Hollyweed

[Douglas G. Wilson]

>     "Nerd."
>     From Dr. Seuss.  Made it into the vocabulary almost immediately.  Any
> lexicographer would be able to point this out.

A more balanced discussion appears in AHD4:

http://www.bartleby.com/61/32/N0063200.html

The word could have been taken from among the MANY Seuss nonsense-coinages,
or it could have been someone-else's nonsense-coinage. I would tentatively
prefer the latter explanation, since there are so many someone-elses. What
about Mortimer Snerd? Whence came his surname? And what about "Mad"
magazine's favorite surname, "Furd"?

-- Doug Wilson