Stereotyped as convention-going, pocket-protector-wearing, chess-playing, infrequently-showering types, nerds are one of our society's most ridiculed groups. And, for a university with an international reputation as a bastion of intellectualism, Harvard is startlingly devoid of them.
The word tells us that trials will come ahead and we'll be ridiculed more for our faith. So if you're going to go in as a believer thinking that everything is going to be smooth, you're probably not in the right mind-set. It's going to be tough at times, and has been for me personally.
It never bothered me that people made fun of my passion for gold... I would never feel bad when people ridiculed me for my fascination with gold.
Everything that I was ridiculed for as a child - being too feminine or wearing a dress - has made my life fabulous now.
As a historically voracious reader - pre-baby, I averaged a book every week or two, and when I was a kid, I'd routinely read a book a day - I never understood how some people could not read. When I heard people say they didn't have time to read, in my head, I simultaneously pitied and ridiculed them: there was always time to read.
In 2008, conservatives ridiculed the Left for its adulation of Barack Obama, only to succumb to their own cult of personality eight years later.
We can all accept criticism of creative work, but to be publicly ridiculed for it is incredibly difficult to deal with.
When I was young, I read the Bible, and I already knew what it meant to be the good guy - and look what happened to Jesus. So, I already understood that you get ridiculed for telling the truth, and I've always been aware of that. But, I'm a guy with confidence, and I'm not afraid.
People do get ridiculed for liking us or because they look the way they do and they're a part of what we do.
One of my very greatest fears as a child was being ridiculed in public. And there it was coming true. As a television presenter, I'd been respected. People come up to you in the street and shake your hand and talk to you in a respectful way.
