Has the word “nerd” become a liability and should it be relegated to the back burner until it’s no longer a millstone or dropped entirely from our lexicon? A book, called “Nerds: Who They Are and Why We Need More of Them” by Bennington College Psychology Professor David Anderegg,” argues that the term (along with the word “geek”) is damaging since it is associated with a negative stereotype and may keep young people from taking courses in math, science and computer science because they associate those studies with nerds and geeks.