“Though a hotly-debated issue, one theory on the derivation of the word “nerd” states that the word began as “knurd” before arriving at its current spelling (the pronunciation was always the same). This theory claims that the term originated at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in the late 1940s. Students who partied, and rarely studied were called “drunks,” while the opposite – students who never partied and always studied – were “knurds” (”drunk” spelled backwards). Others believe Dr. Seuss was the first to use the word in his story, “If I Ran the Zoo,” in which there is a creature known as a Nerd from the land of Ka-Troo.”

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