[...] a boy named Gerald McGrew made a large number of delightfully extravagant claims as to what he would do, if he were in charge at the zoo. Among these was that he would bring a creature known as a Nerd from the land of Ka-Troo.

According to the blog Your Mind Blown, the first documented use of the word 'nerd' was in the 1950 Dr. Seuss book If I Ran the Zoo. Here is a synopsis:http://yourmindblown.com/post/993403657/dr-suess-coined-the-word-nerd via Glenn Reynolds | Amazon Link | Image: Random House