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Literary notes about nerd (AI summary)

In literature, "nerd" serves as a versatile term whose meanings shift according to context. At times, it denotes an official or institutional role, as seen when it refers to a department chair or organization caught in bureaucratic disputes ([1], [2], [3], [4]). In other instances, the word carries a more humorous, self-deprecating, or even pejorative connotation, often characterizing socially awkward or intellectually obsessive individuals ([5], [6], [7], [8]). Moreover, the term is occasionally employed in playful or ironic ways to allude to historical or cultural nuances, whether it be through nods to ancient games or as shorthand for computer enthusiasts and hackers ([9], [10], [11], [12]). This varied usage highlights the rich layers of meaning that "nerd" can embody in different narrative and rhetorical settings ([13], [14], [15], [16]).
  1. Henry rose and went to get the Lyle Stone, chair of the Nutrition, Embryology and Radiology Department—NERD.
    — from Wild Justice by Ruth M. Sprague
  2. We taught that lab together for many years when you were chair of NERD.
    — from Wild Justice by Ruth M. Sprague
  3. The resulting decrease in revenue caused a severe decline in his research programs and plans were underway to abolish the NERD entirely.
    — from Wild Justice by Ruth M. Sprague
  4. No one on the NERD faculty was consulted and all of them were very upset that they were given no voice in a faculty selection.
    — from Wild Justice by Ruth M. Sprague
  5. I was also a slob, a knee-jerk rebel, and something of a nerd when it came to doing things like making friends with girls.
    — from Take Me for a Ride: Coming of Age in a Destructive Cult by Mark E. Laxer
  6. Maybe a self‑absorbed nerd researcher in wrinkled stained lab attire, anxious to scurry back to his test tubes.
    — from Syndrome by Thomas Hoover
  7. Steve Billings did not fill the picture of a computer nerd.
    — from Terminal Compromise by Winn Schwartau
  8. Mason could have been a real dip-shit nerd.
    — from Terminal Compromise by Winn Schwartau
  9. 'Whereas,' says the writer, 'Nerd—that is, Eastern backgammon—on the contrary, is mere free-will, while in dice, again, all is compulsion.'
    — from Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 429Volume 17, New Series, March 20, 1852 by Various
  10. To temporarily enter techno-nerd mode while in a non-hackish context, for example at parties held near computer equipment.
    — from The Jargon File, Version 2.9.10, 01 Jul 1992
  11. A mythical figure like the Unknown Soldier; the archetypal hacker nerd.
    — from The Jargon File, Version 2.9.10, 01 Jul 1992
  12. A reference to the game of chess which originated in India, and the game of Nerd as invented by the Persian king Ardeshir.
    — from Iranian Influence on Moslem Literature, Part I by Konstantin Aleksandrovich Inostrantzev
  13. They have got to concede that these charges by NERD may be false or at the very least, unsupported by real evidence.
    — from Wild Justice by Ruth M. Sprague
  14. He recalled all the testimony from the NERD people insisting that things were much different and much improved after Diana left the course.
    — from Wild Justice by Ruth M. Sprague
  15. You have been listening for hours to the NERD's allegations and I have the right to respond.
    — from Wild Justice by Ruth M. Sprague
  16. You wouldn't believe the absolute stupidity of that NERD chairman and his little boy bad, Fecesi.
    — from Wild Justice by Ruth M. Sprague

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