Why Are Nerds Unpopular?

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Joined: 20 Nov 2009
Age: 159
Gender: Male
Posts: 936
Location: Leiden, Netherlands

29 Mar 2010, 2:13 pm

To be unpopular is in the criteria for being a nerd.
I think it is actually a compliment (not complement, although that typo would have been a great pun).
Some people do not like it if someone is pedantic (e.g. my father) and some people simply do not like people being smarter than them (e.g. Chris Langan's father).
But it is not a fact that it is not liked.
High school is mainly a popularity contest to some people, in some schools.
After that it ought to be smooth sailing.
Although I am now doubting myself, because people rarely change.
And war never changes (Fallout 3 reference).

SilverPikmin
Deinonychus

Joined: 1 Aug 2008
Age: 34
Gender: Male
Posts: 360
Location: Merseyside, England, UK

10 Apr 2010, 11:39 am

Moog wrote:

ursaminor wrote:

Nerd is actually derived from knurd, which is the opposite of drunk, meaning they do not go out and drink.

I did not know that! I'm fascinated by word derivations.

According to this it's from 'nut'. I don't think anyone used 'knurd' until Terry Pratchett wrote Sourcery in 1988, and 'nerd' has been around since the 1950s.