Because comic books, video games, and Dungeons and Dragons have become so firmly embedded in popular culture, the word ‘nerd’ just doesn’t get thrown around as much. The word itself originated in the 1950s, with Dr. Seuss, of all people, though word etymologists, or word nerds, if you want to stick to the theme, believe that it was used among US college students at the time.
By the 1960s, the words had spread around much of the English-speaking world, mostly to describe someone who was particularly bookish and studious. This is somewhat strange since many people avidly read comic books at the time, but only nerds were singled out for abuse based on their hobbies. In general, the trend seemed to be simply to bully those who professed an interest in things like science fiction and fantasy.
A slightly alternative theory is that in the 1970s, nerds, or knurds were people in college deemed to be boring since they would prefer to study, than, say, drink. The eagle-eyed among you may have noticed that knurd is just drunk spelled backward, which isn’t really that clever. Regardless of its ‘true’ origin, the word entered the mainstream lexicon from the sitcom ‘Happy Days’ where it was used regularly.
As it often is with human cruelty, people with high-functioning-autism or Asperger syndrome were often also lumped together with ‘traditional’ nerds and mocked as such. While now a nerd is seen as someone who is perhaps a bit obsessed with science fiction or fantasy, at the time it was a common pejorative for people who struggled socially. Stereotypically, a nerd would have glasses and be buck-toothed, despite neither of these features being at all related to comic books or autism.
But slowly and surely, topics once seen as purely for nerds started to gain mainstream appeal. Comic book movies now dominate the box office for over a decade, while almost all young people and many adults play video games from time to time. Nerds also found allies among celebrities who sometimes would reveal ‘geeky’ hobbies during interviews. After all, if Vin Diesel plays Dungeons and Dragons, maybe it’s not such a ‘lame’ hobby after all.
The changing economic landscape also had a part to play. Previously, the wealthiest business people were titans of industry of finance gurus. Now tech companies dominate, and these are often founded and operated by people who fall into the more traditional category of geek or nerd. Being very smart with computers is now a common pathway to success and many self-proclaimed nerds ware their hobbies as a symbol of pride.
