In the book, Chris has quite a history as a bully, and refers to the misfits she likes to terrorize as "Mortimer Snerds". (King even describes Chris as having blown one kids toes off; when she put firecrackers in her shoe). "Mortimer Snerd's" is a name of one of Edgar Bergen's puppets. It's also a pun because Mortimer is the name of the principal as well.