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<p>Sigh . . . . Kudos to you, IP, for self-replicating.</p>
<p>It has been a long time since I have seen “nerd” used unironically with negative connotations. At my kids’ college, practically everyone described him- or herself as a nerd, or as a _________ nerd (filling in the appropriate area of interest). Now, there was a self-deprecatory element to it, but no one – not even the hyper-social, frat-boy, BMOC types – wanted to be considered a non-nerd. It was a point of pride.</p>
<p>Incidentally, my kid prefers idiot to moron as an insult. I wonder where imbeciles fit in.</p>
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<p>Thank you. I try.</p>
<p>imbecile is another derogatory term. These were old definitions of super low intelligence in the old Diagnostic and statistical Manual (DSM) as measurements of very low intellectual functioning. It comes from a true , formerly valid now unacceptable word, as opposed to “nerd” whic did not ever have a medical/psychological connotation.</p>
<p>Confession…I did not read the whole thread, but I am going to comment ECs. When I was in high school, no one in my state looked at ECs for college admissions (upper half of the class was guaranteed admission to state schools—aaaah the good old days). However, I had great ECs. I was first a cheerleader an EC I LOVED. Today, I have decided that I am still a cheerleader. I cheer for my children and I cheered for my military officer husband before the kids came along. I cheer for my friends’ kids. Cheerleading is not a bad thing. I learned to speak in front of a crowd and get people excited and motivated to do something.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, I would be arrested if I squeezed into my old uniform and was seen in public, but I think that my HS EC taught me valuable skills. Rahrah!</p>
<p>The term nerd had been around a lot longer than the urban dictionary. I’d never use the Urban dictionary or Wikipedia as a source for reliable information. jym is right, calling someone a moron is extremely insulting.</p>
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<p>You should teach your kid to embrace “nerdiness”. Here is a great link to encourage his gift.
[ThinkGeek</a> :: Stuff for Smart Masses](<a href=“http://www.thinkgeek.com/]ThinkGeek”>http://www.thinkgeek.com/)</p>
<p>check out the awesome graph paper tablecloth!</p>
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Priceless, JHS!!</p>
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<p>No, it just had a social connotation.</p>
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you made my day!</p>
<p>Nope. Wrong. Since you approve wiki as an authoritative source on such matters, take a gander. [Imbecile</a> - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imbecile]Imbecile”>Imbecile - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>[url=<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mental_retardation]Mental”>Intellectual disability - Wikipedia]Mental</a> retardation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia<a href=“read” title=“History of terminology”>/url</a></p>
<p>** to clarify- the “social connotation” of nerd is not currently a negative one. Its a generalyl accepted descriptor of a person very “into” any one area of interest. I guess we are cc nerds.</p>
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<p>My kid is anything but, Lima. He is a very elegant, preppy, formal little guy with a taste for fine music and food (and hopefully wine some day, I look forward to working on it).</p>
<p>jym, I meant that nerd has a negative social connotation. I know all about the idiot-imbecile-moron mental scale by IQ. Who doesn’t?</p>
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<p>That was indeed the intent. Like I said, the nerd references just vanished after that.</p>
<p>Please don’t teach your kid to use antiquated and insulting terms for other ethnic groups. That could end badly.</p>
<p>** If you KNOW about the old IQ distinctions, why would you encourage your child to use offensive/derogatory terminology? It is nowhere near on the same scale as “nerd”? Thats like encouraging your kid to go for the jugular when someone stepped on his toes.</p>
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<p>For some reason, I am having a hard time not picturing a type of nerd here (using your definition IP). This would be a very nice description for a middle age wife to say about her middle age husband (except for the ‘little guy’ reference)…but this proud description by a parent of a son, screams so not fitting with his generation. I know you probably love this facade, but I have a hard time picturing his peers seeing it the same way. </p>
<p>No insult intended (fwiw, my kids are nerds and wear the label proudly and we embrace the term ‘quirky’ too). Their whole circle, like JHS’s kids, love being nerds and its not at all insulting in their world. Moron is however.</p>
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<p>Ethnic groups? What does ethnicity have to do with it?</p>
<p>^ especially if he is small enough to fit in a trashcan. Don’t agree with the practice but also understand social norms.</p>
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<p>Whose generation? My kid’s? I have a confession to make here. We searched heaven and hell for the right school, and found a British School that fits the stiff upper lip formal culture to the T. This is how we grew up in India! Earlier we had tried our kid in a more mainstream school - no uniform, little discipline, little structure - and it was a horrible experience with our kid being close to the bottom of the class. We changed schools and now our kid is 2-3 grades ahead of the A-level system by age.</p>
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<p>The beauty of very strict private schools is that one need not worry about such things.</p>