When we started this blog, there was serious debate about the name, 1000 Nerds.  Some felt that we were insultingly deprecating to all the great scientists and engineers who have long populated the halls of Kodak.

"Nerds?  You can't possibly be serious."

"Completely serious."

"It's not even a real word."

"The Merriam-Webster dictionary seems to think so.  A nerd is defined as 'an unstylish, unattractive, or socially inept person; especially: one slavishly devoted to intellectual or academic pursuits.'"

"To use the word nerd is absurd."

"On the contrary, it is preferred."

"But the nerds will feel slurred."

"Unlikely, since the meaning has blurred."

"So you are undeterred?"

"And approval is conferred?"

"If we must have nerds, why so many?  Can't we get by with one or two hundred?"

"I can see you've never visited the Kodak Research Labs.  That place is a regular nerd-o-rama with nerdettes, nerdites, nerdsters, and nerdlings, all overseen by a great Nerdmaster, 'Baron von Nerdhoven.'  And then there are the Kodak R&D organizations all over Rochester and the world ..."

Obligatory photo of Kodak Research Labs in Rochester, New York

"Wait a minute, we can't possibly use 'Nerds'."

"Why not?"

"Not politically correct.  The Nerdish citizens of Turkey and Iraq will be offended."

"[Sigh...] I doubt that the few Kurdish Nerds will care.  And there are so many positives in considering nerds."

"Like what?"

"Well, Nerds work hard.   They accomplish great things by using all that time that others waste on fashion and personal hygiene.  They are very goal-oriented, except of course, in playing sports.  Their eyesight is completely correctable.  They can balance the checkbook.  They can actually help the kids with their homework.  Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on your point of view, their kids may also turn out to be nerds.  Nerds are to electronics what grease monkeys are to automobiles, and similar in grooming habits.  Nerds are good for the economy.  They have single-handedly saved thousands of jobs in the pocket-protector industry.  And of course, nerds have great potential for generating income.  Who is worth more, the talented, suave and debonair Tiger Woods, or the King of Nerds, Bill Gates?

One of our resident bloggers, Joe Manico,
wearing a hat of his own creation

"And don't forget the perception of nerds in the media.  Catch the wave, man, catch the wave!  There are new shows in the fall lineup like The Big Bang Theory on CBS and Chuck on NBC where the heroes are unabashed nerds.  And it doesn't stop there!  The "nerd revolution" on TV continues with another show on Friday nights called NUMB3RS.   The stars are a somewhat repressed FBI agent and his genius, mathematician brother.  The genius/nerd brother (played by the guy who was the head elf, Bernard, in The Santa Clause movies) helps the FBI solve crimes by blindingly clever statistical analyses and forecasts of criminal behavior.  And it is starting its fourth season.  Nerds have staying power!

 "Then there's the genius nerd Goth girl, Abby, on the Navy crime show NCIS.  She's the wizard lab tech who helps the Navy solve crimes by blindingly clever forensic analyses of crime scenes.  (I think that she was also cloned on another one of the crime-genre shows, but I can't remember which one.)  This is important because they are GIRL NERDS.  A growing demographic!"

Girl Nerd image courtesy of Steve Hilbert

"But the real reason you can't say 'No' is that nerds are part of the lexicon of all that is good and wholesome."

"What do you mean?"

"Only that the derivation of the very term, nerd, or in its alternate prototypical form, nurd, comes from that literary icon to every man and woman, boy and girl, Dr. Seuss."

"No!"

"Yes, it's true.  Back in 1950, shortly after Hewlett met Packard, when Google was just a big number, when Amazon was only a jungle with a river where you didn't want to swim, when the primary Texas Instruments were the banjo and the fiddle, the good Doctor sailed to Ka-Troo and brought back the first recorded Nerd.  And the rest, as they say, is history."

"You're right.  1000 Nerds it is.  Now how about finding writers that can sound like Nerds?"

"Did I forget to mention that our nerds can also write?!?"

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Editor's Note:  As a self-confessed girl nerd and mother of an up-and-coming girl nerd, I think it's only fair to note that much of the bad press often associated with nerds (unstylish, unattractive, unclean, uncoordinated, socially inept, ...) is merely part of the historical record.  Not only do we "clean up real good," but also most of us are generally indistinguishable from non-nerds in normal society ...  until we speak.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                Jane

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