the first time I ever heard the word "Nerd" was many decades ago. When I asked what it meant, I was told, "a nerd is a turd's first cousin."
I see nerd used today, and I don't think it fits how it was first described to me. Sometimes, on SOL, it seems to be use interchangeably with geek and dweeb.
Is there a difference? If you were going to be labeled as nerd or geek or dweeb, which would you prefer - and why? Would you use it differently if you were doing the labeling?
I guess you missed the recent forum thread Geek or Nerd. Might have most of the answers you're looking for.
Leonard - Nerd
Sheldon - Geek
Raj - Dweeb
Howard - Nerd
Bernadette - Nerd
Amy Farrah Fowler - Geek
Penny - Slut
Stuart - Dweeb (Comic Store guy)
Kripke - Geek (Sheldon's nemesis at University)
Beverly - Geek Slut (Leonard's mom)
Will Wheaton - ... Shut up, Wesley! ...
weeb
"A weeb is a derisive term for a non-Japanese person who is so obsessed with Japanese culture that they wish they were actually Japanese.
weeaboo
or weeb
WHAT DOES WEEABOO MEAN?
Weeaboo is a mostly derogatory slang term for a Western person who is obsessed with Japanese culture, especially anime, often regarding it as superior to all other cultures.
WHERE DOES WEEABOO COME FROM?
weeaboo
drawception.com
The word weeaboo came about as a alternative for the term Wapanese, a blend of white or wannabe with Japanese. Wapanese was used extensively on the website 4chan in the early 2000s to insult white people who were deemed overly fond of and biased towards Japanese culture, particularly popular exports like anime, manga, and hentai. The abusive term was added to the online Racial Slur Database in 2004.
According to Know Your Meme, Wapanese peaked in 2005, prompting 4chan moderators to apply a special filter replacing all instances of Wapanese with, arbitrarily, weeaboo.
The term weeaboo was coined as a nonsense word without any particular meaning in the comic The Perry Bible Fellowship. Thanks to the word filter, weeaboo took on its current meaning in 2005 and has spread outward from 4chan to other websites."
I suspect dweeb is an extension of weeb.
The word weeaboo came about as a alternative for the term Wapanese, a blend of white or wannabe with Japanese. Wapanese was used extensively on the website 4chan in the early 2000s to insult white people who were deemed overly fond of and biased towards Japanese culture, particularly popular exports like anime, manga, and hentai. The abusive term was added to the online Racial Slur Database in 2004.
That can't be the origin of dweeb.
https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=dweeb&year_start=1800&year_end=2019&corpus=26&smoothing=3&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cdweeb%3B%2Cc0#t1%3B%2Cdweeb%3B%2Cc0
according to google ngrams, dweeb doesn't really take off until 1985, but it first shows up in 1919.
WAY back in the 70s when I was at school a nerd or geek was one holding on to the past with a slide rule holster on his belt. I was trying to sneak one of the new pocket calculators into class to pass the calculus exam