The word nerd is one of the most commonly used words in the English language today. The dictionary definition of a nerd is, “an unstylish, unattractive, or socially inept person” (dictionary.com). This definition though, does not suit today’s nerd. Today, there are the three main types of nerds, the smart nerd, the technology nerd, and the want to be nerd.

There is speculation that the word nerd came from the word “knurd”. “Knurd” was a popular word within certain colleges that was derived from the word “drunk” spelled backwards, describing someone who would rather study than party. This explanation of the origin of the word “nerd” seems appropriate because when the majority of people who think of the word nerd, think of an academic. The word nerd really started to catch on because of the frequent use of it in the hit show “Happy Days”. To be called a nerd in the 60’s and 70’s was among the worst insults one could be given. A nerd then was frequently thought of as a person with little to no friends and had nothing to do but homework. These kids were easy targets for another rising stereotype of the time, the bully. The bully was usually the person who would deem someone a nerd and use them to complete their homework. Being a nerd was not exactly easy, but it had its perks. Nerds were commonly far and few between so when a nerd would grow up, they would have the best shot of going to a large university and landing a top position at a successful company, opposed to their bully counter-parts. Without this type of nerd, many of the modern technologies that exist today would not be around. The inventor of the computer, Bill Gates, was a big nerd when he was in high school. He used his brains to develop one of the single most important pieces of technology ever. More recently, a nerd from Harvard University named Mark Zuckerburg came up with the idea of Facebook, which the majority of Americans have for social media interactions. Those nerds were fundamental in creating the backbone for the technology used today.

One type of nerd that is on the rise is the computer nerd. A computer nerd is someone who rarely leaves their house because they are playing video games all day long. These computer nerds are the least successful of all nerds and originated when the game dungeons and dragons came out and really took off when Nintendo came along. There are multiple variants of this breed of nerd. The first is the nostalgic nerd. This nerd is the outcast. This type of nerd never moved past the Nintendo 64 and continues to only play and talk about old games. This type of nerd will always have their Gameboy color with them and know all of the Pokémon and can beat Zelda without trying. The other version of the computer nerd is the first person shooter nerd. This person goes to all of the midnight releases of call of duty and often turns into a nerd bully hybrid. Online, they are supreme, everyone but them is a “noob” and this person often comes up with unoriginal insults to try to throw other first person shooter nerds off of their game. When this nerd is in real life though, they are sheepish and often embarrassed to talk to real people. The third type of computer nerd is the one everyone in a way strives to be like, the computer genius. This nerd is someone who knows everything about computers and is also likeable in real life because they will help anyone out with computer problems without making a fuss. This is the humble nerd, and a very likable nerd. This computer genius nerd also puts their brains to use and they often times take on the professional careers of being software designers or web developers and make the technology used today easier to comprehend and use.

The final type of nerd is not really a nerd at all; they are the want to be nerd, or pseudo-nerd. This nerd can hardly be considered a nerd because they do not have any of the characteristics of a nerd. This pseudo-nerd is someone who thinks that they are a nerd because they dress like one. The way a nerd dresses though, does not define them. A true nerd wears whatever everyone else wears with the exception of a few hardcore nerds. What the pseudo-nerd thinks a nerd looks like is a person with large framed glasses wearing a button up short sleeved shirt with a bow tie and a pen protector. This is an overwhelming stereotype that a nerd has. Psudo-nerds think that they are nerds because they do things that not everybody does. This type of pseudo-nerd is leaning towards a hipster. A hipster is a type of pseudo-nerd that tries to dress like a nerd and tries their hardest to be different and go against the norm. These people are disregarded by many people because most find it offensive that these people try to be a nerd without actually having any characteristics of a nerd. While many actual nerds do not like the fact people are trying to be like them, it is giving nerds a better name. Many NBA stars such as Kevin Durant and LeBron James dress like nerds and because of his, many see being a nerd as a hip thing.

The definition for the word nerd has changed so much since the word was first introduced to the world in the 1950’s. The word nerd has gone from something you would call someone as an insult to something that many people try to be. Because of this swing of connotation, some bullying has seized because of the acceptance of the nerd into the world.