Etymology and usage of the word, "nerd."

There is some question as to the origin of the word “nerd” as meaning "studious and socially inept," but it is generally accepted that the first instance of its usage was in the 1950 Dr. Seuss book, “If I Ran the Zoo," albeit with another meaning.

A “nerd” in “If I Ran the Zoo" is an imaginary animal that the book’s young narrator feels is a conspicuous hole in the zoo’s inventory (see illustration). Gerald McGrew is the boy’s name, and he has a very clear picture of what belongs in the zoo of his deepest imaginings, and it includes a “nerd.”

“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 nerd illustrated by Seuss is no nerd by today’s standards.  He more has the aspect of a gray-bearded uncle to the Grinch, primed and ready to resent his upcoming captivity. There are competing theories as to how “nerd” emerged in its current usage. My favorite is that it derives from “knurd,” a fraternity inversion of the word “drunk” that refers to someone who never parties. I doubt it though. 

It didn’t take long after the Seuss coining for "nerd" to be swept into its current meaning. In 1951, an article in Newsweek on the slang of the day reported, “…someone who once would be called a drip or a square is now, regrettably, a nerd…” Why regrettably, I’m not sure. One presumes the writer to be some kind of a nerd.

By the 1970s, “nerd” was the go-to insult for socially awkward intellectuals, an epithet I’d surely have suffered had I been better at math. At this point, nerds across America have essentially done the same thing that African Americans have done with the other N-word, which is to embrace it as a badge of pride, and now that nerds own pretty much everything, they’re using this opportunity to give all of us a weggie. 

 

 

Which is correct? “Holland” or “the Netherlands”? And why are its people Dutch?

To answer the first question, neither. The country is properly called “The Kingdom of the Netherlands.” In much the same the way “The United States of America” is commonly shortened to “America,” “The Kingdom of the Netherlands” is commonly shortened to “the Netherlands.” 

So what in the wooden-shoe hell is up with “Holland”? 

The Netherlands consists of twelve provinces. “Holland” refers to just two of them—North Holland and South Holland, which between them contain the Netherlands’ three largest cities: Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague. Amsterdam being the seat of government and a decades-long haven for legally tolerated weed-smoking and prostitution, Rotterdam being Europe’s largest port and the general location of its famous dikes system, and The Hague being the last stop for war criminals including Slobodan Milošević, Radovan Karadžić and Charles Taylor, it’s no wonder that these are the Netherlands’ two best-known provinces. 

Because of their overwhelming prominence, foreigners in the 17^th century began calling the whole country “Holland.” Much to the annoyance of the other ten provinces, it stuck—so much so that the government ran a campaign in 2020 to phase out “Holland” in its international branding. The effort failed. 

And what in the tulip-growing hell is up with “Dutch”?  

Firstly, the Dutch don’t refer to themselves as such. It is strictly an English language artifact that managed to stick. Natives call themselves “Nederlanders.” 

“Dutch” comes from the same root as “Deutsch,” which traces back to the Old High German word “diutisc,” meaning “of the people.” In the early Middle Ages, this distinguished everyday Germanic languages from Latin, which was used primarily by scholars and the Church. 

Before the 1600s, “Dutch” could refer to people from what is now Germany as well as what is now the Netherlands and Belgium. “High Dutch” meant German speakers in the mountains and “Low Dutch” meant those in the flatlands, including the Netherlands. As England’s contact with seafaring traders from the Low Countries increased, “Dutch” came to refer specifically to people of the Netherlands while “German” became the standard word for people from Germany.

With many people’s Netherlands familiarity beginning and ending at the Sherwin-Williams paint can, I hope this has cleared up a few things.