<P> The first documented appearance of the word nerd is as the name of a creature in Dr. Seuss 's book If I Ran the Zoo ( 1950 ) , in which the narrator Gerald McGrew claims that he would collect `` a Nerkle , a Nerd , and a Seersucker too '' for his imaginary zoo . The slang meaning of the term dates to the next year , 1951 , when Newsweek magazine reported on its popular use as a synonym for drip or square in Detroit , Michigan . By the early 1960s , usage of the term had spread throughout the United States , and even as far as Scotland . At some point , the word took on connotations of bookishness and social ineptitude . </P>
<P> The first documented appearance of the word nerd is as the name of a creature in Dr. Seuss 's book If I Ran the Zoo ( 1950 ) , in which the narrator Gerald McGrew claims that he would collect `` a Nerkle , a Nerd , and a Seersucker too '' for his imaginary zoo . The slang meaning of the term dates to the next year , 1951 , when Newsweek magazine reported on its popular use as a synonym for drip or square in Detroit , Michigan . By the early 1960s , usage of the term had spread throughout the United States , and even as far as Scotland . At some point , the word took on connotations of bookishness and social ineptitude . </P>
when did the word nerd come into use
when did the word nerd come into use
1951
1951