\u2026.. And then, just show them, I\u2019ll sail to ka-troo
And bring back an It-kutch, a Preep and a Proo,
A Nerkie, a Nerd, and a Seersucker, too! \u2026..<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Actually, being a big fan of Dr. Seuss, I should have just stopped there and given him all the credit, but my extensive research instinct urged me to go further.\u00a0 Like Dr. Seuss needs more controversy, but there are two sides \u2014 one side is convinced that nerd originated with Dr. Seuss and the other says the good Doctor didn\u2019t really make it up and it originated before the publication of his book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another name mentioned as a possible source of the word is Mortimer Snerd \u2014 Edgar Bergan\u2019s ventriloquist\u2019s dummy modeled on a country bumpkin. The thought is that Snerd reminded radio listeners of a \u201cdrip\u201d or someone looked upon as annoyingly dull. Edgar Bergan\u2019s radio show was popular in the late 1930s through the 1950s and some think that Dr. Seuss had Snerd in mind when he wrote the rhyme \u2014 of course, there is no proof of that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another idea is that nerd developed in colleges from knurd<\/em> \u2014 a coinage formed by spelling drunk<\/em> backwards. The implication is that a \u201cknurd\u201d would rather study than party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gradually, the \u201csocially inept but brainy\u201d connotation became associated with the term. By the 1980s, the image of the nerd as someone who has a knack for computers and sports a \u201cnerd pack\u201d (a plastic penholder) in his shirt pocket and unsightly glasses came into being.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even though, the subject of this entry is \u201cnerd,\u201d there is a a closely associated term, \u201cgeek.\u201d For the sake of completeness, I should probably touch on that\u2026. Today, being labeled a nerd is something often worn with pride. It\u2019s a word that implies that a person possesses a depth of knowledge in a particular area, whether it\u2019s in science, books, words, gaming, or whatever. Today a nerd is brainy and a bit geeky, but that\u2019s pretty cool. A few days ago, we had to restore a friend\u2019s computer back to where it was so she could play a particular game that she liked. The reason this was necessary, was because someone had re-configured the screen to make … Continue reading
In 1951, Newsweek<\/em> published an article about the latest slang that included the word nerd. The article noted that \u201cIn Detroit, someone who once would be called a drip or a square is now, regrettably, a nerd, or in less severe cases, a scurve.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/jimmy.ekota.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Snerd.jpg\")
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The term originally was used to describe sideshow freaks in the circus. It was typically attributed to those circus performers who were known for doing crazy things like biting off the heads of various small live animals or eating live insects and things like that.These performances were often called \u201cgeek shows.\u201d The word itself, \u201cgeek,\u201d came from the word \u201cgeck,\u201d which was originally a Low German word which meant someone who is a \u201cfool\/freak\/simpleton.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2014 30 \u2014<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"