Alphabeasts: N is for Nerd

As you may know, I am letting myself have only one Alphabeasts creature per universe or creator. This week's critter was therefore in some ways a difficult choice, because one could practically draw a full alphabet populated only by Dr. Seuss's figments and oddments and homunculi. (I don't know whether he ever invented a critter that starts with an X, though.)

And yet, how could I resist the original nerd?



I slipped in a few nice nerd gags there. Click to enlarge and read, but don't give yourself any bonus points if you use google to "get" the references.

I'm not wild about my drawing—I seem to have as much trouble with Seuss as with Mercer Mayer, and I definitely got the head-to-body proportions wrong—but I suppose the little japes are fun.

Anyway: believe it or not, Dr. Seuss really may have added the word nerd to the lexicon. Have a look at what the OED, the ultimate etymological authority, has to say about it:



There's only one drawing of the nerd in If I Ran the Zoo, and it's one of three critters on the page (along with the nerkle and the seersucker). But in case you are curious what the original looked like, I have scanned it for you.



Next week: little critters you might have heard of if you have a little kid in the house.