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12.07 - 01.08

Nerdiness

By Donald Christiansen

We’ve all heard it. Over and over again. Engineers are nerds. We are socially inept. Or at least withdrawn in social circumstances. The description continues: We dress differently, have narrow, highly technical interests, do not make good conversationalists in an elevator (or anywhere, for that matter, some say).

I am not sure. I know many engineers who have broad interests and can thrive at a cocktail party. OK, so we don’t glad-hand as many strangers as would a politician. Even at technical meetings, we are likely to seek out colleagues in our own fields and neglect others. The reality, I think, is that all engineers have a bit of nerdiness, and some of us have a lot.

The origins of the term nerd are unclear. Among the many suspect theories is that it stems from the acronym for the Northern Electric Research & Development laboratories, predecessor of Nortel. Baby boomers will recall it as the name of one of Dr. Seuss’s fictional animals.

Dressing for Success

There was a time when engineers employed by a corporation wore suits, button-down shirts, and neatly-knotted ties. At work, they would shed their jackets to reveal a plastic shirt pocket protector displaying an array of writing implements and possibly a small millimeter scale on a sliding pen-clip. New graduates might even sport a leather-encased K&E slide rule hanging from their belts. Young engineering professors were easily identified by their brown tweed jackets with sewn-on leather elbow patches. Professors of literature were seen in similar attire, suggesting that there was (and is) a degree of nerdiness in academics regardless of specialty.
But these historical costumes cannot alone account for the rise of the nerd. Along about seventh grade, germinating nerds were detectable by their skills in math and science. Youngsters today readily classify classmates who strive for good grades and who, in particular, show a strong interest in science and math as nerds. Amateur sociologists observe that nerds do not participate in sports, rather spending an inordinate amount of time with computer games. They are sci-fi enthusiasts. They sit at high school cafeteria tables far from those of the athletes. Nerds and jocks are incompatible, they say.

A nerd is not necessarily an engineer, and an engineer is not necessarily a nerd. He or she may be immersed in fields other than those strictly technical. Nerds are often obsessive collectors. A collector of meteorites may be a nerd, a professional historian, or both.

Geeks

Geeks are but another form of nerd, perhaps a subset. The term is most often applied to computer enthusiasts, hackers or computer problem solvers. Many geeks are self-taught, having encountered computers in early childhood. They are enthralled with what computers can do and the problems and challenges they present. A professor at MIT predicts a growing need for computer geeks to solve the incomprehensible problems faced by computer users as computer designers and programmers add features and patches at an accelerating pace.

Badge of Honor

The plastic pocket protector has become the classic symbol of nerdiness. It was, appropriately, invented by an electrical engineer, Hurley Smith, whose patent was issued in 1947. Today, however, there are fewer white shirts to protect. Engineers dress casually and indistinguishably from other workers, and the pocket protector may fade into memory. And with computers, who needs a pen or a pencil?

Dr. John Pojman, a professor at the University of Southern Mississippi, and perhaps a contender for nerd of the year if such an honor existed, has stepped forward to assure the pocket protector a proper place in history. He has created the Plastic Pocket Protector Museum. More than 500 of them may be viewed at www.pojman.com. Among organizations and products represented are NASA, Cray Research, Grumman, several defunct divisions of RCA, engineering schools, beer, colas, fish lures, and automotive parts. (Notably absent: specimens from the likes of Louis Vuitton, Tiffany, and Rolex.)

Nerd Pride

Nerds, once denigrated as un-cool and clueless, may be gaining some respect among the general public. Their dress conforms more nearly to that of their non-nerd colleagues, their services are sought to help resolve computer glitches, and their knowledge of the jock world is increasing through computer gaming. Some non-nerds, it has been reported, are attempting to assume the appearance of nerds through the wearing of nerd/geek T-shirts and appropriation of nerd canons.
Soon there may be a Facebook for Nerds—or maybe not. There is a rumor about that a Nerd-Pride parade is planned for a major U.S. city. I will keep you informed.

Resources

For more on nerds:

• NerdPoint [www.nerdpoint.com]

• Nugent, B., “Who’s a Nerd, Anyway?,” The New York Times Magazine, 29 July  2007.

• Kendall, L., “Nerd Nation: Images of Nerds in U.S. Popular Culture,” International Journal of Cultural Studies, Vol. 2, No. 2, 1999.

• Bucholtz, M., “Why Be Normal?: Language and identity practices in a community of nerd girls,” Language and Society, Cambridge University Press, 1999 (28).

• “Revenge of the Nerds,” 1984 film.

• Hayes, B., “The Nerds Have Won,” American Scientist, May/June 2000.

For more on pocket protectors:

• Madea, J., “Hurley Smith’s Pocket Shield, History of the Pocket Protector,” IEEE History Center.

• Pocket Shield or Protector, U.S. Pat. No. 2417786, 18 March 1947.

• www.berda.com, Berda CompuGraphix, designer of custom pocket protectors.

Donald Christiansen is the former editor and publisher of IEEE Spectrum and an independent publishing consultant. He can be reached at donchristiansen@ieee.org.