Girls wear these I Heart Nerds shirts thinking it’s cute… but do you really heart nerds? The poisonous Internet tough guys on message boards would make you take that shirt off really fast (wait nice thought there) but I’m sure the nice guy at Best Buy who took time out of his World of Warcraft discussion with his co-worker to tell you why a PC is better than a Mac may make you put it back on.

So what defines a nerd? I find myself wondering about this because as human beings we all are complex in our own little ways. When asked this question most definitions lead to the stereotypical nerd (see movie Revenge of The Nerds) which is a socially inept, awkward, outcast who isn’t necessarily intelligent but highly fanatical about a certain vice.

To be perfectly honest with you, I have known many people who fit that mold, they seem nice enough but appear timid in social circles. They can rifle off stats about a football team, but if you get them around 4+ people outside of their world, they freeze up and seem sick. I’m sure you know people like this too. On the other hand, I know people who can rifle off the sports stats, go out to a house party, mingle without issue and can fix your PC with one hand tied behind their back. Oh ya and they have no issue getting a girl or guy. So what is the nerd in this comparison, is it the knowledge? Or is person number two not considered to be a nerd?

American life is rife with stereotypes and nasty generalizations. Anyone who grew up here can attest to this and have been guilty of contributing to this social problem at one time or another. It’s the attitude that makes you stare at interracial couples and hate on the one that looks like you (I’ve never been guilty of this crap). The same attitude that makes you feel that because a guy dresses strange, wears glasses and stays on the internet all day, he should be able to fix your computer. There’s a ton of these things I’m sure you know and have acted on a few of them. Point is we deal a lot with stereotypes and generalizations.

Efforts to separate generalizations of “nerd” have been made with other derogatory terms like “geek”, “dork” etc. but similarly with “nerd” no two definitions of each is the same. What is the clear cut definition of this word?

Nerd Today versus Nerd Yesterday
One thing that I’ve noticed is that it is somehow cool to regard oneself as a nerd now. When I was coming up through High School etc. it was an ugly insult. What began as a derogatory term to basically point out someone as being a socially stunted, book worm with no hope of getting female attention has turned into techie, intelligent, game playing, anime watching, internet lover whose intelligence could amount to multi-millionare status.  This is where people start naming off the Bill Gates and Steve Jobs of our time period.

I recall in High School one of my best friends called me a nerd when I told him I played Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. I thought it was weird and I got pissed because I knew I wasn’t a nerd, I mean I played Football, I wrestled, did Martial Arts since I was 11 and hell I had a girlfriend. How dare he throw that insult at me! Yes I played Nintendo all the time and I programmed games in QBasic but Nerds were losers right? I had enough trophies to prove that bish wrong, wtf was his deal…  looking back on this, I can clearly see how differently the word was percieved compared to now. It was not a nice thing to be called.

So has the definition changed? Is this why it’s confusing, or is it something else. Let me share my views on “nerd” from a personal level”

My thoughts
I believe that there are three levels of “nerd”, based on my personal experience.

Group 1
My direct friends are nerds in the aspect that they are intelligent, love things in the nerd sub-culture like anime, games, etc. but are either married, have a girl or are dating heavily… These same guys have either played sports or are really into sports… a number are also ex Advanced Dungeons and Dragons players. They still video game heavily, Rockband 2 as of late.

Group 2
Another set of people I know, I’ve met through MMORPG and other Internet sources. They are cool when you are guilded with them and can be very nice once you meet them in person but behind the keyboard they are something else. These guys are nasty on message boards, will use mean slurs and phrases anonymously, but would never go out to a Club, Bar, Pool Hall or any massively social event… They represent a big portion of the MMORPG market and lack the strong ambition of a Bill Gates to amass wealth. Comments like “I want to raid, screw work I’m gonna call in again” tells me this. Every MMO I’ve played with these guys I’ve observed their nasty behaviour to other anonymous people online, so I feel safe in writing these assumptions.

Group 3
The third set of “nerds” encompasses the hardcore fraternity/sorrority types. People in this category do not lack social skills, they just know what they like and choose to be with their own. Live Action RolePlayers, Furries (regardless of your negative thoughts about this sub-culture please respect my choice to add them to this list), Plushies, Competitive FPS Gamers and Otakus. Toss in your goth types, zombie types and general dress-up sub-cultures and you have group 3.

It could take an entire book to define nerd, and i’m sure there are about 5 more groups that I am unable to define…

Finale
In conclusion to my pondering, let me ask you this; If a cousin of yours from a distant country that hasn’t been poisoned with the American way comes over and asks you to define what a nerd is, what would you say? How would you define a nerd to him/her?

Thanks for reading.

Written by Greg Dragon on Saturday, January 3, 2009 

Filed under The Nerdiest Topics
Tagged with myth busters, nerds