Nerd and Geek weren't reworked harmlessly overnight. There was a very gradual change in connotation over the years. It took 50 years for nerd to move from compl

Nerd and Geek weren't reworked harmlessly overnight. There was a very gradual change in connotation over the years. It took 50 years for nerd to move from completely unsympathetic epithet to being "reclaimed". 40 years ago a sympathetic person would never have said "he's a bit of a nerd". Nerd started to be "reclaimed" in the 80s and 90s, and there was a time period were it was still used pejoratively by non-nerds while being used positively by nerds. "Yankee" by the way still has very strong negative connotations in the south particularly among older people. It's a very good example of a word that is still used by outsiders derogatorily, but insiders don't find it offensive at all.