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3 Summer Internships for Computer Scientists in STL

Started by Tyler, 2005-03-30T09:49:58-06:00 (Wednesday)

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Brad Nunnally

This is the point where I have to step away before I do bad things. However, I will leave with this final objective opinion.

Oxnard, you seem to have had some bad experience with some computer "nerd" somewhere down the line. Maybe it happened in you childhood or later in life. Possibly someone got mad and gave you some virus to tease you. I am sorry you have such a negative view on computer people, hopefully one day you will see the light. Till then, I will enjoy reading you posts and laughing at the insanely wrong things you have to say. Good day.

Brad Ty Nunnally
CAOS Vice-Pres.



"Fair peace becomes men; ferocious anger belongs to beasts."
Ovid
Brad Ty Nunnally
Business & Usabilty Consultant at Perficent
Former CAOS Hooligan

Cliff

QuoteIf you want to find out what peopel think of a word, I would suggest not asking Meriem, she's a bit off.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=nerd&r=f
So this is just a disagreement over the definition of "nerd".    The link you posted above contains 116 different definitions of nerd. Including some funny ones like:
81.  Nerd
A small flap of skin that hangs off your body that resembles a candy nerd.
My friend has a nerd on his head

For those who don't know, UrbanDictionary.com is freely editable by anyone with web access.

While "nerd" evidently means many different things to many different people, we can make some headway in our command of the English language when we appreciate that:
1. At least some people think of the dictionary definition of "nerd" when they hear it. (real dictionary)
2. When we use the word "nerd" we cannot assume that the definition in our head will be conveyed precisely to our listener without prior definiton of the term.  In this case, it may often be wise to choose a more precise non slang word.

Bryan

Cliff I've polled 10 people that live in a world that has nothing to do with computers (art and psych students) and no one associates "nerd" with any of the dictionary definitions.  Just look at urbandictionary, there are 116 different definitions there that have nothing to do with the real dictionary definition.
Bryan Grubaugh
Quickly aging alumni with too much time on his hands
Business Systems Analyst, Scripps Networks.

Cliff

Bryan, in your line of argument you have a long way to go in establishing that your personal definition of nerd is is the one that is globally accepted.

First, you haven't even stated what you think nerd means.
 
Second, you directed us to urbandictionary.com, which points out 116 definitions of nerd that are different from each other.  In fact, urbandictionary.com contradicts your argument in that it provides evidence that there is no consensus on the definition of nerd.

Also, your reckless implication that your casual survey of 10 people represents the (600 million+) global English speaking population better than the dictionary is preposterous.  Plus, you make no comment on whether those 10 people even agree with each other on the definition of nerd.

Words, especially slang words, mean different things to different people, and that includes girls considering CS as a major, as Jerry pointed out.  We can go a long way in improving our communication with others when we recognize that our audience and our choice of words have an impact.

Oxnard


Let's run out an example.

You like your mom.

Your mom sucks at computers.

Computer people are smart.

Computer people will laugh and talk to co-workers about your mom when she refers to google as the intarnet.

What other educated field will laugh at your mom for not being an expert in their specialization?  Doctor?  Lawyer?  Scientist?  No.  No one else will laugh at your mom for how ignorant they are in their given field.

Again, this isn't everyone.  I just encourage whoever may read this to try and not be the majority who laughs at the CEO who can't get his email because of the virus he installed.

DaleDoe

By the way, one doesn't have to "be an expert" to know Google is not the "intarnet."

To answer your question: auto mechanics.  Nothing against them, but they'll tell everyone they know when somebody does something stupid and funny.  Here are some real examples from mechanic friends of mine.

One lady brought her car in because it wasn't running right.  Turns out she had the choke nob pulled out and her purse hanging on it.  :lol:

Another lady brought her car in for tires and asked the guy to line up the Chevy symbols on the wheel covers so that they were all facing the same direction (believing that they would stay lined up).

Another lady stopped at a gas station and commented that she was nearly out of gas and had been driving like 80 MPH to get to the station before she ran out.

I even laughed at my own mom for driving home from work on a completely flat tire and not knowing it.  Bottom line: if an anecdote is funny, people will tell it.

When a certain CS professor can't figure out how to TURN A COMPUTER ON, I shout it from the mountaintops.  Not out of spite, or some vain feeling of superiority, but because it is darn funny.  :-D  I don't laugh at ordinary people who can't figure out how to turn on a computer--just CS professors.  I do laugh when an ordinary person can't figure out that "Please insert disk 2" implies that you should first remove disk 1.
"If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy." -James Madison

Bryan

QuoteOxnard wrote:

Let's run out an example.

You like your mom.

Your mom sucks at computers.

Computer people are smart.

Computer people will laugh and talk to co-workers about your mom when she refers to google as the intarnet.

What other educated field will laugh at your mom for not being an expert in their specialization?  Doctor?  Lawyer?  Scientist?  No.  No one else will laugh at your mom for how ignorant they are in their given field.

Again, this isn't everyone.  I just encourage whoever may read this to try and not be the majority who laughs at the CEO who can't get his email because of the virus he installed.

I can think of just about every other field in the world that will share an inside joke with other members of the same field about people that aren't as into it as others: mechanics, police officers, doctors, writers, journalists.  Your argument is completely off base with no correlation to reality at all.



QuoteCliff wrote:
Bryan, in your line of argument you have a long way to go in establishing that your personal definition of nerd is is the one that is globally accepted.

First, you haven't even stated what you think nerd means.
 
Second, you directed us to urbandictionary.com, which points out 116 definitions of nerd that are different from each other.  In fact, urbandictionary.com contradicts your argument in that it provides evidence that there is no consensus on the definition of nerd.

Also, your reckless implication that your casual survey of 10 people represents the (600 million+) global English speaking population better than the dictionary is preposterous.  Plus, you make no comment on whether those 10 people even agree with each other on the definition of nerd.

Words, especially slang words, mean different things to different people, and that includes girls considering CS as a major, as Jerry pointed out.  We can go a long way in improving our communication with others when we recognize that our audience and our choice of words have an impact.

Cliff my entire point was that NO ONE THINKS A NERD IS THE SAME THING AS ANY OTHER PERSON!  Why do you think I'm going at such great lengths to point out how many different things people think a nerd is.  My personal definition is completely irrelevant.
Bryan Grubaugh
Quickly aging alumni with too much time on his hands
Business Systems Analyst, Scripps Networks.

Jerry

QuoteNO ONE THINKS A NERD IS THE SAME THING AS ANY OTHER PERSON!

Maybe not, but here's an interesting experiment. Take a large general education class, say CS 111 on the first day, and ask everyone to draw a "Computer Scientist".

I wonder how many will draw Urkle or Screech?
"Make a Little Bird House in Your Soul" - TMBG...

Bryan

It's kind of funny you should mention that, I was thinking "this would make an interesting URA project."  That being said your experiement is flawed...those that would take CS111 as a gen ed probably can't draw :-P
Bryan Grubaugh
Quickly aging alumni with too much time on his hands
Business Systems Analyst, Scripps Networks.