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capri0mniThis video (or the writer/s thereof) claim to have found the final, true, answer, based on mathematical proof. Do you agree?
Discuss (Seriously: I'm comment-hungry this week).
...As you can probably tell from where I put my emphasis tag, I don't agree, entirely (though I do think this is a plausible step in the correct direction). As someone who has lived well-steeped in the Humanities, rather than the S.T.E.M. fields, I can think of a few different ways to interpret why certain words pair with "geek" rather than "nerd."
Also: I'd seen the M.I.T. origin of "nerd" (as the backward spelling of "drunk") over at Etymology Online. But this is the first discussion of "nerd" I've seen that doesn't even mention Dr. Seuss...
Discuss (Seriously: I'm comment-hungry this week).
...As you can probably tell from where I put my emphasis tag, I don't agree, entirely (though I do think this is a plausible step in the correct direction). As someone who has lived well-steeped in the Humanities, rather than the S.T.E.M. fields, I can think of a few different ways to interpret why certain words pair with "geek" rather than "nerd."
Also: I'd seen the M.I.T. origin of "nerd" (as the backward spelling of "drunk") over at Etymology Online. But this is the first discussion of "nerd" I've seen that doesn't even mention Dr. Seuss...
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Date: 2013-09-15 12:17 am (UTC)Ask any Terry Pratchett fan...
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Date: 2013-09-15 12:55 am (UTC)If the video-makers had acknowledged the role of Dr. Seuss, they would have a reason for the spelling change, because that's how he spelled the word in If I Ran the Zoo. ...The word spiked up in popularity within a year of that book being published.
Interestingly (to me, anyhow) Seuss's illustration of "a nerd" also appears to be a character in need of a drink...