Re: [MLUG - DISCUSSION] etymology of 'geek', 'nerd', etc.

[Ian Monroe <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

I remembered seeing a word history for Nerd in my dictionary and I just
pulled it out and according to it, the first use of Nerd was by Dr. Seuss
in a 1950 book called If I Ran a Zoo (a nerd being ones of those weird 
animals in Dr. Seuss books). It also refers to a Newsweek artical
in 1951 that defined Nerd as a square. Its not know if the two are related
or not. It also says that it took awhile to get popular, so your
dictionary is not wholly inaccurate.

Ian
 
> 'Nerd' is also in the dictionary.  According to my dictionary, the term
> 'nerd' was first used in the early 1960s.  Definition 2 is "a person
> dedicated to a nonsocial pursuit: a computer nerd."  It seems like 'nerd'
> has fallen out of fashion somewhat and 'geek' is taking its place.
> 
> Mike
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