[Ads-l] Very Slight Antedating of "Nerd"

[Ben Zimmer]

A slight antedating but an important one, as this is evidently where
Newsweek got its information that "in Detroit, someone who once would be
called a drip or a square is now, regrettably, a nerd, or in a less severe
case, a scurve." Here's the full text of the article -- kudos to Fred for
locating it.

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https://www.newspapers.com/clip/59828930/soda-fountain-vocabulary-is-pretty-cool/
"Soda Fountain Vocabulary is Pretty Cool," Roberta Mackey
Detroit Free Press, Oct. 7, 1951, p. D4
If you're still going around thinking that things are "George," you might
as well face facts. You're falling pretty far behind the times.
Things just aren't George any more. They're cool.
And if they were "real George" before, they're "pretty cool" now. "Extra
cool" means it's reached the superlative stage.
A whole new vocabulary has sprang up in soda fountain conversation,
accord-ing to our sleuths. Last year's favorite expressions are as dated as
bebop.
Just to bring you up to date, let's get on with the "cool" situation.
A thing can even be extra cool without being "shafty." Shafty brings in an
esthetic, artistic element.
Say you've latched onto the family car for the evening. If it is reasonably
new and well polished it's probably pretty cool.
But if you've just acquired a fire-engine red convertible, it's more than
likely to be absolutely shafty.
By this time, of course, you've filed "square" away with "hep," "corny" and
"neat."
If the person in question (formerly known as a square) is really
impossible, he's probably a "nerd." Maybe he has his good moments, though,
and if he's not really so bad he's probably just a "scurve."
Scurve, as you can see, is a less severe form of nerd.
If you were "cooking with gas" or "on the beam" before, you're "rambling"
now.
"Cut the gas" is said to have replaced the inelegant "shut up," but -- some
teen-agers claim -- even that is on the way out.
The favorite form of address in some sections of town these days is "big
man."
If you've just been informed that a situation has reached a new low, it's
customary to exclaim, with a sneer, "That's just fine."
"One with everything" (a hamburger with the works, of course) is still
holding its own as the thing to order in the local hangout.
And if you feel that you're losing the ball conversationally all you have
to do is say, to nobody in particular and apropos of nothing, "I'm with
you." Accent's on the you. Courtesy of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, we
understand.
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On Wed, Sep 23, 2020 at 6:09 AM Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu> wrote:

> I don't usually post one-day antedatings, but here's one ...
>
> nerd (OED 1951 [8 Oct.])
>
> 1951 _Detroit Free Press_ 7 Oct. D4/4 (Newspapers.com)  If the person in
> question (formerly known as a square) is really impossible, he's probably a
> "nerd."
>
>
>

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