Difference between revisions of "Magna Nerda"
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So, screw you, Pluto lovers. People finally came to their senses and now the record has been set straight. | So, screw you, Pluto lovers. People finally came to their senses and now the record has been set straight. | ||
| − | == Notes == | + | == Notes on Latin page title == |
| − | Latin is the nerdiest of languages, so a Latin title was chosen in keeping with the theme . | + | Latin is the nerdiest of languages, so a Latin title was chosen in keeping with the theme. |
| − | Latin | + | As for how the Latin transliteration was decided, Nerd is not of Latin origin, and when transliterating a non-Latin word you have some freedom to choose gender for the loan word. Latin has three genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter. One does not need to contemplate long to conclude which gender to assign nerd in Latin. Neuter. It should be neuter. So a reasonable Latinization of '''Nerd''' is '''Nerdu'''. The plural of a Latin neuter noun takes the '''A''' ending, so the plural of '''Nerdu''' is '''Nerda'''. Thus '''Magna Nerda''' translates back to English as '''Great Nerds'''. Feminine singular nouns in Latin also end in '''A''', so the interpretation would be ambiguous if one did not know the gender of '''Nerda'''. The title could also be interpreted as '''The Great Female Nerd'''. |
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| + | Note that it's been over 20 years since I studied Latin; I didn't do very well in class; and I have never revisited the subject since, so everything I've said here may well be laughably wrong. Not that it matters since you probably couldn't tell the difference anyway unless you also studied Latin; scored better than I did; and still care about these things. | ||
== List of Nerds, unsorted == | == List of Nerds, unsorted == | ||
Revision as of 17:24, 9 March 2014
Contents
Great Nerds
Nerd vs. Geek
A Geek is a minor Nerd. There is a significant overlap in traits, but the differences are significant enough to motivate a separate category. An analogy based on biological XXX would be the distinction between monotremes, marsupials, and mammals. All are mammals. Marsupials are weird mammals who took placental birth and made is even more freaky. Monotremes are just barely mammals and we are sort of giving them a pass just to be nice. It's like they got off the track early on in mammal evolution and never really caught up.
Pluto was never a planet
Even as a child I knew Pluto wasn't a planet. It was clearly a mistake, or rather an oversight in nomenclature where the minimum requirements for entry had not been fully considered.
It's orbit is so elliptical that is crosses inside the orbit of Neptune.
It doesn't even orbit in the same plane as the rest of the planets.
It's smaller than some moons of real planets.
It's more water than rock (though, I don't think this was known when I was a kid, and certainly not when it was discovered.)
Other bodies have been discovered that are bigger than Pluto and nobody was eager to label them as new planets, except, perhaps those who discovered them.
So, screw you, Pluto lovers. People finally came to their senses and now the record has been set straight.
Notes on Latin page title
Latin is the nerdiest of languages, so a Latin title was chosen in keeping with the theme. As for how the Latin transliteration was decided, Nerd is not of Latin origin, and when transliterating a non-Latin word you have some freedom to choose gender for the loan word. Latin has three genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter. One does not need to contemplate long to conclude which gender to assign nerd in Latin. Neuter. It should be neuter. So a reasonable Latinization of Nerd is Nerdu. The plural of a Latin neuter noun takes the A ending, so the plural of Nerdu is Nerda. Thus Magna Nerda translates back to English as Great Nerds. Feminine singular nouns in Latin also end in A, so the interpretation would be ambiguous if one did not know the gender of Nerda. The title could also be interpreted as The Great Female Nerd.
Note that it's been over 20 years since I studied Latin; I didn't do very well in class; and I have never revisited the subject since, so everything I've said here may well be laughably wrong. Not that it matters since you probably couldn't tell the difference anyway unless you also studied Latin; scored better than I did; and still care about these things.
