Nerd Trope Issues, Maybe

I'm going through Hollywood Nerd wicks as part of the TRS decision to disambiguate the trope and I'm wondering if there needs to be a clean up of Nerd or if Nerd's description needs to be tightened.

From what I understand, the Nerd is a Stock Character (you can instantly recognize a nerd just from looking at them) or Archetypal Character (this character type keeps recurring) with the following traits:

• stereotypical bad fashion, with the classic representation being plaid button down shirt or a polo, high waisted belted pants, suspenders, and a pocket protector (but other not trendy fashion can fit)
• not physically attractive due to Geek Physique and a lack of care about outer appearance, often times this includes acne, thick Nerd Glasses, braces, and unstylish hair
• socially awkward in some way (shy and clams up when talking to people, talks too much and can't read the room, etc)
• and interests in "nerdy" hobbies that are typically non-mainstream subcultures based on things you need a deep knowledge (be it technical or lore based) to enjoy (tech, sci-fi works, fantasy works, anime, collecting things, etc).

The current description more or less states all of this. However, I've come across many examples that are just "this character shows interest in something nerdy."

Is that enough to qualify as a nerd? I feel like if we consider the trope a Stock Character, then the answer is clearly no, there's not enough of the iconic traits of a nerd for them to be "instantly recognizable" as a nerd from that alone. If it's an Archetypal Character, there's more wiggle room, but it still feels like not enough of the traits are being met. Especially as nerdy hobbies have become more mainstream, I'm not sure that alone is enough to satisfy the trope

Edited by amathieu13 on Jun 2nd 2022 at 11:53:31 AM

As Nerds are a stock character, a character who is into nerdy hobbies would not be enough to qualify as the trope. The stereotypical Nerd trope has been getting more and more outdated as the years go on but that doesn't mean the trope itself should be broadened to include people that only resemble the stereotype in a superficial way.

That's exactly what I thought. If that's the case, then I think a TRS thread for misuse is going to need to be opened since people aren't treating it as a stock character, but more as a personality trait.

I did a quick wick check at Sandbox.Nerd and yeah there's an issue. Ignoring the astounding amount of ZCE (if you ignore potholes, which aren't really meant to be taken as examples in of themselves anyways, they're 58% of the remaining 52 wicks), people are using this correctly only 50% of the time. The other 50% of the time is divided between equating it with "character has interests in hobbies considered nerdy" (2/3 of remaining examples) and character is Book Smart or generally knowledgeable on some topic (1/3 of remaining examples)

For the ZCE issue alone, this should go through TRS but the misuse is def there too.

Edited by amathieu13 on Jun 3rd 2022 at 3:23:42 PM