to comical effect. American Splendor regular Toby Radloff claims this was the movie that inspired him to become "The Genuine Nerd From Cleveland, Ohio".

An episode from the animated series Freakazoid titled "Nerdator" has a plotline that involves the use of nerds to power the mind of a Predator-like enemy, who delivers a memorable monologue on the importance of nerds:

"…what they lack in physical strength they make up in brain power. Who writes all the best selling books? Nerds. Who directs the top grossing Hollywood movies? Nerds. Who creates the highly advanced technology that only they can understand? …Nerds. And who are the people who run for the high office of the Presidency? No one but nerds."

There is an increasing number of people, especially women, who self-identify with the term nerd as badges of honor in their field, usually science, computers, and other technology. They may also do so as a statement of non-conformity or as a desire to be seen as eccentric. Even if they meet the standards requiring intelligence, many of them do not fit the traditional definition that includes some degree of social ineptitude or alienation. They may profess to grok (the understanding or use of the term often being associated with "geeks" or "nerds") the struggles of traditional nerds even if only as a form of lip service. Given the traditional gender differences, female nerds tend to be more often self-styled than pejoratively labelled. Also, women are far less likely than men to experience peer alienation due to nerdy interests or eccentricities in general.

A recent incident of "geek pride" stems from a Doonesbury cartoon, 26 October 2005, in which Rochester Institute of Technology is referred to as a "geek school".

Nerdcore hip hop is a genre of hip hop music that has risen in popularity over the last few years. Nerdcore typically express nerd themes often with pride and humor. Notable artists include Mc chris and MC Frontalot, including Weird Al Yankovic's "White and Nerdy" . As well, there is a film showing Nerd pride called Fear of Girls.

Notes and references

joey sucs

See also

• Otaku
• Anorak (slang)
• Dork
• Boffin
• Geek chic
• High school subcultures
• List of nerds in media
• Nerds (candy)
• Fear of Girls, a short film about Nerds

External links

• Wired The Geek Syndrome
• "Why Nerds are Unpopular" An essay by Paul Graham about the conformist society in American highschools.
• Revenge of the Nerds An essay written by Paul Graham
• Nerd defined in Urbandictionary
• Nerd defined in TechDictionary
• Wikihow.com A short description of the differences between geeks and nerds.