Stereotype of the Nerd

According to Webster's Online Dictionary, nerd means "an unstylish, unattractive, and socially inept person; especially: one slavishly devoted to intellectual or academic pursuits" (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nerd). This is the social understanding of how most people use the word 'nerd'. However, many people have started to accept being a 'nerd' as something that is almost sought after. Teenagers want to be a nerd about something in their lives. Being a 'nerd' makes it okay to be deeply involved, almost to an obsessive level, in a way that is not only respected but also thought of as almost cool. 

In my last Rhetoric and writing class we spent the time discussing the concept of what being a 'nerd' means. We all essentially came to the conclusion that being a nerd, in today's society, means that the person has to have an extreme pursuit of something they are interested. Musicians are nerds because they have such a deeper knowledge of the way music and their instrument works, making them a music nerd. Athletes are nerds because they have an extreme passion and knowledge about "the game". Think about any subject or area of interest and the people who do well are the nerds of their field because they have a passion. Society doesn't see these people as nerds, and we don't label them as such because 'nerd' has the awful connotation that goes along with social outcast or not having friends. But on the contrary, the people who are nerds in areas that are not directly linked to science and math usually become very popular and sometimes even famous.

I watch the show "The Sing Off" and this show is a vocal competition, but it is with a capella groups. A capella literally means in that manner of the church, but that history is long and boring and confusing. It means that the singers cannot use any accompaniment of instruments; so these people arrange popular songs and make them sound like the originals but by only using their voices. The reason I am bringing this show up is because Ben Folds is one of the judges on the show. Now to the naked eye, this man is the embodiment of a 'nerd'. Thick framed glasses, awkward stance or posture, clothes that are a little awkward too, but he is a celebrity and also an extreme 'nerd'. When he listens to the music groups, he picks out the minute details that most people cannot identify. The average person would see the performance as pretty good or decent, or sometimes bad. However, the average person would not be able to tell why. Ben Folds has this ability because he has a great passion for music and not just whether it sounds good or not but the deeper musicality of the whole piece in general. He is able to pick apart harmonies and find modulated (the changing of a key) melodies in a piece that has multiple harmonies and polyphonic (multiple) melodies. The definition of him as I have just laid out would definitely put him in the 'nerd' category. But because his final product is amazing and because he is socially accepted, his ‘nerdy-ness’ no longer hurts him, it makes him who he is.

Now if you go to Urban Dictionary, you will find definitions of things the way our current society views them. There are three hundred and sixteen definitions of the word nerd according to people in today’s society. The one I have chosen is

“Nerd- A person who gains pleasure from amassing large quantities of knowledge about subjects often too detailed or complicated for most other people to be bothered with. Often mistaken for Geeks, who aspire to become nerds, yet lack the intelligence, and end up giving nerds a bad name due to their poor social skills. Non-nerds are often scared of nerds, due to their detailed knowledge, and therefore seemingly high levels of intelligence - and subsequently degenerate them as much as possible as often as possible. Nerds exist covertly within the fabric of society, often choosing to 'nerd it up' in private or in the company of fellow nerds. It is for this reason they are feared the most - unlike geeks, who are easily identified, nerds can only be found out when casual conversation reaches a subject that they like nerding.” (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=nerd)

I think this is one of the better definitions of the term nerd because it fully analyzes the fact that nerds are not simply this person who is socially outcast and looks weird but is someone who has a true obsession or passion for a specific subject or topic and can usually have a decent social life.  This is not to say that computer nerds don’t have trouble with social situations, but to say that all computer nerds are socially inadequate is an extreme stereotype. Often times, nerds who work with computers or machines get into the habit of thinking extremely logically and have trouble socially because social situations rarely follow a logical flow or pattern.

Merriam-Webster, prod. "Nerd." Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary. N.p., n.d.
Web. 13 Sept. 2011.  <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nerd>.

Nerdinator. "Nerd." Urban Dictionary. N.p., 13 Sept. 2011. Web. 13 Sept. 2011.
<http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=nerd>.