nerd
photo credit: "Day after Christmas" by marissa anderson (CC-BY-2.0) Definition: (noun) A boring person who studies a lot
Example: After James calculated pi to 4,000,000,000 decimal places without using a computer, his friends voted him "Nerd of the Year."
Quote:
"Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one."
Like its synonym, geek, nerd is often used to describe people
working in the computer field. Because of the rise of computer engineers
in the last twenty years, people now associate nerds with good
salaries and the word has lost some of its insult value.
A couple of years ago, for example, my neighbor came home with a tiny
silver Audi sports car. To complete the image of luxury, he had also gotten
a personalized license plate, which explained how he could afford the
car. It proudly stated "GEEK." But not everyone thinks
that's something to be proud of - here's a typical nerd joke:
A nerd was walking on the
college campus when he saw his nerdy friend riding a brand new
bicycle. "Where did you get that bicycle?" he asked.
"Well," replied the other nerd, "Yesterday I was
walking home when a beautiful woman rode up on this bike. She stopped,
threw the bicycle on the ground, took off her clothes and said, "Take
what you want!"
"Good choice," said the first nerd. "Her clothes
probably wouldn't have fit you."
A. C. Kemp | March 20, 2003
