Nerd

Recently, the term "nerd" has been forcefully brought to my attention. In this last semester I have been called a nerd more times by one person specifically than I have by everyone else in my whole life combined. Naturally, it made me think a little harder about the term.
I'll admit, it actually bothers me. I love learning, but no one has ever looked down on me for it before. In high school from what people said to my face I was smart, but still respected. I don't define myself by my major, by my "smart"ness, or even by my grades. That is such a little part of who I am, and how I view myself. I'd much rather people think of me as friendly, happy, kind, a good cook, the girl with a big smile. Maybe even define me as an artist. Not nerd. I shouldn't care what people think of me, but I do sometimes. Sometimes I have to. Doesn't the average person care if their friends like them?
So, in order to settle my thoughts about the matter, I looked up the word "nerd" online. The irony - that is a really nerdy thing to do. But I did it. And here is what I found.

• "an insignificant student who is ridiculed as being affected or boringly studious"
• "Nerd is a term often bearing a derogatory connotation or stereotype, that refers to a person who passionately pursues intellectual activities"
• "A person who, although having good technical or scientific skills, is introspective and generally introverted"

Gross. Not exactly what I wanted to hear.
Then I found this:

"Nerd – Supposedly the term was coined in the 1940s at the Renssellear Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. It was meant to describe the opposite of a party person, a.k.a., a drunk. The opposite of a “drunk” is a “knurd”—pronounced “nerd.” "

And, I'll admit, it made my day. Being the opposite of a drunk doesn't have to define me either, but I can definitely handle it.
Take that.