History Main / NerdsAreNaive

Often, geeky and dorky characters will be SuperGullible and overly trusting, lacking even the most basic of {{Street Smart}}s. This is sometimes used to justify why they are a BullyMagnet, a ButtMonkey, or TheChewToy: savvier and crueler characters like TheCon or the FemmeFatale just can't help but take advantage of their naïveté. Other examples take "naive" in the more "ignorant" route and depict nerdy characters as having a myopic worldview, not knowing anything if it is outside of their GeekReferencePool. A video game nerd, for example, may know how to change a tire because [[IKnowMortalKombat doing so featured prominently in one of their favorite games]].

* ''Literature/ASistersAllYouNeed'': Chihiro is an {{Otaku}} and a lot of the more perverted stuff that Nayu says to her goes right over her head. She also had no idea what a vibrator was when she came across one in Ashley's home and bought Ashley's lie that it was a massager until Haruto explained it to her.

A frequent trait of the StereotypicalNerd; less so for the ExtravertedNerd, but they are shown with both variations from time to time, especially the latter to emphasize just how much of a CasanovaWannabe they are. Compare the closely related DitzyGenius, key difference here is that nerds, geeks, and dorks are not always smart, let alone geniuses. For the same reason, this can also be a trait of the GeniusDitz if they're presented as a nerd. The CelibateEccentricGenius may also be proudly ignorant of love and romance. Contrast NerdsArePervs, in which nerdy characters are depicted as ''sex-obsessed'', often with deviant preferences and lecherous instincts.

Nerds and {{geek}}s of all stripes may be able to rattle off random information about their preferred obsession of choice (see {{Trekkie}}, RailEnthusiast, PolkaDork, YaoiFangirl) but when it comes to things outside of those areas of interest, works tend to portray them as being clueless and ignorant of the world around them. Common sense ain't so common, after all.

Often, geeky and dorky characters will be SuperGullible and overly trusting, lacking even the most basic of {{Street Smart}}s. This is sometimes used to justify why they are a BullyMagnet, a ButtMonkey, or TheChewToy: savvier and crueler characters just can't help but take advantage of their naïveté. Other examples take "naive" in the more "ignorant" route and depict nerdy characters as having a myopic worldview, not knowing anything if it is outside of their GeekReferencePool. A video game nerd, for example, may know how to change a tire because [[IKnowMortalKombat doing so featured prominently in one of their favorite games]].

Nerds and geeks that are [[BookSmart highly academic]] or genuinely intelligent are [[DitzyGenius not exempt either]] and this trope is often used to knock InsufferableGenius types down a peg, revealing that their vast knowledge and intelligence are useless outside of their area of expertise, show the limitations of simply [[ButIReadABookAboutIt reading and studying something]], or reveal them as being IgnorantOfTheirOwnIgnorance.