Have you ever heard of "The Glasses Come Off" trope? What about "The Glasses Gotta Go" or "Beautiful All Along?" They've been around a while in fiction but as it turns out sci-fi writer Isaac Asimov recognized it narrative shorthand immediately for what it was - crap. Those specific tropes spin off the more general one of "Smart People Wear Glasses," wherein a character is immediately smart (this usually also translates to nerd) if they wear glasses. Like most historical figures (and all humans) Asimov isn't without faults but this page unearthed by Twitter user @DoktorAndy from an Asimov essay titled "The Cult of Ignorance" (collected in "Is Anyone There?" in 1967) is a real revelation. Isaac Asimov's critique of the "ugly girl with glasses becoming popular" from 1956 is spectacular. pic.twitter.com/toxMCVRLgA — Doktor Andy (@DoktorAndy) October 30, 2016 I transcribed just in case that's unreadable: The cliche to which I...