A Nerd & A Geek Walk Into A Bar...
A NERD AND A GEEK
WALK INTO A BAR…
“OMG! I’m in nerdvana! There’s a classic Doctor Who marathon on BBC tonight!”
“Did you see the Marvel Universe Live show? It was frakin’ geektacular!”
“I swear I had a nerdgasm when they announced the original cast will be returning for the new Star Wars movie.”
“My wife bought me the most geektastic birthday gift last year. The Ultimate DM screen! It looks like a freaking castle!”
“I’m a hardcore Tolkien nerd.”
“He’s a total geek for all things Star Trek.”
Nerd.
Geek.
Odds are if you’re reading this blog you are a nerd. Or a geek.
I myself have known I was a nerd for almost forty years. Comic books, Star Wars, and Dungeons & Dragons confirmed that to a seven year old boy with no interest in sports, fishing, hunting, or cars. I use the word proudly to identify myself.
Yes, I am a nerd.
I am not, however, a geek.
Maybe you don’t care which of these two words you identify yourself as and use them interchangeably. Most people do seem to use these words as synonyms today. You might even know someone who uses them equivalently (if so, send them the link to this page).
In fact, until recently, these words were used exclusively as verbal ammunition by bullies at school, on the streets, and in the playgrounds.
These words may have been transformed into badges of honor today but exactly what have we fans of Math & Science, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, RPGs, Video Games, and comic books chosen to glorify?
GILBERT: It reads, “Nerds Get Out!”
TAKASHI: Excuse me, what pray tell, is a nerd?
GILBERT: We are.
- Revenge of the Nerds (1984)
NERD
This word seems to be a purely American invention. Most etymologists agree that the word first sees print in 1950 and there are no provable references to this word before that time. This was the year that Theodor Geisel’s tenth book, under his pen name Dr. Seuss, was printed. It was titled, If I ran the Zoo, and that is where the word nerd was born.
This tale follows the hysterical ramblings of a young boy named Gerald McCray. He runs down a litany of extravagantly fantastic creatures that he would put on display if he ran the zoo. One of these imaginative attractions, hailing from the land of Ka-Troo, is something called a nerd.
As seen in this comical illustration by Dr. Seuss himself the nerd is depicted as a rather annoyed looking squat humanoid impatiently twiddling his thumbs. He seems to wear a black t-shirt and he sports an unruly mop of hair with wild sideburns.
During the 1930s and 40s a slang word, nert (nerts, nertz) became popular as a way to say “nuts” in polite society. As implied, it was meant to denote someone or something that was crazy or stupid. Speculation has suggested that this is the origin of nerd. It was certainly used in enough radio dramas and movies of the time to establish it as an actual slang term. That is where the connection seems to end though. Nertz never seems to have been used as an insult in the way that nerd was used.
There are some scholars who believe the origin comes from a 1930’s stage act.
World famous ventriloquist Edgar Bergan had a dummy sidekick named Mortimer Snerd, a buck-toothed, innocent rube wearing a pathetically hideous suit.
One cannot deny that it sounds plausible that the name Snerd could have been used as an insult. The funny sound of the name and the image of Mortimer Snerd, what kid would want to be called that?
However, there are no records to support this theory; no media news using this, no print mentions, no stories making this connection.
Another interesting hypothesis is the connection between the word nerd and the Northern Electric Research & Development labs in Ottawa. There has been speculation that the badges read “N.E. R&D”. Add in the stereotyped image of a skinny scientist in thick glasses wearing a pocket protector and it’s easy to see how there could be a connection here. However, once again, there is no evidence to support this.
Ne’er-do-well is yet another suspect in the origin of the word nerd. Some have claimed that nerd is a contraction of this phrase. However, besides having no references at all to prove this, the phrase means nothing that makes a connection to how nerd was, or is, used. A ne’er-do-well means a person who is lazy and/or irresponsible, someone with high goals but little drive to achieve them.
There has been a connection made between the word nerd and an old frat house nickname, Knurd (later appearing as Nurd). There are claims that this word became popular in the 1940s as a way to describe a student who was not a drinker and partier. It meant someone who would rather study or read than attend events. They were a square. A student who would not get drunk was reasoned to be the opposite of drunk, knurd. They, as a group, were therefore known as knurds.
Once again, other than personal stories handed down, we have no proof of this origin.
If there's one thing lower than a side show freak,
It's a grit eatin', scum suckin', pencil neck geek.
- Classy Freddie Blassie
GEEK
Unlike Nerd, the word Geek is an old, well-established word in human history. It’s an Old English word denoting someone who has abnormal features and/or possesses physical anomalies. It came from the older, Low German language word, “Geck”, a noun used to describe a fool or simpleton. A similar word from the Dutch is “Gek” which means silly or mad/insane.
Circuses, going as far back as the 18th century, used the word in advertisements of their strange human attractions. It became synonymous with those specific circus performers who did the most outlandishly morbid stunts and disgusting acts. These include such performances as biting the heads off of small, living animals, eating glass, and hammering nails into their head. These performers were called, Geeks.
References to this word are peppered throughout history. In 1515 the author Alexander Barclay wrote “Certayne Eglogues”. In this work he wrote, “Aiijb, he is a fool, a sote, and a geke also which choseth… the worst [way] and most ieoperdie.”
William Shakespeare used the word twice; first in his 1601 masterpiece, “Twelfth Night”,
“Why have you suffered me to be imprison’d,
Kept in a dark house visited by priests,
And made the most notorious of gecke and gell
That e’er invention played on? Tell me why?”
Again we find the Bard using the word in his 1616 play, “Cymbeline”
“To taint his nobler heart and brain
With needles jealousy
And to become the geek and scorn
O’th’others villainy.”
In Austria-Hungry the word “Gecken” was used to advertise all sorts of collections of misshapen physical freaks.
In the 1947 Tyrone Power film, “Nightmare Alley” the word Geek was used to describe the grotesque circus freak.
During the 1960s and 1970s wrestler “Classy” Freddie Blassie kept the term popular with his creative, catch-phrase of calling anyone perceived as less than him as a Pencil-Neck Geek.
So to sum up the history of what these words mean…
NERD – An impatient, intelligent, sometimes unkempt, anti-social/socially uncomfortable person who dresses in dark shirts and is seen as crazy by non-nerds.
GEEK – A misshapen, grotesque, imbecile/village idiot, who bites the heads off of animals, eats broken glass, hammers nails into their heads, and is seen as lesser beings.
Next time you refer to yourself as a nerd or a geek be sure you know what the word means but more importantly know where the word came from and why it was invented.
Me, I’m a nerd.
You?
