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Fire & Ice
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Politics, culture, and other oddities.
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Monday, November 27, 2000
To continue the nonsense I started an hour ago... I was talking about "nerd," the word. (Perhaps I should have stopped, but, alas, I continue.)
Before I forget, I'd like to point out the fascinating etymology of this word. According to good old Merriam-Webster, it probably originated in the 1950 Dr. Seuss story "If I Ran the Zoo," which included a creature called a "nerd." Who knew? That Dr. Seuss -- is there anything he can't do? I had no idea he penned a word -- a word used quite frequently today, no less. Pen a word... I'll add that to my list of things to do before I die.
I've gotten off-track again. Where was I? Ah yes. Nerd. I starting thinking about all this because (I'm a big procrastinator and) I've been so interested in a bunch of my classes recently. Last night, I was doing research for a European History paper and became so absorbed in the reading, I really wished that I had time to sit down and read the whole book. Please note that this book is some sort of historical biography by some university professor, not considered by most to be captivating reading. Anyway, as I was thinking this, I was thinking about what a "nerd" I am, and then I started wondering at the connotations of that word. When I jokingly call myself a nerd, I usually mean just the second part of the definition ("one slavishly devoted to intellectual or academic pursuits"), which is not necessarily a bad thing (especially if you cross out the word "slavishly"). But the definition of "nerd" seems to inherently imply that it's to be used as an insult. Then I found myself with a rather pointless predicament: What word could I use instead of nerd to keep the idea of "intellectual pursuit" and nix the idea of "an unstylish, unattractive, or socially inept person"? First, I thought of "geek." Geek is a little better. "Geek," which traces its roots to before the emergence of "nerd," is defined as: "a person often of an intellectual bent who is disapproved of." The only part there that does not agree with me is "who is disapproved of." I think that that is not always the case. Perhaps the best word we now have at our disposal (but keep your eyes opened for my penned word soon) is an "intellectual," though that hardly has the same ring to it.
Oh my goodness. I can't believe I've actually rambled about this nonsense for this long.
*sigh* After all that, I really am a nerd. Really.
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