[nard] …that is my request, from the House of Random at HotForWords…this date of comment***!!***as important it is to live; it was more important to have lived before current castes
I think I fit somewhere in the middle of Geeks and Nerds. What ever that may be. While thinking of a Nerd, It came to mind that they are almost always Schlubs. That made me think of a great word request.
Marina,
Where does the word “Schlub” come from? It is a funny word.
The homework question asked for any famous nerds. But, doesn’t the act of becoming famous promote someone from nerdiness to geekiness? Just my thoughts.
it’s ok i often get corrected for that too adn even when im writing stuff down with pen and paper i accidentally do that its just a habbit that was brought upon me and now i must get rid of it well thank you anyways chemikal
Greetings from the island city of Alameda, CA!!! I love your ‘Nerd’ lesson and wanted to pass my kudos on to you and also thank you for the best birthday present a guy could get….namely, YOUR 2009 calendar!! Quick delivery and the calendar is VERY high quality all round. There’s also a drop-dead gorgeous woman on EVERY single page of the calendar….Safe to say, [all apologies to Neil Sedaka and ANYone with halfway decent musical tastes...sic], I love, I love, I love my little calendar girl….please give us a shout out if you’re heading north to the SF bay area. I’d be happy to make sure you eat well and get a little ‘beach time’ should you head north to my neck of the woods.
“Anime” (アニメ) is interesting in that it is a Japanization of “animation,” which has been re-imported to the US with the meaning, “Japanese animated manga.” (Authoritative source: my 13-year-old daughter & anime-manga aficionado. )
Marina, is there a term for a “loan word” like anime that has been returned?
Some of the comments reminded me of a story. We had been hangin’ with a couple Philipinas, and we thought we were pretty good at understanding Tagonglish. We were at their place getting ready for Christmas dinner. One of the young ladies kept asking us to check the “fork”. We had no idea, so she told us to check the “fig.” We almost burnt the damn ham before we figured it out. Just goes to show, the more ya know…
Marina, I am pleased to see Gorby from times to times within your lessons specially I really appreciate that he can speak English. By the way I wish to know if Gorby is your Totem ? And by the way if you could tell us the origin of this word : Totem ? Many many thanks for all these lovely lessons !
Oh yes Alpaca reminds me the Alp’s totemic animal by excellence ; The so called Dahu or Dahut: You can find some samples of these specimens here in the link bellow : http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3mi7y_le-dahu_fun
Hello Loudfighter,
I lovingly made the graph in Excel. Every couple of hours I grab the numbers off of the contest web page and drop them into Excel.
Normally, if there were only up votes, one would not need a graph to monitor the progress. But, with the down voting, it is not so easy to tell at a glance, plus there is no way to tell what the trend is. Thank you for appreciating the graph.
Well…you used the word on your email when the sexy geek voting site was left out, so now teacher dear you must tell us where the word came from…lol.The word you used was WHOOPS!
Also, in regard to another word that you researched a year ago…fagot. It is my understanding that hundreds of years ago…also in England…fags were little boys who did mundane tasks such as getting clothes ready or wiping the shoes off of the person they served. The person they served was referred to as a fag master. Check that out also for us My lovely Marina. Thank you My dear.
Well…you used the word on your email when the sexy geek voting site was left out, so now teacher dear you must tell us where the word came from…lol.The word you used was WHOOPS!
Also, in regard to another word that you researched a year ago…fagot. It is my understanding that hundreds of years ago…also in England…fags were little boys who did mundane tasks such as getting clothes ready or wiping the shoes off of the person they served. The person they served was referred to as a fag master. Check that out also for us My lovely Marina. Thank you My dear.
I find the word Nerd very offensive and derogatory. Almost to the point of comparing it to language used in racism. I’ve been called both words but I seem to hear Nerd used most often. Even had my life nearly extinguish while being called a Nerd. Now days I just use Geek. As for living the life as a Nerd. Well I moved out soon after high school. I should have moved out sooner. I was a social misfit. I guess that’s why I got into computers. Spock and Data were like my idols. Characters I could relate to very well. Now days I’m far removed from being a Nerd you would never know I was. Oh did I type that out loud? Ok I’m going to bed now…I need to think about this word a bit more. I must ponder the question; Am I still a Nerd?
Jack, since you are Marina’s head TA, a Master Mariner and live in a Marina, I have to conclude that you are a “Marinerd” which is what you get if you cross a mariner with a marined. marined is a mythical animal with the lower part of the body resembling that of a fish.
More of a Salty Dog than anything else.
Hope your slow connection works, if’n you’re into old time music. P/H was one of my old favs & mating it up to some new artistic graphics is kinda cool. I think some computer nerds put their talent to good use.
Hi Jack, if you’ll allow me a brief interjection here; whatever you are or aren’t just be real (yourself) and screw any labels. Too many people wear the flap on their cap whichever direction the ‘popular’ wind is blowing in order to be ‘cool’, which makes them (my opinion) hardcore nerds–in or out of any basement.
Oh don’t get me wrong. I’m not upset about it for I my mind is in optimist mode (or at least I try to be). The notion that we label people is just a fact of life. Labels can be a good thing. If one doesn’t like his or her label then it up to them to change it. I may view Nerd as a derogatory word but it has no power over me. I could even tattoo it to my forehead and still it will not have much of an effect on me other than have a word tattooed on my head. As they say when life gives you lemons, Make Hard Lemonade.
Hello Marina ! Menatokoala proposed “Niche” ; I really think this word is very interesting it would be great if you could find the origin of this word for us. Thanks by the way for your lovely and attractive words.
I third it. Especially since you mentioned Dr. Seuss in this “nerd” lesson.
Ecological Niche Theory According to Dr. Seuss
And NUH is the letter I use to spell Nutches,
Who live in small caves, known as Niches, for hutches.
These Nutches have troubles, the biggest of which is
The fact there are many more Nutches than Niches.
Each Nutch in a Nich knows that some other Nutch
Would like to move into his Nich very much.
So each Nutch in a Nich has to watch that small Nich
Or Nutches who haven’t got Niches will snitch.
-Dr. Seuss, On Beyond Zebra (1955)
Ok,Marina,this will surely sound like I’m full of Myself for asking,but, I wanna know about You,not the webswite You,just You,I don’t even have the foggiest fuckin clue as to why I wanna know,I just do. I wanna know what You think about stuff in general,I wanna know how You feel; about that stuff,I wanna know what You look like without any makeup on or fancy dress of any kind,,get the drift here? I wanna know the real girl/woman,without that,all beyond any and all doubt,is “happy horseshit”,as dear old dad would say.
No matter what,either sane or dumb as a fencepost,I am honest,and I want the same in return from everybody.
GIANT YAWN,I’m tired and on My last Ale,it’s time to put it all down for at least a month,maybe more.I’m bored with all that is available anyway,might as well ntake3 the oportunity to clean the system!! LOL”! Nighty night folks.
Hello tryant,
I think your request to know everything about Marina is heartfelt and you are in good company as all of us want to know the “real” Marina.
Guess what? The good news is you can. The bad news is that it will take time and some work, and if you are really interested here is my recommendation.
You said:
“I wanna know what You think about stuff in general”
A lot of us do. I made a similar statement in a comment some time back. Read all the comments on this page regarding Marina’s upcoming book. You’ll see similar comments as yours. http://www.hotforwords.com/2008/03/22/my-upcoming-book/
You said:
“I wanna know how You feel”
A lot of us are interested in how Marina feels about stuff. I recommend that you watch the video interviews and written interviews. You will come to know Marina in many different ways. Click on the Interviews link at the top. Also, click on the Blog link at the top and you will see many articles written by and about Marina.
You said:
“… what you look like w/o any makeup on or fancy dress”
Watch all of Marina’s videos at least twice, especially the early ones and you will see Marina in every possible day to day attire and bad hair days. A lot of us cherish those classics.
In summary, watch every video ever made by Marina. Start with her first video in 2007 and work yourself up to the current ones. Consider this, if you watch 5 videos per day and let’s say each video averages around 3 minutes, that’s only 15 minutes every day in which you can learn about Marina from her videos.
Read all of Marina’s comments here and on You Tube and on blogs and interviews. You will get to know her through her comments.
Hi tryant,
Just another thought. You said that you had no clue as to why you want to know everything about Marina, but you don’t know why, but you just need to know.
Without getting too psycho analytical, all I can say, speaking for myself, is that Marina’s persona, and looks expresses a universal feminine archetype that universally touches men and women alike. She creates a deep felt longing in us for something that we have either known at one time, or are getting in touch with for the first time. Some might call it love or infatuation.
As you read the many users comments, you can see that Marina universally touches people in a special way all over the world. For now, enjoy the journey. Who knows what’s coming around the bend.
Evan,for the 1st time I uderstand You,3 times in a row!
the ale is done and gone,I stayed up till that was drank up. Now I’m not buying any more for at least 1 month,,when I give the advice of “what Ya pick up,Ya better check at times to be sure Ya can put it down” is advice for Myself as well as others.
Forgive me for treading on your turf, but I have to explain this one for those without French. This one is just too clever to leave people in the dark.
Pie (magpie) sounds like pied (foot)
Oie (goose) sounds like oeil (eye)
Hibou (owl) sounds like…fill in the blank.
So aloud, the joke sounds like
“The foot nests high; the eye nests low; the hibou nests neither high nor low.”
In my Toastmasters speech club, I’ve relished my role as their etymology nerd. A sample of one of my dissertations is below (Captain Jack, this may appeal to you as a Seattlite):
Fractured Fables of the Fourth Corner: How the Stillaguamish Got its Name
Some two hundred years ago, two voyages of exploration entered the waters of the Salish Sea, the beautiful inland arm of the Pacific now shared by British Columbia and Washington State: one English under George Vancouver, and one Spanish under Francisco Eliza.
On both expeditions were sailors who looked out at the pristine landscape and bountiful sea, and weighed the prospect of the return trip – of months at sea, braving hurricanes and scurvy, to return home to rat-and-flea infested hovels – against the possibilities of starting over in this beautiful new land; and a few sailors from both expeditions abandoned ship.
On encountering each other, these two groups of Spanish and English first reacted with hostility and suspicion. Then cooler heads prevailed, reasoning that they had more in common as deserters trying to survive in a new land, than differences as Spanish and English, and that their hostilities belonged to the life they had left behind. Accordingly, the groups joined forces to map out their strategy for their new lives.
For a permanent settlement, they would need wives. Some sailors had been wise enough to take trade goods from their ships, and soon they approached the native Salish to trade steel knives, beads, and colored cloth for klootchman kopa elip tillikum, native women. The band then set out to find a place for a permanent settlement, finally building a village by a large, quiet pond behind a huge logjam on one of the local rivers.
As a generation went by, the languages of these settlers – English, Spanish, and Salish – became blended into one. The name they gave themselves and their village by the quiet water later became applied to the entire river by which they had settled: the Stillaguamish, from the English still, Spanish agua (water), and Salish mish (people): the people of the quiet water.
And the artichoke was named after King Arthur choking on one.
Holy crashamoli!! Set an empty beer down and it tipped over ,took the tin ashtray with it too,right to the floor,,,loudly!! Shitballs on a shiney!! Skeert the crap outa My sedated ass!!
thanks again Evan,Ya know,I’m startin to like you better n better.
The hangover isn’t too bad,I do remember being very unsteady,bumping stuff,holding onto the hall walls and such,and laughing about it Then,I made it to the couch and “lights out” for birthday boy. Had a good time over at the neighbor lady’s house then came home,prolly woulda been wise to stay off the net when that loaded,hope I wasn’t too offensive.
sure got room fer all my friends pets food hell everything i have and own i share with my nerdy friends but do need my sexy teacher at my side awww nothing bad bout dreaming is there
OK, has the obvious question occurred to anyone? Why is Marina speaking in English with her mother? That would negate the whole concept of “mother tongue.” I refuse to believe that “geek” and “nerd” are in common use in Russian. Unless Marina tells me so herself.
I still stand on the fact that I just don’t understand You evan. umm,is it possible that,in the world *today*,many folks understand al least some english language? all round the world,in the most likely and/or unlikely places? Come on fella,I’m fuckin foogered,but,I got a brain within the old brainpan,You do too,use it please.
Try this man,You have some sort of high intelligence,I can see that,,take what You see/think and break it down to a simpler form,then,put it fort in those words/expresssions. Never know,might work.
I dated a russian lady that had russian friends here in the stastes,an older lady spoke very good english,I honestly dunno how long She had been stateside,but,Her english was plenty good,and,Her cooking was great!
I have had many friends from other countries that spoke better English than I did. One girl friend from the Philippines spoke broken English was always correcting me. Talk about embarrassment to the extreme.
I think our movie industry had a large influence in making English the language of the world. In my world cruise I was able to find many people that spoke English. This was back in 1986. Slang words were very common.
I will never forget the day our flight crew was checking in to a hotel in Copenhagen. Because we were foreigners we were asked to fill in an additional card that asked for, among other things, ‘full name, surname first’. A discussion ensued among the crew and the question ‘which is your surname, your first or last name?’ was about evenly split. We had six officers ( all college graduates ) and 8 enlisted ( flight crews weren’t composed of dummies – although I have to admit that until that day I had no idea which was the surname ), and as the debate persisted the cute desk clerk interjected ‘your surname is your last name; don’t you speak English?’ which had all of us rolling on the floor.
Back in the day,lol,both nerd and geek titles weren’t flattering,at least amongst the crowds I hung with. now-a-days,ever since Bill Gates got filthy stinking rich,both names have gained in stature.
Heyyyy,that makes fairly decent sense considering all the xannies and beer I consumed tonight due to birthday celebrating! I know,xannies are childsplay,but,they work if Ya take enough to reach Yer personal buzz-limit,mix with ale,then,with utmost care,do more.
I am now,by most standards,older than dirt,but I don’t die easy,,or,,give-up easy. I party,then I party more,,,,,but,,,,,I know the golen rule,,no,not that one,the other golden rule,,goes like this,,”whatever You pick up,You god damn well better check often to be sure You can put it down”,,if this rule is not followed by old world partiers,nerds,geeks and everybody else,then that is when full-blown addicts are created.
What was the homework? I forgot,,it’s My freakin birthday,Love Ya All!!!!!!!
Love the word and its meaning!
I have heard a story about the following word but no one seems to have heard it so I am going to ask you. My word is ‘quiz’.
Nerds are the pest; organized professional want to control the means of production. Benefits to starve the beggers and their work to extort mankind. Unions act like bosses over their stupidity. Bill Clinton is a nerd and so is his wife.
Use of italics here seems to cut off gravatar image if used in the first line or two of a comment or reply to a previous comment when the ‘click to edit’ link goes away
Come to mind for what? I’m enjoying birthday favors and entitled to forget. Nerds! Yeah,,nerds,,till they became *wealthy* nerds,then the term changes meaning in the puplic eye. Anybody that disagrees has that right,in-alienable right,but,doesn’t change history.
Old quote;;;”If You want to know the future,study the past”.
allow me to pontificate upon the many nuances of nerd…
eagh! geek spasm… it’s like when someone tickles your tailbone and you wanna wiggle your way out of a sleeping blanket but you’re in a tent in the woods and your flashlight is running out of batteries and you’re thinking why didn’t I use duracell
Dunno the origin but,breaking the word down in My special fucked-up way,does it mean,,,ahhhhh never mind.I’m not quite able. Ok I’ll try,sounds like some type of heat induced micro spurts. Please inform.
Man!
The comments here are getting very interesting to read.
As Bob said below, judging by the amount of time some of us spend on this website, we’re reputable Nerds! (does anyone other then wetsuit5, notice the oxymoron?)
gabriel, please don’t take this the wrong way…
But this is a place where language is discussed, so grammar is also held at a high place.
Please permit me to correct you when you say “wat” when you mean to say “what”. Also take care when writing the word “curious”.
I congratulate you on your very inspired request, and I hope she does a video explaining your word soon.
I’m only saying this, because when I was learning English I had no one to correct me besides the teacher, and since she had a class of over 45 students, I was often left with spelling mistakes in my Homeworks, and then I would mix-up words because of their similar form. It took me years to eliminate the confusions that were formed in that period.
Nowadays we just use google language tools. How times change…
You’ve been using “then” in place of “than” today. But then, mea amic, I know how hard you are trying to perfect your English. I would not otherwise be correcting anyone’s spelling and grammar.
Some of our foreign students’ use of English I find quite charming — onlycasperman comes to mind.
Evan, when I said it took me years, it didn’t necessarily mean that I’m done eliminating all my confusions
Do you know what the funniest one is?
Left instead of right, and vice-versa!
No, I’m not one of those persons who can’t tell them apart, but when I first learned the terms (from cartoons, I might add) I learned them the wrong way! How mixed up is that? But, then again what do you expect a 5 year old to understand from something like : “Turn left Muttley, not that left, your other left”. And Muttley kept saying “gright!”… I know it seems silly now.
Thanks for the heads up, I’ll be more attentive.
Do tell me if you notice that I repeat any more mistakes, if you want of course… thanks a lot!!
By the way, is “tovarăş” used often in Romanian? Looks a lot like “tovarishch” (comrade) in Russian. It gets me, looking at Romanian, how much is familiar because it’s nearly the same as Spanish, but then I see words like “dragostea” that are obviously Slavic.
tovarăş has been used a lot (same as comrade in Russian), but since ‘89 it rather lost it’s original meaning, and took up another word’s meaning, that of “frate”(brother). Not to say that it totally lost it’s communistic connotations though. We still call ex-communists tovarăşi.
Slavic words in Romanian? No surprise.
This is an excellent post to bring to everyone’s attention.
When I was learning Norwegian I used to make frequent gaffes until I met one guy who took the trouble to correct me.
Sometimes at first, when he did it in front of a crowd, I was embarrassed, but I learned to ignore that and made a point of thanking him for, and complimenting him on, his input and wondering aloud why no-one else had taken the trouble to stop me repeatedly making a fool of myself.
Kudos to you, Chemikal, for risking being thought of as hypercritical and for caring enough to help others with your knowledge and experience.
Sounds/looks too much like “touch”,so let us assume that,in a epee duel,one oponent is touched by another’s sword tip,the touched one says “touche’” to acknowledge that that round was lost to the other. French,very similar to Russian I’m told.
When a comment has a very long line — such as the comments comment-100095 and comment-100083 below — the middle column is rendered wide. This results in the third column being pushed to the bottom of the page.
So ads are no longer readily visible. If the displacement of the third column to the bottom decreases revenue from ads, it would be best to avoid long lines in comments.
Both the long lines in the two comments cited above are are “http” lines — and these long lines can easily be avoided by using the html-anchor tags.
(A feature request for WordPress would be to automatically recast http lines in comments using html-anchor tags. Or to forcibly break long lines.)
Hello hs4mm,
Curious to what browser are you using? I use both SeaMonkey and FireFox.
In FireFox, the long HTTP links are wrapped inside the comment box.
In SeaMonkey, the HTTP lines extends way past the comment box, but the page is not altered in any way. I still see the ads and other columns where they were before.
Ideally, yes, one should use the anchor tag whenever the URL extend past the comment box.
. PS: In the above, should have observed that the displacement of the third column to the bottom “hides” not only the ads but also the scrolling banners for recent posts, comments, forum discussions, and tweets.
.
Apparently, IE-6 handles long lines in the various “recent banners” in a manner different from what the web-page designer intended. IE-6 gives precedence to the length of the line over the width of the column: it adjusts the width of the column to match the minimum design width or the width of the longest line.
PS: I found this link on dikdiks more readable (and it does not characterize humans as predators).
.
hmmmm bill gates no wait he’s rich now so that makes makes him a geek oh i know my next door neighbor haha (ah that was mean ) and now i’d like to know the origin of *cliche*
Hello xxxgabrielxxx,
Marina has done a video lesson on the word Cliché.
You can find all of the video lesson that Marina has done by clicking on the Words/Lessons link at the upper left of any page.
Here is the link to the Cliché lesson. http://www.hotforwords.com/2008/12/27/cliche/
It’s Tolkein’s birthday today?!?! I assume yOU mean the 3rd,Mine is the 4th(18 minutes from now),explains the foogered state of mind I’m in.
My son hugged Me yesterday just in case He didn’t see Me today,many miles between. I bought My grand daughter a bigger 5-point carseat yesterday so She would be safer fit,”good job” to Me!! She’s the sweetest in the world and I love Her to no end.
Tolkein was no nerd,nor a geek.He had an understanding of humans that shines like a beacon in His writing if You *read* instead of just look at the words. Everything He says about every character comes from experience with humans,,,,,re-read Tolkein with that in mind and you will gain insight,,invaluable insight,,He was more than genius,He was,,,observant.
Great request ToF, (see my post below) I second the Word request: Hermit.
Now what about Howard Hughes?
He lead a, shall we say, “colourful” early life, and was very rich, so I don’t think he can be called a nerd, but he became a hermit late on in his life.
Willy congratulations for subscribing to hotforwords, 2 days ago… Awesome!
I was just pointing out their similar photos, which I’m sure is by coincidence.
How do You see Yourself? I’m and old Hippie/greaser/redneck/geek/nerd//////,,,I do all I can to state My views and get along with everone I can while doing so. Labels,eeeenghhh,fuck labels,fuck em hard then foreget em..People are people,plain and simple.
The only folks that worry Me are the controlling-type puritanical assholes,and even they are human and have a *few* good points,,albeit,very few.
After people got the lyric wrong, Hendrix would often sin “kiss this guy” at some of the live performances. Sometimes Jimi just did not give a rat’s rump.
A guy I met number of years ago fits this homework… completely. Don Mattrick from Vancouver, B.C., Canada was a nerd/geek in the early days of video games… he went on to become SUPER-WEALTHY as a senior executive of Electronic Arts. He started a company called Distinctive Software making Disney/Roger Rabbit, NHL, and Car racing games. Later, his company merged with EA. He is now an Executive Consultant for Microsoft.
Dear совершенная Марина Орлова, That really is a nice dress, and it’s in a nice color, too. Of course we know that the beauty inside you is worth more than all the external beauty in the world.
So the geeks were the ones who mde big money in computers and the nerds studied other technology and had no social skills. Dimitry Medvedev is a famous person who looks like a nerd, but probably isn’t, since he has a wife named Svetana.
So, I continue to vote for you on the “sexiest geek of the year” contest. I hope you win again, and this time, you get an actual prize! I’ve also won “honorary awards”, but since you can’t spend them or use them to get dates with beautiful women, they don’t help me out very much.
С влюбленностью к Марине, seesixcm6
The Nerd? Geek? or Dork? test on helloquizzy.com is illuminating regarding the subtle semantic differentiation of these terms. There are a range of nerd sub-types defined such as “pure nerd”, “modern, cool nerd”, etc. I.E. there is no single-point definition, there is in actuality a whole three-dimensional nerd-geek-dork space continuum. “Pure nerds” hang out on the one-dimensional nerd axis of this space, merrily solving various abstruse mathematical equations/problems, etc. E=mc**2 (Einstein), F=ma (Newton), quantum electrodynamics (Feynman). Go nerds, Wahoo!
Good explanation, maybe mom will get it too!
People just don’t differentiate, I mean just look at this article. It states that Megan Fox, leading actress in Transformers, is a geek at heart, but when she was cited she clearly said she was a nerd, not a geek! This makes me believe than Megan should watch more HotForWords videos, to avoid making such confusions in the future.
Technically, a geek and a nerd are completely different things. Before the the affordable and now ubiquitous personal computer invaded our homes, a geek was a person who performed shocking or disgusting acts on stage (biting the heads off live chickens for a circus sideshow, for example), while a nerd was originally the cut-off end of a sheep’s tail after it had been bobbed (got that Bob?), from what I have heard. I was also under the impression that the word nerd originated in Australia &/or New Zealand, where raising sheep for wool is a very important part of the economy. The tails have to be cut off because they add difficulty to the shearing process AND the wool growing on them just acts like a magnet for fecal matter anyway, creating a tangled, matted, unsanitary mess for everyone involved. Unfortunately, none of the dictionaries in my collection will substantiate these ridiculous claims, so I guess I don’t know (Captain) Jack.
WLIU, Rx is the abbreviation for take, as in “Take four newt tails, a dozen frog eggs, a cup of muck and the slime from foot-long snail trail, combine with a packet of Swiss Miss hot chocolate mix and apply daily to the affected foot until the sixth toe recedes.”
Homework: Personal hero of mine: Alan Turing – Mathematician and codebreaker. Invented an early computer to more quickly decipher Enigma-encrypted radio transmissions at Bletchley Park during WWII. Does he qualify as a ‘nerd’?
NARRATOR: Soon after becoming a research fellow at Cambridge at only 22, Alan Turing invented the first basic concept of a computing machine. Bletchley Park suited both his genius and his eccentricity.
ANDREW HODGES: He had funny manners. He didn’t like wearing a tie, he always looked untidy, but he quite liked being out in the country where he cycled around, he cycled with a gas mask on during hay fever period. He didn’t care what he looked like, he just thought that doing the job was what mattered.
SARAH BARING: He was very shy of women, particularly girls. I don’t think he’d ever met any girls before. I did once offer him a cup of tea and he shrank back as if he was going to be shot. And he used to, bless his heart, walk down to the canteen in a curious sideways motion, with his head down. But he was such a star, we all thought he was the best, wonderful thing.
NARRATOR: Alan Turing set himself the challenge of cracking the Enigma. In an attic room at Bletchley Park, Turing began studying the U-boat messages. All he had to go on were the scrambled letters. In an astonishing feat of deduction, Turing discovered exactly how the Germans were hiding the crucial message setting. Unlike the Luftwaffe, the German Navy was leaving nothing to chance. Instead of letting the operator choose three letters at random for his message setting, he had to get them from a list. Although Turing had no information about the naval procedures, he managed to identify exactly how they selected their daily keys from a set of secret tables. Instead of replacing one letter with another, these so-called bigram tables substituted pairs of letters.
IN my readings I found out that part of his difficulty was based on his lack of security clearance because of it. Much of his work was classified, and they wouldn’t let him have his notes back ( because they had been classified – This is the military I have come to know and love ). Turing essentially invented the digital computer to break the daily codes, but his work was classified and had to be re-invented later. Other Bletchley Park geeks developed a precursor to what old time geeks may remember as Holorith cards to weed out some code combinations.
BTW, Ian Fleming ( James Bond author ) developed a plan to capture a German lighthouse ship to get their Enigma code books. With these lower level codes in hand, and being able to receive coded messages such as weather reports sent in both codes, it would be easier to break the harder, more important level codes. The plan was to fly a captured German bomber manned with an Allied German speaking crew, and crash next to a lighthouse ship and hijack it when rescued. The plan wasn’t needed after the Allies captured a German sub with the code books intact.
True he was homosexual, also that he was coerced to take hormone suppliments in attempt to ‘cure’ his condition and committed suicide.
Probably false urban legend says he killed himself by eating an apple tainted with some toxin – a la ‘Snow White’, whence the Apple logo was allegedly derived, the coloured strips supposedly inspired the Gay Pride Rainbow banner.
I read the link and I’m looking at an Apple rainbow; it only has the six primary colors and they are not in the rainbow order ( red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet ). I can’t prove this was not why the rainbow was used but the rainbow order IS used in electronics ( ie the resistor color code ), and some people just like rainbows.
I am certain many things were tried to ‘cure’ Turing, most, probably with good intentions but of true misguided ignorance.
It is a true shame that many with a lot to communicate lack the skills to do so with more mundane minds. The story of Turing’s life is fascinating.
So… the good news is that all you nerds may grow up to be a Sexy Geek someday. Congrats Marina and I’m sorry that i might not be seeing you (HotForWords) for awhile. Till then, Chou
Hi marina i love your visds i think there cool, I just wanted to request for the word KISS. I always wondered where that word came from and all of that. So if you could that would be amazing. Oh and have a great day k
Hi Marina,
I don’t see a reply from hott4urblog but for some of us, your website is an addiction. We might make a new year’s resolution to cut back, like we would for beer or Freecell.
Like you said in the lesson, I differentiate geeks from nerds based on what they do with their lives: people who are incredibly smart and good with technological stuff are “geeks” and people who just don’t have a great deal of social skills are “nerds.” So while I could name plenty of famous geeks, I can’t really do the same for nerds.
I was at work on Friday talking about New Year’s Eve with my colleagues. Like millions of people I went out and got bent, really tied one on. So, where does that phrase come from? To “tie one on”?
My older brother just won in Scrabble using the word “fa” and “mi” (as in the muscial scale… do re mi fa so la ti do…demonstrated in the movie “sound of music”). According to dictionary.com and scrabble dictionary, these do constitute as feasible words. When I asked him to use it in a sentence, he couldn’t. So what’s the deal? Is it actually a word, and if so, where did it originate from?
Not all experts agree completely with the Dr. Seuss Theory. Slang maven J.E. Lighter says Dr. Seuss may have created “nerd” as an adaption of “Mortimer Snerd,” the name of Edger Bergens`s cantankerus dummy. Lighter, editor of The Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang, cites a 1941
publication using “Mortimer Snerd” to mean a “technical, brainy type of guy”. Another scholar, Robert Chapman, suggest “nerd” may have come from surfer or hotrodder lingo, and could come from “nerts”or “nuts”. Others believe nerd comes from “nurd”, which begans as “knurd”….
nincompoop Quote
“Victory goes to the player who makes the next-to-last mistake.” – Chessmaster Savielly Grigorievitch Tartakower 1887-1956…todays hotforwords site quote
Awesome job, Marina! I never would’ve thought nerd would come from a Dr. Seuss book
May I request a phrase? Where does “kick the bucket” come from? If there was a story to it, I’d imagine one that would say someone died from majorly stubbing their toe against a bucket Thank you!
I couldn’t think of any famous nerds off the top of my head so I googled for some lists and came up with names I’ve never heard of except for Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, who, according to your definition were/are Geeks and not Nerds.
Alan Turing was mentioned and he probably fits the specification since, I believe, he was employed and not an entrepreneur.
Another one whose name occurs to me, prompted by Alan Turing, was Dr.Barnes Wallace, famous as the inventor of the Dambuster’s Bouncing Bomb and the “633 Squadron” Earthquake Bomb as well as a long list of other inventions.
BTW, Marina, are you also Hotfornerds? because with the amount of time I’m spending on your web site, I think I’m becoming one.
Bob according to your pencil test, there are two different tests. One that holds the pencil and one that lets it fall from under the annudder. I like the one that holds the pencil.
I know, totally becoming a nerd! But consider the company, and also the wonderful things you learn…
So when are you planning to get out of your mom’s basement?
I am not sure I can understand the colourful nuance between a nerd and a geek. This brainy lesson has definitely a huge amount of finesse embedded in it, fleeting knowledge wich I can’t catch right now. From what I understood, I’d say there’s a nerd and a geek in this trustable pair of partners.
We may need to get you to a phrink.
You have an inferiority complex.
Your participating in a Sexy Geek Contest.
You think of yourself as a nerd and your Mom calls you that.
You told your Mom in a recent video that you are a Nimrod.
Your conclusion on reality is all wrong.
You need to see yourself, at least a little, the way we see you.
Your an extremely talented and intelligent person.
You also got very lucky in the “Lovely” gene lottery.
Your personality is outgoing and friendly.
(And you have good taste and loyality in your puppy dog)
Generally speaking, women with intelligence are often more self-conscious than men are since it is still becoming “acceptable” (I know, we don’t live in the 1900’s and yet women are still constantly paid less than men even for the same career). Add physical attractiveness on top of intelligence and a woman will have twice as much to be self-conscious about since physical attractiveness is associated with beauty. Beauty for women have higher importance in the American culture than in others. If she lived in a place like Flordia or California, these locations would only add to the importance of having a “beach body”
Russians are extremely good at mathmatics, science, and accuracy in general so it is conceivable that even if Marina does view herself as a “geek” and not a nerd, this is an accurate statement. This is not a degrading statment, it a self aware statement. At least she knows herself well enough to distinguish between the two. Also, if you take into account the self conscious aspect and the anxiety that comes with high intelligence, one could understand that she may be a bit hard on herself when it comes to being correct a majority of the time. I say there are a lot worse things she could be calling herself given her extensive vocabulary so I am thankful that she only puts herself down slightly with a mild term like “nimrod”.
Conclusively, I would have to disagree with the statement “Your conclusion on reality is all wrong” since she clearly has an highly accurate perception of herself. Who is to say how “we” see her reality is better, or more accurate, than how she see her own perceived reality anyhow?
“Unless you’ve lived my life, don’t judge me because you don’t know, never have, and never will know every little detail about me” – anonymous
Yes, your thinking right!
But I think she was not referring to an actual nerd, rather to one like Mr. Bean, not an actual nerd, but he plays this stereotype on TV, therefore is famous… Agree?
Good morning everyone, that is if your on the west coast. It’s 12:34 here on the east coast.
Home Work: I would have to say Weird Al he looks and acts kinda NERDY.
Okay, I have a strange word request, or at least an odd question (it may not qualify as a word request). Anyway, every lover of words has heard of the palindrome, a word or phrase that is the same spelled backwards as forwards, like ‘level’ or ‘madam’. What I wanted to know is what you call a word that remains the same when you rotate it 180 degrees. For instance, the word ‘pod’ remains ‘pod’ if you spin it halfway around. Same goes for the word ‘dollop’… turn it 180 degrees and it still remains ‘dollop’. The word ‘mow’ would be another such word. Question is, what is the word to describe such a ‘rotating’ word? I hope that the world’s most beautiful word nerd might be able to give me the answer. Little help, Marina?
Here’s to a great 2009 for HotForWords! Peace, Errin : )
I’m all ears for any answer from anybody, but would of course defer to Marina’s answer most of all, as she is the real authority around here when it comes to such matters.
If the answer you had was the ‘ambigram’, I don’t think that is correct. The ambigrams are logos artistically designed to read the same way when flipped over. Not quite the same as a word wherein the letters remain the same when flipped, and do not require any artistic alteration to do so.
I’m going to wait for our trusty teacher to chime in on the matter when and if she gets the chance. I’m sure she’ll know.
Errin I sent your request to Marina by email, as she told us TAs one time if we saw a request that might interest her to let her know personally. The reason I did that is I would like to know the answer my self as it isn’t a ambigram. I hope she picks it. I searched all over the internet for me an answer, but to no avail. Good luck.
Who knows… maybe I stumped the teacher with this one. Could it be possible that such a word does not exist? That is about the only way Marina wouldn’t know about it.
[internet]my repuest.
[nard] …that is my request, from the House of Random at HotForWords…this date of comment***!!***as important it is to live; it was more important to have lived before current castes
okay4now, your mama might but then again she might not hahaha
Bill Gates
I think I fit somewhere in the middle of Geeks and Nerds. What ever that may be. While thinking of a Nerd, It came to mind that they are almost always Schlubs. That made me think of a great word request.
Marina,
Where does the word “Schlub” come from? It is a funny word.
By the way. I was your 100K comment. So that entitles me to something right? hehe. please do my word.
Marina, would this be a nerd couple,?
http://tinyurl.com/9yjue7
a pair of geeks, ?
or a geek with nerd in capture?
or fast food delivery?
http://tinyurl.com/86rvkk
speaking of fast food delivery
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/2453/very_fast_food/
I would say Bill Gates was a nerd until he made billions of dollars,now he is a geek.
What a sexy teacher!!!!! I really love you
Would you visit my Youtube channel???
http://es.youtube.com/user/copinstar
The homework question asked for any famous nerds. But, doesn’t the act of becoming famous promote someone from nerdiness to geekiness? Just my thoughts.
I agree, jam…
The idea of “famous nerd” equates to an oxymoron.
Hello there, Hotforwords! Since you’ve done the word ‘nerd’, how about ‘geek’, and maybe even ‘doofus’…
it’s ok i often get corrected for that too adn even when im writing stuff down with pen and paper i accidentally do that its just a habbit that was brought upon me and now i must get rid of it well thank you anyways chemikal
I was talking to my friend and he said ‘Your teaching to the ‘Preached‘ (meaning your telling me something i already know)
This got me wondering where the word preach comes from
Thank you
xxx
Greetings from the island city of Alameda, CA!!! I love your ‘Nerd’ lesson and wanted to pass my kudos on to you and also thank you for the best birthday present a guy could get….namely, YOUR 2009 calendar!! Quick delivery and the calendar is VERY high quality all round. There’s also a drop-dead gorgeous woman on EVERY single page of the calendar….Safe to say, [all apologies to Neil Sedaka and ANYone with halfway decent musical tastes...sic], I love, I love, I love my little calendar girl….please give us a shout out if you’re heading north to the SF bay area. I’d be happy to make sure you eat well and get a little ‘beach time’ should you head north to my neck of the woods.
Happy New Year!!!
Phil Rodrigues
[aka philthyrod]
Excellent!
Can you tell me the history of the word ’seersucker’. A biblical person with a lollipop?
You know what would be a good word to look up: Gym (gymnasium)
It would be interesting to find out where the “gym” part came from and where the “nasium” part came from.
Good Morning
Continue to vote for Marina!
Word requests : Anime/Manga, Strike,
“Anime” (アニメ) is interesting in that it is a Japanization of “animation,” which has been re-imported to the US with the meaning, “Japanese animated manga.”
(Authoritative source: my 13-year-old daughter & anime-manga aficionado. 
)
Marina, is there a term for a “loan word” like anime that has been returned?
Quick riddle to stimulate your minds this morning:
“A railroad crossing, look for the cars”
Can you spell all that without any Rs?
“all that”
ahh you actually got it. i guess it was pretty obvious
Word Request – Fustigate
Obfuscate
It’s part of the aging process
Fustilugs.
Some of the comments reminded me of a story. We had been hangin’ with a couple Philipinas, and we thought we were pretty good at understanding Tagonglish. We were at their place getting ready for Christmas dinner. One of the young ladies kept asking us to check the “fork”. We had no idea, so she told us to check the “fig.” We almost burnt the damn ham before we figured it out.
Just goes to show, the more ya know…
Xtra
song on the radio right now. Just the Boss and his acoustic guitar singin’ “Born in the USA.” Simply awesome. 
Wow all you guys on the West Coast, aren’t you tired or are you just early risers?
We’re obsessive. We NEVER get tired of HFW.
Awesomeness
ahh , school starts tomorrow for me ==
( sets alarm for 5am )
same here
bed!
For me to.
I guess I’m at least twice as old as you so I’d set my alarm for 10 a.m. (if I still used an alarm.
Why be alarmed when you can be 
?) 
hi Marina, I´d would like to know where did the word “brunette/blonde” come from?
Marina, I am pleased to see Gorby from times to times within your lessons specially I really appreciate that he can speak English. By the way I wish to know if Gorby is your Totem ? And by the way if you could tell us the origin of this word : Totem ? Many many thanks for all these lovely lessons !
Salish totem poles, White Rock, BC, Canada.
My totem is trusty alpaca. I say, “You totem load?” He say, “Alpaca what you want.”
Llama just say that was the worsted pun I ever herd.
Oh dear, don’t ever get into a punning contest with a Celt…wait, we’re both Celts!
Is a Scotsman a Celt in a kilt?
I’ve been “dalai’ing” here too long, must be off!
i hate this thang
Oh yes Alpaca reminds me the Alp’s totemic animal by excellence ; The so called Dahu or Dahut: You can find some samples of these specimens here in the link bellow : http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3mi7y_le-dahu_fun
I posted an updated SexyGeek progress graph here
Please continue to vote for Marina here.
The Phil fans are not sitting idly by.
http://wired.reddit.com/sexygeeks_2008/?s=top
Thanks Karl
Where do you get this graph?
Hello Loudfighter,
I lovingly made the graph in Excel. Every couple of hours I grab the numbers off of the contest web page and drop them into Excel.
Normally, if there were only up votes, one would not need a graph to monitor the progress. But, with the down voting, it is not so easy to tell at a glance, plus there is no way to tell what the trend is. Thank you for appreciating the graph.
Hi Marina. Happy new year
I have two words that I would like to know the origin.
the first one is “Moon”
and the second one is “Lips”
thank you and have a great day
If I had Marina’s lips beneath the moon, I wouldn’t be thinking of the origin of either!
Hello my lovely Marina
Well…you used the word on your email when the sexy geek voting site was left out, so now teacher dear you must tell us where the word came from…lol.The word you used was WHOOPS!
Also, in regard to another word that you researched a year ago…fagot. It is my understanding that hundreds of years ago…also in England…fags were little boys who did mundane tasks such as getting clothes ready or wiping the shoes off of the person they served. The person they served was referred to as a fag master. Check that out also for us My lovely Marina. Thank you My dear.
WHOOPS I already posted this….lol
MasterWithSpirit
Marina,
Where did the word “ambivalence” come from?
Your favourite student
Who cares
Well…I do and I don’t.
Hello my lovely Marina
Well…you used the word on your email when the sexy geek voting site was left out, so now teacher dear you must tell us where the word came from…lol.The word you used was WHOOPS!
Also, in regard to another word that you researched a year ago…fagot. It is my understanding that hundreds of years ago…also in England…fags were little boys who did mundane tasks such as getting clothes ready or wiping the shoes off of the person they served. The person they served was referred to as a fag master. Check that out also for us My lovely Marina. Thank you My dear.
MasterWithSpirit
Hi Marina!
Thought you might like this site…
http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
Love ya,
Your favourite student
I find the word Nerd very offensive and derogatory. Almost to the point of comparing it to language used in racism. I’ve been called both words but I seem to hear Nerd used most often. Even had my life nearly extinguish while being called a Nerd. Now days I just use Geek. As for living the life as a Nerd. Well I moved out soon after high school. I should have moved out sooner. I was a social misfit. I guess that’s why I got into computers. Spock and Data were like my idols. Characters I could relate to very well. Now days I’m far removed from being a Nerd you would never know I was. Oh did I type that out loud? Ok I’m going to bed now…I need to think about this word a bit more. I must ponder the question; Am I still a Nerd?
Jack, since you are Marina’s head TA, a Master Mariner and live in a Marina, I have to conclude that you are a “Marinerd” which is what you get if you cross a mariner with a marined.
marined is a mythical animal with the lower part of the body resembling that of a fish.
mermaid !!
Merman! Du!
Also see: Wiki
More of a Salty Dog than anything else.
Hope your slow connection works, if’n you’re into old time music. P/H was one of my old favs & mating it up to some new artistic graphics is kinda cool. I think some computer nerds put their talent to good use.
Hi Jack, if you’ll allow me a brief interjection here; whatever you are or aren’t just be real (yourself) and screw any labels. Too many people wear the flap on their cap whichever direction the ‘popular’ wind is blowing in order to be ‘cool’, which makes them (my opinion) hardcore nerds–in or out of any basement.
Oh don’t get me wrong. I’m not upset about it for I my mind is in optimist mode (or at least I try to be). The notion that we label people is just a fact of life. Labels can be a good thing. If one doesn’t like his or her label then it up to them to change it. I may view Nerd as a derogatory word but it has no power over me. I could even tattoo it to my forehead and still it will not have much of an effect on me other than have a word tattooed on my head. As they say when life gives you lemons, Make Hard Lemonade.
Hello Marina ! Menatokoala proposed “Niche” ; I really think this word is very interesting it would be great if you could find the origin of this word for us. Thanks by the way for your lovely and attractive words.
I third it. Especially since you mentioned Dr. Seuss in this “nerd” lesson.
Ecological Niche Theory According to Dr. Seuss
And NUH is the letter I use to spell Nutches,
Who live in small caves, known as Niches, for hutches.
These Nutches have troubles, the biggest of which is
The fact there are many more Nutches than Niches.
Each Nutch in a Nich knows that some other Nutch
Would like to move into his Nich very much.
So each Nutch in a Nich has to watch that small Nich
Or Nutches who haven’t got Niches will snitch.
-Dr. Seuss, On Beyond Zebra (1955)
Oh i almost forgot is it related to shoes?
The relationship between shoes and booty can be seen in the phrase “kicking ass.”
I want to request where the slang “booty” came from and what its related too?
Please and Thank You Hotforwords
-Yours Truely DLOW408
Ok,Marina,this will surely sound like I’m full of Myself for asking,but, I wanna know about You,not the webswite You,just You,I don’t even have the foggiest fuckin clue as to why I wanna know,I just do. I wanna know what You think about stuff in general,I wanna know how You feel; about that stuff,I wanna know what You look like without any makeup on or fancy dress of any kind,,get the drift here? I wanna know the real girl/woman,without that,all beyond any and all doubt,is “happy horseshit”,as dear old dad would say.
No matter what,either sane or dumb as a fencepost,I am honest,and I want the same in return from everybody.
GIANT YAWN,I’m tired and on My last Ale,it’s time to put it all down for at least a month,maybe more.I’m bored with all that is available anyway,might as well ntake3 the oportunity to clean the system!! LOL”! Nighty night folks.
Hello tryant,
I think your request to know everything about Marina is heartfelt and you are in good company as all of us want to know the “real” Marina.
Guess what? The good news is you can. The bad news is that it will take time and some work, and if you are really interested here is my recommendation.
You said:
“I wanna know what You think about stuff in general”
A lot of us do. I made a similar statement in a comment some time back. Read all the comments on this page regarding Marina’s upcoming book. You’ll see similar comments as yours.
http://www.hotforwords.com/2008/03/22/my-upcoming-book/
You said:
“I wanna know how You feel”
A lot of us are interested in how Marina feels about stuff. I recommend that you watch the video interviews and written interviews. You will come to know Marina in many different ways. Click on the Interviews link at the top. Also, click on the Blog link at the top and you will see many articles written by and about Marina.
You said:
“… what you look like w/o any makeup on or fancy dress”
Watch all of Marina’s videos at least twice, especially the early ones and you will see Marina in every possible day to day attire and bad hair days. A lot of us cherish those classics.
In summary, watch every video ever made by Marina. Start with her first video in 2007 and work yourself up to the current ones. Consider this, if you watch 5 videos per day and let’s say each video averages around 3 minutes, that’s only 15 minutes every day in which you can learn about Marina from her videos.
Read all of Marina’s comments here and on You Tube and on blogs and interviews. You will get to know her through her comments.
Let me know what you think.
Hi tryant,
Just another thought. You said that you had no clue as to why you want to know everything about Marina, but you don’t know why, but you just need to know.
Without getting too psycho analytical, all I can say, speaking for myself, is that Marina’s persona, and looks expresses a universal feminine archetype that universally touches men and women alike. She creates a deep felt longing in us for something that we have either known at one time, or are getting in touch with for the first time. Some might call it love or infatuation.
As you read the many users comments, you can see that Marina universally touches people in a special way all over the world. For now, enjoy the journey. Who knows what’s coming around the bend.
Without getting too psychoanalytical, tryant is drunk and infatuated!
(I’ve been there too!)
By the way, Happy Birthday tyrant.
Sleep well, tryant. It’s good for what “ales” you!
Karl,Ty Much.
Evan,for the 1st time I uderstand You,3 times in a row!
the ale is done and gone,I stayed up till that was drank up. Now I’m not buying any more for at least 1 month,,when I give the advice of “what Ya pick up,Ya better check at times to be sure Ya can put it down” is advice for Myself as well as others.
Marina, can you please tell us the word origin of “niche?” Please?
Thank You,
menotakoala (Joe)
French twister : Où niche la pie ? La pie niche haut. Où niche l’oie ? L’oie niche bas. Où niche l’hibou ? L’hibou niche ni haut ni bas !
French puns! Love it!
Forgive me for treading on your turf, but I have to explain this one for those without French. This one is just too clever to leave people in the dark.
Pie (magpie) sounds like pied (foot)
Oie (goose) sounds like oeil (eye)
Hibou (owl) sounds like…fill in the blank.
So aloud, the joke sounds like
“The foot nests high; the eye nests low; the hibou nests neither high nor low.”
Good Night
What can you tell us about “V2 – Rakete”
In my Toastmasters speech club, I’ve relished my role as their etymology nerd. A sample of one of my dissertations is below (Captain Jack, this may appeal to you as a Seattlite):
Fractured Fables of the Fourth Corner:
How the Stillaguamish Got its Name
Some two hundred years ago, two voyages of exploration entered the waters of the Salish Sea, the beautiful inland arm of the Pacific now shared by British Columbia and Washington State: one English under George Vancouver, and one Spanish under Francisco Eliza.
On both expeditions were sailors who looked out at the pristine landscape and bountiful sea, and weighed the prospect of the return trip – of months at sea, braving hurricanes and scurvy, to return home to rat-and-flea infested hovels – against the possibilities of starting over in this beautiful new land; and a few sailors from both expeditions abandoned ship.
On encountering each other, these two groups of Spanish and English first reacted with hostility and suspicion. Then cooler heads prevailed, reasoning that they had more in common as deserters trying to survive in a new land, than differences as Spanish and English, and that their hostilities belonged to the life they had left behind. Accordingly, the groups joined forces to map out their strategy for their new lives.
For a permanent settlement, they would need wives. Some sailors had been wise enough to take trade goods from their ships, and soon they approached the native Salish to trade steel knives, beads, and colored cloth for klootchman kopa elip tillikum, native women. The band then set out to find a place for a permanent settlement, finally building a village by a large, quiet pond behind a huge logjam on one of the local rivers.
As a generation went by, the languages of these settlers – English, Spanish, and Salish – became blended into one. The name they gave themselves and their village by the quiet water later became applied to the entire river by which they had settled: the Stillaguamish, from the English still, Spanish agua (water), and Salish mish (people): the people of the quiet water.
And the artichoke was named after King Arthur choking on one.
Holy crashamoli!! Set an empty beer down and it tipped over ,took the tin ashtray with it too,right to the floor,,,loudly!! Shitballs on a shiney!! Skeert the crap outa My sedated ass!!
Happy birthday, tryant.
thanks again Evan,Ya know,I’m startin to like you better n better.
The hangover isn’t too bad,I do remember being very unsteady,bumping stuff,holding onto the hall walls and such,and laughing about it
Then,I made it to the couch and “lights out” for birthday boy. Had a good time over at the neighbor lady’s house then came home,prolly woulda been wise to stay off the net when that loaded,hope I wasn’t too offensive.
Do you have room for me?
Do you supply pets or do I have to bring my own?
How’d it go in the “I” country?
sure got room fer all my friends pets food hell everything i have and own i share with my nerdy friends but do need my sexy teacher at my side awww nothing bad bout dreaming is there
origin of the word mariachi please!!!
Hey HotForWords,
I would like to know the origin of the word “Hormones”
Thanks
Mortimer S nerd.
hey hotforwords i was hoping you could tell me the origin of the word “terrorist” thanks
OK, has the obvious question occurred to anyone? Why is Marina speaking in English with her mother? That would negate the whole concept of “mother tongue.”
I refuse to believe that “geek” and “nerd” are in common use in Russian. Unless Marina tells me so herself. 
I still stand on the fact that I just don’t understand You evan. umm,is it possible that,in the world *today*,many folks understand al least some english language? all round the world,in the most likely and/or unlikely places? Come on fella,I’m fuckin foogered,but,I got a brain within the old brainpan,You do too,use it please.
Try this man,You have some sort of high intelligence,I can see that,,take what You see/think and break it down to a simpler form,then,put it fort in those words/expresssions. Never know,might work.
I dated a russian lady that had russian friends here in the stastes,an older lady spoke very good english,I honestly dunno how long She had been stateside,but,Her english was plenty good,and,Her cooking was great!
Or,,,translation,,,,maybe.
Marina,awwww,nevermind,was nuthin anyway.LOL
Evan, this is H O L L Y W O O D. Such dialog must be taken with a few shovelsfull of… Oh, nevermind.
I have had many friends from other countries that spoke better English than I did. One girl friend from the Philippines spoke broken English was always correcting me. Talk about embarrassment to the extreme.
I think our movie industry had a large influence in making English the language of the world. In my world cruise I was able to find many people that spoke English. This was back in 1986. Slang words were very common.
I will never forget the day our flight crew was checking in to a hotel in Copenhagen. Because we were foreigners we were asked to fill in an additional card that asked for, among other things, ‘full name, surname first’. A discussion ensued among the crew and the question ‘which is your surname, your first or last name?’ was about evenly split. We had six officers ( all college graduates ) and 8 enlisted ( flight crews weren’t composed of dummies – although I have to admit that until that day I had no idea which was the surname ), and as the debate persisted the cute desk clerk interjected ‘your surname is your last name; don’t you speak English?’ which had all of us rolling on the floor.
Fantastic story! Also used is, of course, ‘family’ name. Not really used anymore is the term for a person’s first name: what is your ‘christian’ name?
I think its your given name or forename.
I can’t be positive; even if the clerk had told us we were busy laughing.
Back in the day,lol,both nerd and geek titles weren’t flattering,at least amongst the crowds I hung with. now-a-days,ever since Bill Gates got filthy stinking rich,both names have gained in stature.
Heyyyy,that makes fairly decent sense considering all the xannies and beer I consumed tonight due to birthday celebrating! I know,xannies are childsplay,but,they work if Ya take enough to reach Yer personal buzz-limit,mix with ale,then,with utmost care,do more.
I am now,by most standards,older than dirt,but I don’t die easy,,or,,give-up easy. I party,then I party more,,,,,but,,,,,I know the golen rule,,no,not that one,the other golden rule,,goes like this,,”whatever You pick up,You god damn well better check often to be sure You can put it down”,,if this rule is not followed by old world partiers,nerds,geeks and everybody else,then that is when full-blown addicts are created.
What was the homework? I forgot,,it’s My freakin birthday,Love Ya All!!!!!!!
tryant
Too late to wish you a Happy Birthday ‘coz you obviously had one,
but here’s hoping you enjoy the year till the next one just as much. 
TY anyhow Bob,Yer right tho,at 4:41 I was down for the count,even if Yer on Cali time I still think I was prolly out by 2:41,,,:)
You MARINA are the prettiest nerd…..ever
What is the origin of the word “Espionage” or the term “Keep it on the Q.T.”
The first famous person I can think of who seems more nerd than geek to me is Justice David Souter.
envious is a cool word..i wonder what its origin is…
Internet Joke
Customer: “I want to download the Internet. Do I need a bigger hard disk?”
Download the Internet here
Ohh, ohhh, I just ran out of Internets
Let’s go a bit further to the end….
Ohhhhh nooooo, it’s the end….
Do something productive??
That’ll be the day
Love the word and its meaning!
I have heard a story about the following word but no one seems to have heard it so I am going to ask you. My word is ‘quiz’.
Nerds are the pest; organized professional want to control the means of production. Benefits to starve the beggers and their work to extort mankind. Unions act like bosses over their stupidity. Bill Clinton is a nerd and so is his wife.
[moved]
Use of italics here seems to cut off gravatar image if used in the first line or two of a comment or reply to a previous comment when the ‘click to edit’ link goes away
at least on a pc with windows vista and ie7
Hey Chemikal, how did you know I subscribed 2 days ago? Does it say that somewhere?
Steven Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Bill Gates come to mind…
Come to mind for what? I’m enjoying birthday favors and entitled to forget. Nerds! Yeah,,nerds,,till they became *wealthy* nerds,then the term changes meaning in the puplic eye. Anybody that disagrees has that right,in-alienable right,but,doesn’t change history.
Old quote;;;”If You want to know the future,study the past”.
As Famous Nerds.
eagh! geek spasm… it’s like when someone tickles your tailbone and you wanna wiggle your way out of a sleeping blanket but you’re in a tent in the woods and your flashlight is running out of batteries and you’re thinking why didn’t I use duracell
I had a geek spasm once,,,best intellectual orgasm immaginable,trouble was,I washed the bed sheets for no reason!
What is the origin of the word “lingerie”
I LOVE YOU. YOU ROCK MY YOUTUBE WORLD
What is the origin of the word
“Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis”?
Holy cow that’s gonna be a tough one
Hey Zod Marina covered that word in her video floccinaucinihilipilification. Here are the links to the video and to the comment.
http://www.hotforwords.com/2007/07/02/floccinaucinihilipilification-huh/
This is the comment that explains the word.
http://www.hotforwords.com/2007/07/02/floccinaucinihilipilification-huh/#comment-60252
Dunno the origin but,breaking the word down in My special fucked-up way,does it mean,,,ahhhhh never mind.I’m not quite able. Ok I’ll try,sounds like some type of heat induced micro spurts. Please inform.
Oh, sweet. Thanks Capman911, and Marina!
———->> Word request : Google
Having Google today, is better then a back rub!
Larry and Sergey would agree.
Chemikal, Google has been done, look under ‘G’ in Word/Lessons
GOOGLE
OH… how did I miss that?
I enjoyed the lesson, but I found a small error…
Math or otherwise.
link to comment
Man!
The comments here are getting very interesting to read.
As Bob said below, judging by the amount of time some of us spend on this website, we’re reputable Nerds! (does anyone other then wetsuit5, notice the oxymoron?)
marina i was very curiouse as to wat he origin of the word touche is and for that matter wat does it really mean
gabriel, please don’t take this the wrong way…
But this is a place where language is discussed, so grammar is also held at a high place.
Please permit me to correct you when you say “wat” when you mean to say “what”. Also take care when writing the word “curious”.
I congratulate you on your very inspired request, and I hope she does a video explaining your word soon.
I’m only saying this, because when I was learning English I had no one to correct me besides the teacher, and since she had a class of over 45 students, I was often left with spelling mistakes in my Homeworks, and then I would mix-up words because of their similar form. It took me years to eliminate the confusions that were formed in that period.
Nowadays we just use google language tools. How times change…
Best wishes,
Chemikal
You’ve been using “then” in place of “than” today. But then, mea amic, I know how hard you are trying to perfect your English. I would not otherwise be correcting anyone’s spelling and grammar.
Some of our foreign students’ use of English I find quite charming — onlycasperman comes to mind.
Evan, when I said it took me years, it didn’t necessarily mean that I’m done eliminating all my confusions
Do you know what the funniest one is?
Left instead of right, and vice-versa!
No, I’m not one of those persons who can’t tell them apart, but when I first learned the terms (from cartoons, I might add) I learned them the wrong way! How mixed up is that? But, then again what do you expect a 5 year old to understand from something like : “Turn left Muttley, not that left, your other left”. And Muttley kept saying “gright!”… I know it seems silly now.
Thanks for the heads up, I’ll be more attentive.
Do tell me if you notice that I repeat any more mistakes, if you want of course… thanks a lot!!
By the way, is “tovarăş” used often in Romanian? Looks a lot like “tovarishch” (comrade) in Russian. It gets me, looking at Romanian, how much is familiar because it’s nearly the same as Spanish, but then I see words like “dragostea” that are obviously Slavic.
tovarăş has been used a lot (same as comrade in Russian), but since ‘89 it rather lost it’s original meaning, and took up another word’s meaning, that of “frate”(brother). Not to say that it totally lost it’s communistic connotations though. We still call ex-communists tovarăşi.
Slavic words in Romanian? No surprise.
This is an excellent post to bring to everyone’s attention.
When I was learning Norwegian I used to make frequent gaffes until I met one guy who took the trouble to correct me.
Sometimes at first, when he did it in front of a crowd, I was embarrassed, but I learned to ignore that and made a point of thanking him for, and complimenting him on, his input and wondering aloud why no-one else had taken the trouble to stop me repeatedly making a fool of myself.
Kudos to you, Chemikal, for risking being thought of as hypercritical and for caring enough to help others with your knowledge and experience.
Sounds/looks too much like “touch”,so let us assume that,in a epee duel,one oponent is touched by another’s sword tip,the touched one says “touche’” to acknowledge that that round was lost to the other. French,very similar to Russian I’m told.
.
When a comment has a very long line — such as the comments comment-100095 and comment-100083 below — the middle column is rendered wide. This results in the third column being pushed to the bottom of the page.
So ads are no longer readily visible. If the displacement of the third column to the bottom decreases revenue from ads, it would be best to avoid long lines in comments.
Both the long lines in the two comments cited above are are “http” lines — and these long lines can easily be avoided by using the html-anchor tags.
(A feature request for WordPress would be to automatically recast http lines in comments using html-anchor tags. Or to forcibly break long lines.)
–Hs4Mm
.
Hello hs4mm,
Curious to what browser are you using? I use both SeaMonkey and FireFox.
In FireFox, the long HTTP links are wrapped inside the comment box.
In SeaMonkey, the HTTP lines extends way past the comment box, but the page is not altered in any way. I still see the ads and other columns where they were before.
Ideally, yes, one should use the anchor tag whenever the URL extend past the comment box.
IE 6.x
Hey hs4mm, a person could also use http://tinyurl.com/ as it shortens the url down to a more workable size.
mijj turned me on to http://is.gd/ -makes even shorter urls than tinyurl, great for twitter where there is no option to a=href them.
.
PS: In the above, should have observed that the displacement of the third column to the bottom “hides” not only the ads but also the scrolling banners for recent posts, comments, forum discussions, and tweets.
.
Apparently, IE-6 handles long lines in the various “recent banners” in a manner different from what the web-page designer intended. IE-6 gives precedence to the length of the line over the width of the column: it adjusts the width of the column to match the minimum design width or the width of the longest line.
PS: I found this link on dikdiks more readable (and it does not characterize humans as predators).
.
hmmmm bill gates no wait he’s rich now so that makes makes him a geek
oh i know my next door neighbor haha (ah that was mean 
) and now i’d like to know the origin of *cliche*
Hello xxxgabrielxxx,
Marina has done a video lesson on the word Cliché.
You can find all of the video lesson that Marina has done by clicking on the Words/Lessons link at the upper left of any page.
Here is the link to the Cliché lesson.
http://www.hotforwords.com/2008/12/27/cliche/
Dear HotForWords,
OH! I got this one!
J.R.R. Tolkien!!! He’s such a Nerd he used to stay locked in his house alllll the time… so I’ve heard…
Word Request: Hermit
Your Student,
ThoughtOnFire
And,
It’s his Birthday Today! How do I know this? Well! I learned it from the HotForWords Calendar! … oh yeah …
It’s Tolkein’s birthday today?!?! I assume yOU mean the 3rd,Mine is the 4th(18 minutes from now),explains the foogered state of mind I’m in.
My son hugged Me yesterday just in case He didn’t see Me today,many miles between. I bought My grand daughter a bigger 5-point carseat yesterday so She would be safer fit,”good job” to Me!! She’s the sweetest in the world and I love Her to no end.
Tolkein was no nerd,nor a geek.He had an understanding of humans that shines like a beacon in His writing if You *read* instead of just look at the words. Everything He says about every character comes from experience with humans,,,,,re-read Tolkein with that in mind and you will gain insight,,invaluable insight,,He was more than genius,He was,,,observant.
Great request ToF, (see my post below) I second the Word request: Hermit.
Now what about Howard Hughes?
He lead a, shall we say, “colourful” early life, and was very rich, so I don’t think he can be called a nerd, but he became a hermit late on in his life.
Hey, what’s going on here?!
Notice anything?
It Means more “Twitpics”, ie. Heels @ the airport etc.
Right, but notice anything else?
Maybe I shouldn’t have included the messages, just the two pictures.
HotForWords and HotForProfits (I think)?
Willy congratulations for subscribing to hotforwords, 2 days ago… Awesome!
I was just pointing out their similar photos, which I’m sure is by coincidence.
I was curious…
What is the origin behind the phrase, “the apple of my eye?” as a term of endearment?
Are we nerds or geeks ?
How do You see Yourself? I’m and old Hippie/greaser/redneck/geek/nerd//////,,,I do all I can to state My views and get along with everone I can while doing so. Labels,eeeenghhh,fuck labels,fuck em hard then foreget em..People are people,plain and simple.
The only folks that worry Me are the controlling-type puritanical assholes,and even they are human and have a *few* good points,,albeit,very few.
I see you did the word coca-cola but what about the word pepsi
Famous Nerd = Napoleon, a real Nerd who had it his way.
Hi Marina,
I was wondering where the phrase “Wet Blanket” came from.
Thank you!
Can ou tell me the origin of the word waffle?
Haha I was thinking of that one when I had waffles yesterday
Ran across “Benny Lava” and the word “Mondegreen”. Where did the term Mondegreen” come from?
Are there any American videos with Russian Mondegreens?
Zhina
Line from a song, “laid him on the green,” was misheard as “lady mondegreen.”
Some famous mondegreens: ” ‘Scuse me while I kiss this guy.” –Jimi Hendrix
“There is a bathroom on the right.” — Creedence Clearwater
I leave it to HFW fans to fill in the correct original lines.
Famous up-to-date mondegreen.
Ken Lee fi liban iba dow malin ah.
After people got the lyric wrong, Hendrix would often sin “kiss this guy” at some of the live performances. Sometimes Jimi just did not give a rat’s rump.
From Jimi Hendrix’s “Purple Haze,” the lyric should be ‘Scuse me while I kiss the sky.’
From CCR’s “Bad Moon Rising,” the lyric should be ‘There’s a bad moon on the rise.’
Being a nerd there comes LONELINESS Please investigate that word please!
A guy I met number of years ago fits this homework… completely. Don Mattrick from Vancouver, B.C., Canada was a nerd/geek in the early days of video games… he went on to become SUPER-WEALTHY as a senior executive of Electronic Arts. He started a company called Distinctive Software making Disney/Roger Rabbit, NHL, and Car racing games. Later, his company merged with EA. He is now an Executive Consultant for Microsoft.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Mattrick
u are a sexy geek
…
Can you tell us where the word boycott is from?
Dear совершенная Марина Орлова, That really is a nice dress, and it’s in a nice color, too. Of course we know that the beauty inside you is worth more than all the external beauty in the world.
So the geeks were the ones who mde big money in computers and the nerds studied other technology and had no social skills. Dimitry Medvedev is a famous person who looks like a nerd, but probably isn’t, since he has a wife named Svetana.
So, I continue to vote for you on the “sexiest geek of the year” contest. I hope you win again, and this time, you get an actual prize! I’ve also won “honorary awards”, but since you can’t spend them or use them to get dates with beautiful women, they don’t help me out very much.
С влюбленностью к Марине, seesixcm6
There like mine Seesix, the awards and 1 dollar will get you a cup of coffee at Hardees.
The Nerd? Geek? or Dork? test on helloquizzy.com is illuminating regarding the subtle semantic differentiation of these terms. There are a range of nerd sub-types defined such as “pure nerd”, “modern, cool nerd”, etc. I.E. there is no single-point definition, there is in actuality a whole three-dimensional nerd-geek-dork space continuum. “Pure nerds” hang out on the one-dimensional nerd axis of this space, merrily solving various abstruse mathematical equations/problems, etc. E=mc**2 (Einstein), F=ma (Newton), quantum electrodynamics (Feynman). Go nerds, Wahoo!
Homework:
Just one GUY
yay bill nye !!! he’s on the sexiest geek contest too
the word geek
Hey mrshaks, she done this video on geek some time back so here is the link to the video.
http://www.hotforwords.com/2008/01/15/sexy-geek/
Here is a video Warren just sent me. Another HotForTeacher video by a female artist. She has other videos she does, but enjoy Hot For Teacher.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_viRvjxGP-A&feature=email&FMT=18
Gibson SG with whammy bar
Here are some delicious nerds.
I’m thinking…
Booger from the movie “Revenge of the Nerds”
“metall, metall structures”. Marina thank you for all. Yo.
Didn’t you already do this word, or was that one with Bill O’Reilly?
I haven’t been called a nerd since the 4th grade.
Good explanation, maybe mom will get it too!
People just don’t differentiate, I mean just look at this article. It states that Megan Fox, leading actress in Transformers, is a geek at heart, but when she was cited she clearly said she was a nerd, not a geek! This makes me believe than Megan should watch more HotForWords videos, to avoid making such confusions in the future.
i was kissing my girlfriend and the i wondered what does and where does kiss come from
1) Thanks for the New Years card.
2) I can’t say I know any famous nerds now. I thought a nerd and geek was the same but now my whole way of thinking is messed up.
Technically, a geek and a nerd are completely different things. Before the the affordable and now ubiquitous personal computer invaded our homes, a geek was a person who performed shocking or disgusting acts on stage (biting the heads off live chickens for a circus sideshow, for example), while a nerd was originally the cut-off end of a sheep’s tail after it had been bobbed (got that Bob?), from what I have heard. I was also under the impression that the word nerd originated in Australia &/or New Zealand, where raising sheep for wool is a very important part of the economy. The tails have to be cut off because they add difficulty to the shearing process AND the wool growing on them just acts like a magnet for fecal matter anyway, creating a tangled, matted, unsanitary mess for everyone involved. Unfortunately, none of the dictionaries in my collection will substantiate these ridiculous claims, so I guess I don’t know (Captain) Jack.
Now, where did I put my wellingtons?
As I said the other day, Bob: Might as well just roll up the pants. It’s too late to save the shoes.
That reminds me – how’s your goat these days?
Not ba-a-a-a-a-a-ad.
I believe that was Mike’s goat, actually. I returned it so nobody could ‘get my goat,’ as it were.
marina dear,what do the letters RX have to do with drugstores?can you investigate please.
oh i hope you had a great new years!!!!!!!
muaaaaah
WLIU, Rx is the abbreviation for take, as in “Take four newt tails, a dozen frog eggs, a cup of muck and the slime from foot-long snail trail, combine with a packet of Swiss Miss hot chocolate mix and apply daily to the affected foot until the sixth toe recedes.”
would charlie brown be considered a nerd? or a blockhead? that lucy always calls him
He wasn’t good at school work.
This is my favorite NERDfrom NCIS.
http://www.vipwallpaper.com/data/media/2705/pauley20.jpg
http://www.autographsuccess.com/pauley_perrette.jpg
Now they all work. Go figure.
I’m right there with you on that one. Theres just something about punk rock/goth chicks I dig and I can’t get over it.
http://fc87.deviantart.com/fs27/f/2008/126/e/e/SuicideGirls__JaneDoe_by_builttospilllove.png
Kindda like this
Yep, me too.
hmmm… I don’t really know PD. Sometimes this website rather has a flavour of …
I respectfully disagree.
While they lacked Fonzie’s skills they did understand a social setting, and I don’t recall any special technical skills for any ( except the Fonz ).
They were merely awkward teenagers.
Uhm, it’s not my judgement or opinion, it’s that they kept using the word “nerd” all the time to desrcibe themselves or each other…
Second paragraph: the show popularized the word ‘nerd’.
Welcome back.
Lastly, how about the origin of the word “Spectacle” and how it means seeing something amazing as well as a word we use for glasses?
Also, how about the origin of the word “hullabaloo”?
Could you do the origin of the word “hubbub”?
i would like to know the origin of the word candy(in russian) please
Homework: Personal hero of mine: Alan Turing – Mathematician and codebreaker. Invented an early computer to more quickly decipher Enigma-encrypted radio transmissions at Bletchley Park during WWII. Does he qualify as a ‘nerd’?
From [NOVA]:
NARRATOR: Soon after becoming a research fellow at Cambridge at only 22, Alan Turing invented the first basic concept of a computing machine. Bletchley Park suited both his genius and his eccentricity.
ANDREW HODGES: He had funny manners. He didn’t like wearing a tie, he always looked untidy, but he quite liked being out in the country where he cycled around, he cycled with a gas mask on during hay fever period. He didn’t care what he looked like, he just thought that doing the job was what mattered.
SARAH BARING: He was very shy of women, particularly girls. I don’t think he’d ever met any girls before. I did once offer him a cup of tea and he shrank back as if he was going to be shot. And he used to, bless his heart, walk down to the canteen in a curious sideways motion, with his head down. But he was such a star, we all thought he was the best, wonderful thing.
NARRATOR: Alan Turing set himself the challenge of cracking the Enigma. In an attic room at Bletchley Park, Turing began studying the U-boat messages. All he had to go on were the scrambled letters. In an astonishing feat of deduction, Turing discovered exactly how the Germans were hiding the crucial message setting. Unlike the Luftwaffe, the German Navy was leaving nothing to chance. Instead of letting the operator choose three letters at random for his message setting, he had to get them from a list. Although Turing had no information about the naval procedures, he managed to identify exactly how they selected their daily keys from a set of secret tables. Instead of replacing one letter with another, these so-called bigram tables substituted pairs of letters.
It was later established that Turing was gay.
IN my readings I found out that part of his difficulty was based on his lack of security clearance because of it. Much of his work was classified, and they wouldn’t let him have his notes back ( because they had been classified – This is the military I have come to know and love ). Turing essentially invented the digital computer to break the daily codes, but his work was classified and had to be re-invented later. Other Bletchley Park geeks developed a precursor to what old time geeks may remember as Holorith cards to weed out some code combinations.
BTW, Ian Fleming ( James Bond author ) developed a plan to capture a German lighthouse ship to get their Enigma code books. With these lower level codes in hand, and being able to receive coded messages such as weather reports sent in both codes, it would be easier to break the harder, more important level codes. The plan was to fly a captured German bomber manned with an Allied German speaking crew, and crash next to a lighthouse ship and hijack it when rescued. The plan wasn’t needed after the Allies captured a German sub with the code books intact.
True he was homosexual, also that he was coerced to take hormone suppliments in attempt to ‘cure’ his condition and committed suicide.
Probably false urban legend says he killed himself by eating an apple tainted with some toxin – a la ‘Snow White’, whence the Apple logo was allegedly derived, the coloured strips supposedly inspired the Gay Pride Rainbow banner.
[More likely correct history of the rainbow flag]
I read the link and I’m looking at an Apple rainbow; it only has the six primary colors and they are not in the rainbow order ( red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet ). I can’t prove this was not why the rainbow was used but the rainbow order IS used in electronics ( ie the resistor color code ), and some people just like rainbows.
I am certain many things were tried to ‘cure’ Turing, most, probably with good intentions but of true misguided ignorance.
It is a true shame that many with a lot to communicate lack the skills to do so with more mundane minds. The story of Turing’s life is fascinating.
.
I really like those black, brown, grey and white rainbows (plus or minus gold and silver).
Those are the rainbows that form over the cesspool.
And lets not forget my favorite resistor color code color ‘none’.
So… the good news is that all you nerds may grow up to be a Sexy Geek someday. Congrats Marina and I’m sorry that i might not be seeing you (HotForWords) for awhile. Till then, Chou
Why will you not be seeing me for a while?
Hi marina i love your visds i think there cool, I just wanted to request for the word KISS. I always wondered where that word came from and all of that. So if you could that would be amazing. Oh and have a great day k
Hi Marina,
I don’t see a reply from hott4urblog but for some of us, your website is an addiction. We might make a new year’s resolution to cut back, like we would for beer or Freecell.
Hey Marina,
I would like to know the origin of the word kiss =]
It would be awesome
Hey Marina,
Like you said in the lesson, I differentiate geeks from nerds based on what they do with their lives: people who are incredibly smart and good with technological stuff are “geeks” and people who just don’t have a great deal of social skills are “nerds.” So while I could name plenty of famous geeks, I can’t really do the same for nerds.
Marina,
I was at work on Friday talking about New Year’s Eve with my colleagues. Like millions of people I went out and got bent, really tied one on. So, where does that phrase come from? To “tie one on”?
Thanks!
I’m a total nerd in the socially inept sense. Peope just scare the hell out of me.
Which gets me to wondering; How did we get the word HECK as a less vulgar expression for HELL? Can you please solve this for me Marina? Pretty please?
Heck is for people who don’t believe in Gosh.
Marina,
My older brother just won in Scrabble using the word “fa” and “mi” (as in the muscial scale… do re mi fa so la ti do…demonstrated in the movie “sound of music”). According to dictionary.com and scrabble dictionary, these do constitute as feasible words. When I asked him to use it in a sentence, he couldn’t. So what’s the deal? Is it actually a word, and if so, where did it originate from?
annotation
Not all experts agree completely with the Dr. Seuss Theory. Slang maven J.E. Lighter says Dr. Seuss may have created “nerd” as an adaption of “Mortimer Snerd,” the name of Edger Bergens`s cantankerus dummy. Lighter, editor of The Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang, cites a 1941
publication using “Mortimer Snerd” to mean a “technical, brainy type of guy”. Another scholar, Robert Chapman, suggest “nerd” may have come from surfer or hotrodder lingo, and could come from “nerts”or “nuts”. Others believe nerd comes from “nurd”, which begans as “knurd”….
Unabomber Ted Kaczynski infamous Nerd
Then you got your Ralph Nader
nincompoop Quote
“Victory goes to the player who makes the next-to-last mistake.” – Chessmaster Savielly Grigorievitch Tartakower 1887-1956…todays hotforwords site quote
Why did YOU post this under my comment???
Why does leonard post anything anywhere? He clearly follows his own inscrutable logic.
Evan Owen says: Why does leonard post anything anywhere?
For the reasons of Ted and Ralph…victory to you Che Volay
hello marina, i was playing xbox one day and a british kid called me a wanker. I would like to know the origin of this word please.
thank you.
‘Famous Nerd’ would seem to be an oxymoron. A candidate that has become famous would more than likely be a geek by the success part of the definition.
To meet some not so famous nerds go to a Mensa meeting. No, they are not all nerds, but you will meet a few.
My local group has at least one still living with his parents and he is in his 50’s ( although he has his own room, not living in their basement ).
Awesome job, Marina! I never would’ve thought nerd would come from a Dr. Seuss book
May I request a phrase? Where does “kick the bucket” come from? If there was a story to it, I’d imagine one that would say someone died from majorly stubbing their toe against a bucket
Thank you!
Don’t forget Revenge Of The Nerds …”We’ve got bush, we’ve got-bush.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBDYfbqPWvE
Dang Pagedoll what happened to the real video they were watching in the movie.
That was the best of the Nerds movie that they made. 
That was like my favorite movie series. I even owned the VHS collection.
Dang, Pagedoll, I was just about to post that link when I thought, “Wait — some other brilliant mind may have beat me to it!”
I couldn’t think of any famous nerds off the top of my head so I googled for some lists and came up with names I’ve never heard of except for Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, who, according to your definition were/are Geeks and not Nerds.
Alan Turing was mentioned and he probably fits the specification since, I believe, he was employed and not an entrepreneur.
Another one whose name occurs to me, prompted by Alan Turing, was Dr.Barnes Wallace, famous as the inventor of the Dambuster’s Bouncing Bomb and the “633 Squadron” Earthquake Bomb as well as a long list of other inventions.
BTW, Marina, are you also Hotfornerds? because with the amount of time I’m spending on your web site, I think I’m becoming one.
Bob according to your pencil test, there are two different tests. One that holds the pencil and one that lets it fall from under the annudder. I like the one that holds the pencil.
Mike, it’s the same test – if it falls it’s a pass, if it’s held it’s a fail – she could hold the pencil case.
Still a little more to play with is fun
1. Quality is preferable to quantity. (Quantitty)
2. More than a handful is a waste.
Well, maybe you have big hands.
Really Big Hands
I only knew of the one, but according to Wiki, there’s a horizontal AND a vertical pencil test.
I know, totally becoming a nerd! But consider the company, and also the wonderful things you learn…
So when are you planning to get out of your mom’s basement?
Oh, I cut Mother’s apron strings decades ago.
Maybe a hermit is a more accurate job description than nerd.
Bob, everybody wants to get into the act-
hotfornerds.
I should have guessed that someone was already using that handle.
I am not sure I can understand the colourful nuance between a nerd and a geek. This brainy lesson has definitely a huge amount of finesse embedded in it, fleeting knowledge wich I can’t catch right now. From what I understood, I’d say there’s a nerd and a geek in this trustable pair of partners.
I know one! its Mr. bean!
Marina you are beautiful!
nice vid!
You got that one right on. I forgot about Mr Bean.
My Dear Marina,
We may need to get you to a phrink.
You have an inferiority complex.
Your participating in a Sexy Geek Contest.
You think of yourself as a nerd and your Mom calls you that.
You told your Mom in a recent video that you are a Nimrod.
Your conclusion on reality is all wrong.
You need to see yourself, at least a little, the way we see you.
Your an extremely talented and intelligent person.
You also got very lucky in the “Lovely” gene lottery.
Your personality is outgoing and friendly.
(And you have good taste and loyality in your puppy dog)
There are three major perceptions:
How you perceive yourself
How you perceive others
How you perceive others perceiving you
Generally speaking, women with intelligence are often more self-conscious than men are since it is still becoming “acceptable” (I know, we don’t live in the 1900’s and yet women are still constantly paid less than men even for the same career). Add physical attractiveness on top of intelligence and a woman will have twice as much to be self-conscious about since physical attractiveness is associated with beauty. Beauty for women have higher importance in the American culture than in others. If she lived in a place like Flordia or California, these locations would only add to the importance of having a “beach body”
Russians are extremely good at mathmatics, science, and accuracy in general so it is conceivable that even if Marina does view herself as a “geek” and not a nerd, this is an accurate statement. This is not a degrading statment, it a self aware statement. At least she knows herself well enough to distinguish between the two. Also, if you take into account the self conscious aspect and the anxiety that comes with high intelligence, one could understand that she may be a bit hard on herself when it comes to being correct a majority of the time. I say there are a lot worse things she could be calling herself given her extensive vocabulary so I am thankful that she only puts herself down slightly with a mild term like “nimrod”.
Conclusively, I would have to disagree with the statement “Your conclusion on reality is all wrong” since she clearly has an highly accurate perception of herself. Who is to say how “we” see her reality is better, or more accurate, than how she see her own perceived reality anyhow?
“Unless you’ve lived my life, don’t judge me because you don’t know, never have, and never will know every little detail about me” – anonymous
Animals talking folklore with ambitchtious societal demands…pretty vacantfolk lore
Good point.
I want to add, rather off topic, that reality, or your perception of it, is highly distorted if your one of the following :
Drunk
Depressed
Terminally Ill
Rich
Poor
a Nerd
a Geek
a Dog! (black and white, or all gray vision)
So the point I’m trying to make is that you perceive reality paying respect to your condition, and to the environment you grew up in.
I’m thinking that Famous Nerd is an oxymoron.
Yes, your thinking right!
But I think she was not referring to an actual nerd, rather to one like Mr. Bean, not an actual nerd, but he plays this stereotype on TV, therefore is famous… Agree?
I must live a sheltered life.
I don’t know any Mr. Bean.
But your concept sounds rational.
You haven’t missed much. Mr. Bean
Good morning everyone, that is if your on the west coast. It’s 12:34 here on the east coast.
Home Work: I would have to say Weird Al he looks and acts kinda
NERDY.
Good morning Mike!
Oops, called the wrong #
I my place is now night! 18. 50! haha
good morning for you!
Revenge
And let’s not forget Nerds candy! Mmmmm…
Okay, I have a strange word request, or at least an odd question (it may not qualify as a word request). Anyway, every lover of words has heard of the palindrome, a word or phrase that is the same spelled backwards as forwards, like ‘level’ or ‘madam’. What I wanted to know is what you call a word that remains the same when you rotate it 180 degrees. For instance, the word ‘pod’ remains ‘pod’ if you spin it halfway around. Same goes for the word ‘dollop’… turn it 180 degrees and it still remains ‘dollop’. The word ‘mow’ would be another such word. Question is, what is the word to describe such a ‘rotating’ word? I hope that the world’s most beautiful word nerd might be able to give me the answer. Little help, Marina?
Here’s to a great 2009 for HotForWords! Peace, Errin : )
Hey Errin, glad to see your back. That’s cool I forgot about the Nerds candy. Good choice.
Hi errin,
That is a great request as many of us have experimented with turning words upside down, inside out and flipping them over.
For those who have not looked at Marina’s video lesson on Palindrome, it can be found here.
I think she was referring to a ambigram. When you flip a word upside down it spells the same .
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambigram
I know the answer or do you want Marina to answer your question on the upside down word question.?
I’m all ears for any answer from anybody, but would of course defer to Marina’s answer most of all, as she is the real authority around here when it comes to such matters.
If the answer you had was the ‘ambigram’, I don’t think that is correct. The ambigrams are logos artistically designed to read the same way when flipped over. Not quite the same as a word wherein the letters remain the same when flipped, and do not require any artistic alteration to do so.
I’m going to wait for our trusty teacher to chime in on the matter when and if she gets the chance. I’m sure she’ll know.
That’s cool Errin. Marina could give the best description of your request.
Errin I sent your request to Marina by email, as she told us TAs one time if we saw a request that might interest her to let her know personally. The reason I did that is I would like to know the answer my self as it isn’t a ambigram. I hope she picks it. I searched all over the internet for me an answer, but to no avail. Good luck.
Time will tell, Capman…
Who knows… maybe I stumped the teacher with this one. Could it be possible that such a word does not exist? That is about the only way Marina wouldn’t know about it.
The “heels over head” word is called an ambigram eh… something new for me. So I’ll add my “request” to the pile for this one.
That got me thinking of a Boys Like Girls song.
Knowing these flippable words could come in real handy if I ever get into the propeller-painting business.
hmmm…i noticed that your hairstyle for this video is similar to Dr. Seuss’ nerd’s style…nice touch!…(-;
Most famous nerds i would have heard about are all fictional characters…Weird Al, Napoleon Dynamite, Kramer…
i’m not sure if Bill Gates is a nerd or a geek, but he’s made the big bucks and is doing some good with what he’s earned…
i wouldn’t mind meeting this nerd too much, tho’…
Hey Annuddermale, I couldn’t get your “this nerd” to work. Just a annuder scrolling wheel.
Right click on the link and Copy Link Location, then paste into another browser. Whoaaa!!! It’s that see thru chick in the Geek contest.
I agree Karl, Whoaaa!!!
It’s even a close up of her too. I like nerds. 
Not for me, Mike, she doesn’t pass the pencil test.
Also, Mike, instead of Copy Link, you can also RIGHT click on the link and then Open Link in New Window or new Tab.
By the way, I just looked at that chick’s Geek contest stats. She only has 3949 Up votes with 3969 Down votes. Overall, she has -20 votes.
Intelligence beats out nakedness by a million miles.
i see Karl took care of ya while i went with my son to watch Marley & Me…
for anyone else, the link is http://bp3.blogger.com/_wvoLtwni0kc/RiLemRnu1oI/AAAAAAAAHxs/WUpwRpMz1_g/s1600-h/sexy+hot+nerd+girl.jpg
oh, and it’s not really all that hot, IMHBCO…(-;
toodles…
How was the movie? I hoped you both enjoyed it and the time spent together.
great movie, except for all the blubberin’ at the end…
i wish i wouldn’t do that…
Dear me! If she did anything active, she’d flop right outta there!
Excellent Lesson Marina!!
Had me on the edge of my seat..
Too funny fudgicals correction. Must of thought about prospero811
COMMENT 100,000!!!!!