On Nerdiness

Statement: nerds > non-nerds.

Proof:  Let's talk about the word "nerd," shall we? Not unlike many other words, "nerd" has gotten a bad rap (yes, it's rap and not wrap-- look it up) for reasons I am unaware (...unawares?) of-- so let's get to the bottom of it.  Nerd is not the only unfortunate soul that has gotten the short end of the linguistic stick.  Words like "smell," for example, have not had it easy either.  If someone says, "something smells..." chances are their face looks something like this and not like this. But why?  Smell should be a neutral word indicating a strong, but not specifically bad (or good, for that matter) odor.  Am I wrong? (AM I WRONG DUDE?) When I sometimes (i.e. always) say, "smell ya later," why should that have a negative connotation? When really, I just mean--later, when I see you again, my olfactory glands will be in mint condition and I will indeed be able to get a good whiff of your glorious natural stench.

But enough about smell. 

Now, I'm not too sure what Webster or the good ol' OED has to say about this, but I think a nerd is someone who is passionate about something they study to the point of borderline obsession-- and what's so wrong with that? 

I believe a lot of the associated negativity stems from the fact that the general audience ties nerdiness almost exclusively to the fields of math and science (whose negative connotations are worth an entire blog post in their own right... or is that a book I smell? Don't even get me started, Forever 21. That was rude.).  But perhaps what the general audience doesn't realize is that there are many, many different kinds of nerds out there: movie nerds, theater nerds, book nerds, actuarial science nerds (hi, Dave!), beer brewing nerds (hi, Mom!), lil Wayne nerds (Hi, Jeffreezy!), friendship bracelet nerds (hi, Jana!), heck-- my sister is even a dance nerd (that girl can groooove-- hi Mel!).  So, nerds care about something in particular more than the average bear (unless said thing is honey, then my previous statement might be false). I cannot understand why being a nerd ever became a bad thing.  Especially when alleged nerds do things like "decipher the structure of an enzyme of an AIDS-like virus that had thwarted scientists for a decade" (thanks, Hamoon!). 

This blog-post-turned-shout-out-fest is a small testament to just how many nerds I know.  

And hey, I'd bet my exuberant grad school stipend you're pretty nerdy yourself.  Q.E.D.