Great Moments in Nerdery: The Nerd is the Word
Seuss said it first.
Historians and archeologists largely agree that Theodor Seuss Geisel penned the first recorded use of the word “nerd.” To readers without the right kind of eyes, it was not entirely clear what he meant.
In his 1950 book “If I Ran the Zoo,” the young protagonist Gerald McGrew is bored with all the typical animals that he’s seen before – so his imagination conjures new ones, and they get weirder and more exotic as Gerald’s mind travels further.
Shshshsh, let’s listen in: “”And then, just to show them, I’ll sail to Ka-Troo/And Bring Back an It-Kutch a Preep and a Proo/A Nerkle a Nerd and a Seersucker, too!”
The literary world resoundingly agrees that if Dr. Seuss ever wrote a throwaway line, this was not it. Within this context, linguists of every tongue share the conclusion that “nerd” was first loosely defined as …. hmm … huh? What the …. What kind of doctor…
And what if “nerkle” had caught on instead of ”nerd” as a word? Would you instead be reading Inside the Nerklery?
Who are we?
