Nerds

 

I remember where I was when I first heard the word "Nerd".

I was sitting in a classroom in Wheeler High School and a group of goobers fellow scholars were talking about this show, "Happy Days".

I was never a big fan of "Happy Days". I found it to be stupid. I'm probably the only person on earth that's not a Ronny Howard fan.  But "Happy Days" was a big deal at Wheeler and everybody loved The Fonz.

The kids at Wheeler said the Fonz called Ritchie, Potsie, and the gang "nerds". 

I don't think the kids knew the definition of a nerd, but like the Supreme Court and pornography, they knew it when they saw it. For some reason, they were looking at me.

We've come a long way since 1975, but the internet has some interesting ideas about nerds. 

One blog from "School Supply Boxes" says this: "Nerds are the kids or teens who are well rounded in different subjects in school such as math, English, history, chemistry, drama, yearbook, etc." 

That's news to me.  I understood nerds to have thick glasses, zits, and poor social skills. Which pretty much described me.  I had zits, which usually popped up right about the time I was going to try charming a girl with my wonderful wit. It turns out high school girls like boys with cars or play football. If you had a car and played football at Wheeler you was '70s version of Brad Pitt.

I had thick glasses. Back then there was still some people who thought that glasses made somebody smart. It wasn't true in my case

I wasn't well-rounded at all. The only classes I was good in were history and civics.

Plus, I wasn't into science fiction all that much. I liked "Star Trek," but kept referring to Mr. Spock as Dr. Spock. That will get you kicked out of the Nerd club.

"Star Wars" came out a month before I graduated high school. I saw it and liked it, but I didn't memorize it.

Many of nerds at Wheeler liked The Lord Of The Rings trilogy.  For some reason, I always associated The Lord Of The Rings books with the kids that liked to smoke the wacky tobacky.

I saw a lot of "heads" and "freaks" carrying around the paperback The Lord Of The Rings, which looked like an Uriah Heep* album cover.

In my older years, I've realized The Lord Of The Rings has many profound spiritual truths, especially about short people with hairy feet.

I was in college when I heard some dorm neighbors playing "Dungeon And Dragons."   It was just too weird for me. I took note that none of the players had girlfriends. I can't imagine why.

Over the years, there has been some controversy regarding Geeks and Nerds, although I thought they were identical.

The internet says, "Geeks are eccentric people, often intellectuals, who are passionate about a specific area of interest. They may socialize a lot with people who share this interest. Nerds are intellectual people who tend to be socially clueless."

You got that?  Geeks are eccentric and can be intellectuals (but not necessarily), while Nerds are socially clueless intellectuals.

The primary difference is Nerds would rather be alone while Geeks spend their time with other Geeks, like those guys in my dorm.

Who says you can't learn anything by reading a blog?

The Netflix limited series "3 Body Problem" got me thinking about this subject.

In this series, the planet Earth is threaten with destruction in four hundred years (2424) by aliens that don't understand the difference between a lie and a parable.  The hope of future generations are a couple of hot  female physicists who forget to button their shirts.

There are male physicists in the show, but they mainly sit around, smoke dope, and die.

I wish I could tell you more about it, but I don't want to ruin it for anyone. Plus, I can't describe what I saw.

It was kind of like watching the German show "Dark." "Dark" was a science fiction show that featured time travel. I think. I'm not sure. My problem with science fiction shows is that they seem to be making it up as they are going along like they are playing an intergalactic game of Calvin Ball. 

You might be asking yourself if you are a nerd.  If you have to ask, it is best that you don't know.

*Uriah Heep was a progressive rock band from Great Britain that was sort of like Spinal Tap except they are not as funny.