Who coined the word "nerd" and where was it used?

Answer 1

The term "Nerd" goes back at least to 1951, when Newsweek reported the usage as relatively new in Detroit, Michigan. By the 1960s, 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 "wimp" 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.

Answer 2

I don't know about you, but I expected a more complete answer from Big Jay 7. What a nerd. I've always heard that Dr. Suess came up with the word for one of his books, but I have never seen the book. An impressive answer. I think Big Jay's doctoral thesis was on the origin of the word "Nerd". Answering after him is like being a stand up comedian following Robin Williams. Wait, Wikipedia? I smell a rat. This is an automatic disqualification.

Answer 3

A company called Nortern Research and Development, had their logo NERD printed on shirt pocket protectors is one way that this termed got coined, another is that drunk spelled backward is knurd, for the way people act when they're intoxicated.

Answer 4

The Fonz when he called Potsie and Ralph nerds.

Answer 5

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nerd#History where they say the word comes from Dr. Seuss in 1950.

Good Luck!!!

Answer 6

nerd
▶ noun (informal) BORE; informal dork, dweeb, geek; Brit. informal anorak, spod; N. Amer. informal Poindexter.

Nerd
For the funk-rock band see N*E*R*D. For other uses, see Nerd (disambiguation).
Nerd, as a stereotypical or archetypal designation, refers to somebody who pursues academic and intellectual interests at the expense of social skills such as: interpersonal communication, fashion, hygiene and physical fitness.

N*E*R*D
For other uses of the term, see nerd (disambiguation).
N*E*R*D (pronounced 'en ee are dee', often referred to incorrectly as simply 'nerd') is the name of a rock band consisting of Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo of The Neptunes and their friend Shae Haley. It is hard to pigeon-hole the band into one genre, however funk-rock would best describe their sound. Pharrell explains;


nerd
■ noun informal a person who lacks social skills or is boringly studious.


nerdish adjective
nerdishness noun
nerdy adjective (nerdier, nerdiest).


1950s (orig. US): of unknown origin.



© Oxford University Press, 2004



Merriam-Webster Collegiate® Dictionary

nerd
Pronunciation: 'nərd
Function: noun
Etymology: perhaps from nerd, a creature in the children's book If I Ran the Zoo (1950) by Dr. Seuss (Theodor Geisel)
Date: 1951

: an unstylish, unattractive, or socially inept person especially : one slavishly devoted to intellectual or academic pursuits
–nerd·i·ness \'nər-dē-nəs\ noun
–nerd·ish \'nər-dish\ adjective
–nerdy \-dē\ adjective

Answer 7

"And then, just to show them, I'll sail to Ka-Troo
And
Bring
Back
an It-Kutch
a Preep
and a Proo
a Nerkle

a Nerd
and a Seersucker, too!"

Answer 8

The word orginated as the aconym N.E.R.D. and stood for "Not Even Remotely Do-able"

Answer 9

Be nice to a Nerd....you may have to work for one......

Answer 10

I unknowingly married one, my bad!