This is a post about nerd girls.
Just for contrast here's (above) a girl who's definitely not a nerd. Ditto for the two below.
Nope, nothing nerdy about the girls above.
The differences between a nerd face (above) and a normal one are so small that we all have trouble putting it into words. I don't think a man from Mars could tell the difference... and yet our brains seem to consider that difference so important that they equip us with instant recognition of it.
I don't think our brains are trying to warn us away, just the opposite. I think the recognition is there to allow us to instantly recognize someone who's non-threatening, intelligent and desirable. Other types of women have good qualities too, but you may have to get to know them before you discover them. The nerd girl is all up front. What you see is what you get, and it's usually pretty good.
I wish I knew some statistics on nerds. Do nerds girls have fewer children? Do they make good mothers? I wish I knew. The ones I know who have kids are terrific parents.
Nerd girls are often fiercely loyal to their men, and their men return the favor by being loyal to them. These girls aren't the divorcing type. These are the ones you want to marry. These are the ones who, if you broke your leg in the primeval forest, would stay beside you through the moonless night with dagger drawn to protect you from wolves....and you'd do the same for them. Nerd girls inspire loyalty through example. They improve the men they're with.
Are nerd girls beautiful? Ask anyone about Audrey Hepburn, she was one. Some say she was the most beautiful woman ever photographed. In spite of great beauty she had that vulnerable and fully human quality that so many nerd girls have.
Nerds sometimes have thick eyebrows, and so did Audrey. Looks good, doesn't it?
Of course, not all nerds are nice. How about the malicious nerd hackers on the internet? But it's amazing how many good ones there are out there. Most of them, in fact!
Nerd characteristics are not distributed equally. Some have only a touch of it (above)...
...and some (above) get it by the bucket full. My hunch is that nerds who have Aspergers fall into this category. You can get too much of a good thing.
Taken all in all, nerd girls are among the most desirable on the planet. If you're a guy, and you're connected to one of these girls, then you know what I'm talking about. It's Heaven on Earth!
Wow! I have never considered Audrey Hepburn to be a nerd girl, but I think you're right, that is exactly what made her so special. Obviously it was her striking beauty that would first get her noticed, but it was her nerd girl quality is what made everyone fall in love with her. Great post!
ReplyDeleteI usually end up hooking up with girls who dig nerds, but aren't nerds themselves.
ReplyDeleteProbably why I know nothing of a female's committment.
- trevor.
Its interesting to consider what other features might fall into the nerd girl radar detection. Glasses are a bit too obvious, and can be used for a fake out. But other fashion choices can out a nerd or non nerd too.
ReplyDeleteIf you have your hair frosted, chances are you are not a nerd. Unless you decided to go for a full on skunk stripe.
Ditto on certain makeup clothing and fashion choices, all though that can be broken through. Audrey Hepburn is dolled up TOO much, and still shows friendly approving intelligence through the Breakfast at Tiffanys get up.
IF you dress like Ann Coulter, with the attitude to match, chances are you are not a Nerd Girl, even if you have a cute bit of overbite or other feature sometimes attached to the nerd Girl stereotype. Glasses do not make Palin a nerd girl.
Nerd Girls can be conservative, when that is defined as possibly shy or reticent, but they are not conservative in their intellectual interests or pursuits. They are interested in more than being a dead brain Barbie, the world of ideas is more important than the material world.
As we nerd girls have so many virtues.Could you forgive us our flaws?
ReplyDeletehow does a girl know if she's a nerd. Is there a test?
ReplyDeleteNerd girls are wonderful because they fully embrace their quirkiness!
ReplyDeleteNon-nerd girl either suppress it, or sadly just lack it.
the 5th one down is a quintessential quirky nerd girl
P.s. happy new year, dear eddie!
ReplyDeleteAnn Coulter is more Seussian than nerd. Her neck is giraffe-like. Tina Fey, who started out almost zaftig on SNL, lost weight and glammed herself up as the current ultimate nerd/glamour girl. She made the cover of Vanity Fair last month and feels no need to lose her trademark glasses.
ReplyDeleteDo you plan to do a post on Disney sequels, Eddie?
ReplyDeleteThis raises the deep philosophical question: What is a "nerd"? I've always thought of nerds as guys who are much better at dealing with things (such as mathematical symbols) than with people. But I'm not sure that is how Eddie is using the term. Hmmm. I'll have to think about this.
ReplyDeleteI met a wonderful nerd girl at a coffee shop last night and her name was Lana. We talked about wonderful things that a non-nerd girl would never discuss. She was very interesting and very pleasant and very diligent in the work that she pursues.
ReplyDeleteI wish I had gotten her number, and I meant to, but this mumbly drug addled gay fellow sat down with us and I allowed him to throw off my game. I could swear he was hitting on me or something, and he kept talking about vampires and how he wanted to be a vampire. I figured out why, this morning, looking in the mirror, noticing the two little acne scabs just below my lip on the right, about a half an inch apart.
Woe is me, for the nerd girl doesn't frequent my coffee shop so often. I guess if she likes me she'll come back.
Great post, Eddie. You and John K's blog are always so relevent to what's going on in my life, its spooky sometimes.
I love nerd girls. Be forwarned, though, You have to be careful when handling a nerd girl, as their hearts tend to break easily.
ReplyDeleteAnon: Flaws? What flaws?
ReplyDeleteMarlo: Happy New Year to you, too!
Good question! There's no test...it's sort of in the eye of the beholder. You're a nerd if the people who know you think of you that way. I never thought of you that way, and I'm not aware that anyone else did, so unfortunately I don't think you're entitled to a nerd ID card or pension plan. You might have some nerd psychological traits in small doses, and if you do you should be thankful for it.
Anon: Disney sequels? I don't have anything origianl to say about them.
Lester: That's because I and other people use the word differently at different times. When I was in high school the word only applied to obvious Asperger types. Now it's used much more broadly.
Happy 2009 Eddie!!! Interesting girl theories...Marlo's comment was interesting...maybe you should write up a "Are You a Nerd Girl?" questionaire! I want to know where I fit! :)
ReplyDeleteKatie: Happy new Year back 'atcha! A nerd questionaire? Hmmmm, that would take a lot of chutzpa, because I have no qualification...but it might be fun. Let me think about it.
ReplyDeleteNerd girls are awesome as long as they're oldstlye nerds. I couldnt be with a girl who used phrases like "epic fail" and played world of warcraft, you can't really create a romanticized/idealized image of that sort of girl in your head
ReplyDeletei like nerd girls
ReplyDeletei like not nerd girls too
Interesting post, Uncle Eddie, and once again, I think you're spot on! Your theory is proven with the reaction to the female leads on shows TV shows Gilligan's Island and WKRP in Cincinnati. Ginger (Gilligan) and Jennifer (WKRP) were supposed to be the "hot chicks", but most of the male audience went wild over Maryann (Gilligan) and Bailey (WKRP), the two "nerd girls".
ReplyDeleteI love Katie's idea for a questionnaire. I, too, would like to see where I fall.
I find it interesting that you would classify Audrey Hepburn as a nerd girl, but that actually makes sense. She really stood out from the va-va-va-voom bombshells that were popular during her time.
Wow, it's interesting to me that some girls don't know if they're "nerdy" or not. I guess because it's such a vague term. It could also be if you don't know it's because you're not going to great lengths to avoid being one.
ReplyDeleteBut, according to according to what I believe Eddie is getting at and how I see it, I would say the less you suppress and/or iron out your quirks the "nerdier" you are. "Nerdy" here not being a negative term, of course.
I agree the good men are drawn to women who are true to themselves. Shallow men are drawn to women who only focus on their looks.
Perhaps Eddie and I actually have a slightly different take on this, because from what I can tell, Marlo & Katie most definitely fall into the same realm the Audrey Hepburn persona. Yet he didn't, interesting!!!
Jennifer, Katie, Marlo, Patrick: I told John that I had requests for a questionnaire, and he lighted up instantly! His suggestions for questions: "Would you step on a bug that was in your house or take it into the garden? Do you abhor meat with texture? Do you disdain any food that's not processed? Do you get upset if forced to bathe more than once a month? Do you think toothbrushes are to clean cars with?" Haw! These are really funny, but I think he's defining nerd differently than I do.
ReplyDeleteI love this fixation of yours, Eddie. I had a theory of my own a few years ago about nerd girls, which was that they primarily spawn from nerd dads who foster eentellectual pursuits and strange tastes upon them. Nerd girls aren't particularly worse looking than your debutante types, it's just that they don't make the effort to look as such. I might be wrong, but I'm only speaking from personal experience. If I hadn't just met a wonderful nerd girl of my own I might've tried Love Nerds™ out, hopefully it brings a lot of cartoon geeks together. Mine isn't one per se, but I was relieved when she understood the problems of modern animation and the differences between Spumco and Games R&S...
ReplyDeleteI'm a proud Nerd Girl and my darling husband can attest to everything you've said.
ReplyDeleteEddie, remember how you said the ShamWow guy reminded you of someone who sells vegetable cutters at the fair? Well, watch this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUbWjIKxrrs
and in response to John's questions, if I found a bug, say a giant spider, in MY bedroom in the middle of the night, I would say/sing, "Let's return him to his natural habitat; put him in a cup, and take him outside . . . Godspeed."
ReplyDeleteMarlo is a nerd. The camera never lies.
ReplyDelete- trevor.
I always thought a nerd was someone who was conscientious, intelligent, had few friends and little to no social skills, and liked things like classical music and book learnin' and other arcane interests. So yeah, I'm a nerd, and I like nerd girls, like Tina Fey
ReplyDeleteI guess that's not appealing enough for my generation. To them a nerd is any douchebag with glasses who plays video games. Which is EVERYONE.
I hate whenever I see some metro skinny little bitch on tv say he's a "nerd" because he plays Halo. Like anyone on G4/TechTV.
I agree with Jorge, I can't stand hot girls that are all "I'm a total nerd teehee!" because they've watched Star Wars
ReplyDeleteMy best friend Janine has a great shirt. It says 'Talk Nerdy To Me'.
ReplyDeleteShe qualifies as a nerd. And so do I:
N.E.R.D. ( Never Ending Radical Dude ) Thank you elementary school!
- trevor.
Was Linus was the only nerd on Peanuts?
ReplyDeleteCharlie Brown - manic depressive
Snoopy - multiple personality disorder
Woodstock - spaz
Linus - nerd
Lucy - psychotic
Peppermint Patty - narcoleptic
Schroeder - music geek
Sally - obsessive romantic
Marcie- gender issues
Marcie looked like a nerd but wasn't really. She was more like a young Billie Jean King.
Trevor, that picture of Marlo is amazing!
ReplyDeleteNerd girls are the best. I'm currently seeing a wonderful girl who is full on, Dungeons&Dragons, funky glasses, graduated 4.0 (with honors!) English major. How I lucked out so, I'll never know.
See for yourself
Oh by the way, eddie, I saw this dog picture that reminded me of you.
Kelly: I saw that commercial! He does a good pitch, but I've seen the veggie cutter pitched that way since I was a kid, so I'm kind of immune to it.
ReplyDeleteTrevor: Thanks! Those Marlo pictures are priceless!
Chris: You definitely did luck out! I'm really happy for you!
And that dog really does look like me! I laughed out loud when I saw it! Do you mind if I use it
somewhere?
Brian: Son of a Gun! I never thought of Peanuts that way before, but it has the ring of truth!
eddie: I found the dog picture here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.darkroastedblend.com/2008/09/funny-animals-part-12.html
Photo's completely uncredited so I guess you can.
Chris: Thanks! And the animal pictures on that site are great!
ReplyDeleteI noticed Audrey's eyebrows on her calendar this year. [I work in a calendar kiosk, sadly.] I thought it was odd someone with such thick eyebrows could be considered so attractive that years later we'd still have calendars of her around. However we don't allow any other "attractive" women to keep thick brows in show business now do we?
ReplyDeleteNerd girls wear little to no makeup!! That's the trick!
ReplyDeleteTheir natural beauty is apparent. Natural beauty lasts forever.
Hmm reading these comments is an ego boost...
ReplyDeleteTak: Well Joan Crawford had thick eyebrows in mid-career, but she wasn't a nerd.
ReplyDeleteI the creator of a website called MyNerdGirl.com. I love your take on what a Nerd girl is. Do you mind if I refer to it on my blog?
ReplyDeleteCindy: Not at all! Mention it, or even use some of the pictures if you need to!
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ReplyDelete