As I finished watching Revenge of the Nerds, it occurred to me that I had no idea where the word nerd came from. According to The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology, nerd is listed as originating around 1965 in hot-rod and surfing slang, although it was in oral use prior to 1955. It originally meant "a foolish or ineffectual person," and it derives from the similar word nert, which meant a crazy or stupid person. I bring this …
showed first 75 words of 1465 total

showed last 75 words of 1465 total
…as Goose in the megahit Top Gun (1986), to take only a cameo role (his absence is explained by the fact that he broke his leg playing chess--"Hey, don't get down on yourself," Lewis tells him. "That was a difficult move"). Still, it isn't worse than the next two sequels, Revenge of the Nerds III: The Next Generation (1992) and Revenge of the Nerds IV: Nerds in Love (1994), which bypassed theaters altogether and for good reason.