TWDCR stands for “That Word Dan Can’t Remember.” At some point during freshman year, we (specifically, Dan) developed a term designed to denote people who belonged to a certain subjectively perceived but difficult to articulate type, characterized by a certain intellectuality, and especially by a certain curiosity or thirst for knowledge. The emphasis was not on innate mental capacity, but rather on intellectual orientation, or…intensity, perhaps.
The initial range of reference was: Dan, Nick, Chris, Matt, Vanessa. It would also probably apply to lots of TASPers, but probably not to, say, many NCTers.
h2. Differences between “TWDCR” and “nerd”
What differentiates a TWDCR from a “nerd”? Largely, the difference consists in the fact that TWDCR is intrinsically more laudatory (well, maybe “less derogatory” is what I mean), whereas “nerd”, while in the process of being reclaimed, is not. However, there are most assuredly nerds (people who are intensely committed to certain mental and/or cultural endeavors) who are not TWDCRs, as made clear by the fact that the word was coined to specify a small sub-population at Brown, rather than the entire population of that institution.
So, is a TWDCR just a super-nerd? Maybe. But a classic super-nerd is essentially a monomaniac, whereas TWDCRs are interesting precisely for their ability to form connections across specialties.
h2. Smart-weird
It appears that Dan may, in fact have remembered the word. However, it was a pretty lame word:

From Dan Sun Jun 13 16:08:40 +0200 2004
From: Dan
Date: Sun, 13 Jun 2004 16:08:40 +0200
Subject:
Message-ID: <20040613160840+0200@kukkurovaca.objectis.net>
wasn’t it “smart-weird”?
From kukkurovaca Sun Jun 13 21:24:40 +0200 2004
From: kukkurovaca
Date: Sun, 13 Jun 2004 21:24:40 +0200
Subject:
Message-ID: <20040613212440+0200@kukkurovaca.objectis.net>
In-reply-to: <20040613160840+0200@kukkurovaca.objectis.net>
The word? Possibly. And we said it funny, with the syllable break coming before the “tw” conjunct: smar-tweird. Hmm. But I like TWDCR more.

However, we should point out that “smart-weird” does convey one important connotation of TWDCR: it indicates a strangeness, a separation, a square-peg-round-hole sort of situation.[1]

fn1. I’ve filled Andrew’s mother’s holes with pegs of many shapes.