when did the word nerd come into use
Nerd The first documented appearance of the word nerd is as the name of a creature in Dr. Seuss's book If I Ran the Zoo (1950), in which the narrator Gerald McGrew claims that he would collect "a Nerkle, a Nerd, and a Seersucker too" for his imaginary zoo.[3][5][6] The slang meaning of the term dates to the next year, 1951, when Newsweek magazine reported on its popular use as a synonym for drip or square in Detroit, Michigan.[7] By the early 1960s, usage of the term had spread throughout the United States, and even as far as Scotland.[8][9] At some point, the word took on connotations of bookishness and social ineptitude.[5]
The Pale The word pale derives ultimately from the Latin word
Polka dot It is likely that the term originated in popularity of polka dance at the time the pattern became fashionable, just as many other products and fashions of the era also adopted the "polka" name.[1]
Star-crossed The phrase was coined in the prologue of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet: