“Nerd” and “Geek” Should Be Banned, Professor Says

Derogatory terms give people a way to send a high-cost signal that they're part of a certain group. It's one thing to call yourself homosexual; it's another to identify as "Queer."

Well, I was a geek way before it was cool, and continue to be long after it is cool, and my zipcode of origin, I am sure, is nowhere on the professor's list--I would be surprised if he ever heard of it.

I wonder how much credibility we should give to a Psychologist who suggests banishing a language term for a field he is not part of?

That's why the professor called his book 'Nerds', then. Because it's so derogatory it should be banned.

A timeline:

By the time the derogatory terms for a group have become in-your-face badges of pride, your "scene" will have become a kind of herd overrun with fractionally clueless imitators, who don't deeply understand the subculture. Many of these newcomers are really only seeking a new territory for staking out social dominance signals of "cool." Shops and websites catering to the lifestyle soon appear. The "scene" has transformed into a bloated, cancerous cargo-cult caricature of itself.

The faithful and true anxiously await the upcoming implosion, where the "cool" goes away, taking with it all of the pretenders. Sometimes, that day never comes.

Odd to see the NYT descending to such linkbait. One psychology prof at Bennington thinks "nerd" is derogatory, and that's a story?

I think these terms have pretty much been embraced by the people they are most often applied to. I, personally, refer to the room myself and my colleagues work in as "The Nerd Cave". I frequently refer to myself as a geek in social settings. I see absolutely nothing derogatory about aligning myself with other smart, thoughtful, and creative people.

As someone who bites the heads off of chickens for a living, I find this article offensive.

IMO, Nerd is a derogatory, meaning someone who is socially inept and not much fun to be around.

But a geek is just someone who has unusually strong interests in a subject, activity or occupation. COmputers, cars, film, fashion, politics, math, celebrities, etc. You can geek out on anything. Doesn't make you a bad person, or a social pariah. You can be a very social, likable person, and be a complete obsessive geek. You just have to know when to shut up about it.

I guess it depends on the location, but here in Switzerland, both Nerd and Geek used to be used as a derogatory term, but me personally, I carried that title with some pride and others seem to have done so too.

By now, Nerd isn't used and Geek changed its meaning to be more of a positive thing - at least in my age-group.

I guess if more people stood for their Geekdom, this could happen in other places of the world too.

I would ban them because they are cliche. They started grating on me years ago.

Should we make them "the g-word" and "the other n-word"?

Professor should be banned says Nerd and Geek.