Nerd Out On Dr. Seuss Day With These Comic Tributes

by The GoComics Team

March 02, 2018

Theodor Seuss Geisel AKA Doctor Seuss was born 114 years ago today. He may not have had a proper PhD (or MD), but over the course of his storied career authoring more than 60 books he made perhaps the most crucial contribution to the English language of any single human born in the 20th century. That's right, Dr. Seuss created and helped popularize the word "nerd."

Seuss didn't exactly define what a "nerd" was in his 1950 children's book If I Ran The Zoo -- the full etymology is a bit more complex -- but book narrator Gerald McGrew mentioned one by name (a proper noun!) as he diagramed the various creatures he'd like to collect. For what it's worth, the Seuss "Nerd" looks more a grump than a boringly studious sort. That hasn't stopped fans of all ages from nerding out over their favorite Seuss stories, though. The author's prolific body of poetry and inimitable illustrations (and their multimedia adaptations, of course) have resonated with nerds of all ages for decades. In a way, you could say he defined "nerd" simply by creating so many book-loving fans!

You can see the extent of such Seuss nerdom in comics below:

Close to Home by John McPherson Dec 29, 2016