Dictionary

Nerdfighter en · NOUN

Etymology

From nerd + fighter; Nerdfighters was co-founder John Green's accidental misreading of the video game title Aero Fighters.

Meanings

1. A member of the mainly online-based community subculture Nerdfighteria.
   • When lead actors Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort arrived, one 20th Century Fox executive was heard saying, “We could have filled Yankee Stadium” with Nerdfighters — the nickname of supporters of the pro-intelligence and good-deeds agenda of Green and his brother, Hank Green. […] “The Fault in Our Stars” producer Wyck Godfrey, known for his role as producer for four “Twilight” films, said Nerdfighters are making their presence felt. 2014 June 8, David Lindquist, “‘Fault’ premiere draws adoring crowd”, in The Sunday Star, page E2:
   • With the help of his brother, he is rallying Nerdfighters everywhere with the battle cry of "raising nerdy to the power of awesome." 2014 May 13, Caroline Vella, “Written In the Stars”, in HuffPost, archived from the original on 20 Dec 2022:
   • John Green is possibly best known for Vlogbrothers, the YouTube channel he shares with his brother Hank. Together they have formed a large community of so-called Nerdfighters (note that Nerdfighters are not people that are against nerds but are in fact people who are for nerds). […] Twelve-year-old Xander Wiersema is an avid reader, gamer and Nerdfighter living in Victoria. 2012 January 28, Xander Wiersema, “A young girl slays inner demons while fighting cancer”, in The Vancouver Sun, page D6:
   • Despite their affinity for new media, Nerdfighters are readers, many of whom have reported reading more than twenty-five books annually—an amount Hank once described as “a lot of frickin’ books.” 2020 November 15, Jennifer Burek Pierce, “Introduction: Reading John Green and Writing Anticipatory History”, in Narratives, Nerdfighters, and New Media, Iowa City, Iowa: University of Iowa Press, →ISBN, page 2:
   • The experiment birthed the Nerdfighters, a nebulous group of self-described superhero geeks who follow the exploits of John and Hank Green religiously, and who claim to be “made of awesome” rather than flesh and bone. 2008 August 10, Timothy Alex Akimoff, “Big Sky nerds: Brothers still speak for underdog”, in Sunday Missoulian, page B2:

Forms

wikipedia: Aero Fighters