Hollyweed

[Fred Shapiro]

On Sat, 15 Sep 2001 Bapopik at AOL.COM wrote:

>     "Nerd."
>     From Dr. Seuss.  Made it into the vocabulary almost immediately.
> Any lexicographer would be able to point this out.
>     YOU write a letter to the editor and correct it.

>    I've had it.

Actually, in my opinion, it's likely that Dr. Seuss did not coin "nerd."
Merriam-Webster has a 1951 citation in its files indicating the word was
already current by that year and making no reference to Seuss (I have seen
the citation, but don't have it handy, perhaps Joanne Despres could post
it).  Given the facts that the Seuss usage was 1950 and that the Seuss
usage may be a coincidental occurrence, I would surmise that there was a
slang word "nerd" not originating with Seuss and going back at least to
the late 1940s.

Fred Shapiro


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Fred R. Shapiro                             Editor
Associate Librarian for Public Services     YALE DICTIONARY OF QUOTATIONS
  and Lecturer in Legal Research            Yale University Press,
Yale Law School                             forthcoming
e-mail: fred.shapiro at yale.edu               http://quotationdictionary.com
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