by 
Spixxy
ANSWERS: 2
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1951, U.S. student slang, probably an alteration of 1940s slang nert "stupid or crazy person," itself an alteration of nut. The word turns up in a Dr. Seuss book from 1950 ("If I Ran the Zoo"), which may have contributed to its rise. Adjective nerdy is from 1978. Not dissimilar to a 'geek'... or when my daughter was growing up a 'Nigel'. Nerds and geeks are usually portrayed on TV & in the movies as socially inept people with poor dress sense. The tend to work on computers alone behind closed doors, rarely date and like chess ..Oh and of course....the memorable ones are often men but there are woman portrayed that way too. Although the men usually stay nerds/geeks but get a girl/or have sex for the first time... while the girls usually get transformed with makeup and a haircut and contact lenses! (all a bit harsh really!)
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From the net There are two popular stories about nerd's origin. The first is that it come from Dr. Seuss's If I Ran the Zoo, in which appears a creature called a nerd. This book was published in 1950. “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 second is that it is a variation on the name of ventriloquist Edgar Bergen's (Candice's father) dummy, Mortimer Snerd. Either could be correct. There is no citation of the term prior to its 1950 appearance in the Dr. Seuss book. The earliest cite of the current usage is from 1951. Lighter, however, cites a 1941 use of the nickname Mortimer Snerd to refer to a technical, brainy type of guy. http://www.wordorigins.org/wordorn.htm A nerd is very similar to a geek, but with more RAM and a faster modem. Nerds often find geeks dull because geeks don't spend enough time talking about computers. :)
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