Friday, September 22, 2017

"Kim Jong Un Called President Trump a 'Dotard.'"

Via my Online Home Page:  North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called President Donald Trump a “dotard” in response to Trump’s speech on Tuesday at the United Nations General Assembly.

“I am now thinking hard about what response he could have expected when he allowed such eccentric words to trip off his tongue,” Kim said in a statement from North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency. “I will surely and definitely tame the mentally deranged U.S. dotard with fire.”

Following the release of the statement, Merriam-Webster said online that searches for the definition of the word dotard are “high as a kite.” According to Merriam-Webster, a dotard describes a person who is in a state of “senile decay marked by decline of mental poise and alertness.”

(Link)

12 comments:

edutcher said...

An old description of senility was a person was in his dotage.

Well, at least his vocabulary is good.

Trooper York said...

Well we all knew that he is a big Jane Austen fan.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Some moron named Chelsea Handler would rather have Kim Jong Un as her leader.

ken in tx said...

I lived in Korea for two years in the 80s. I met Koreans who first learned English by learning to read Shakespeare. I think Shakespeare used the word Dotard. Koreans also used Korean/English dictionaries that mapped common Korean words to very uncommon English words. I remember a tour guide who tried to explain that "filial piety" was very important in Korean culture. Although she was speaking good English, almost nobody knew what she was talking about until I said, "It means respect for elders and parents."

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

There is a Mendoucheous Dotard in the Senate.

Leland said...

Some moron named Chelsea Handler would rather have Kim Jong Un as her leader.

That's pretty easy to arrange, no?

Amartel said...

That's the closest translation they could come up with, apparently.

Amartel said...

How do people not know this word?

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

It is a good word.

deborah said...

I'm completely unfamiliar with the word. Is it real, or is everyone being pithy? I come to Lem's for answers and insights.

deborah said...

I beg your pardon...OOPS. Yeah, I think my mom is on the way to this. It's known as losing your filter. It's a royal pain in the ass because they kinda know what they're saying, but they don't care. And now you have to be the mother to the child, like she was to you.

MamaM said...

Read first here at Levity, Ken's explanation made the most sense, a good fit with old fool, senile idiot from Shakespearswords http://www.shakespeareswords.com/Glossary.aspx?Ref=dotard

Cym I.i.50 [First Gentleman to Second Gentleman, of Posthumus' role with the courtiers] to the graver / A child that guided dotards
MA V.i.59 [Leonato to Claudio] I speak not like a dotard nor a fool
TS V.i.96 [Baptista to Officer, of Vincentio] Away with the dotard
WT II.iii.74 [Leontes to Antigonus] Thou dotard

Back it up to the root "to dote" and it's less about losing a filter as about foolishness
vb (intr)
1. (foll by: on or upon) to love to an excessive or foolish degree
2. to be foolish or weak-minded, esp as a result of old age
[related to Middle Dutch doten to be silly, Norwegian dudra to shake]