The current back - and - Forth River of insults between U.S. and North Korean forefront of state Donald Trump and Kim Jong - un have been public , striking and colored . After President Trump refer to Kim as " Rocket Man " duringa spoken language at the United Nations , the North Korean supreme leader come forth a statement referring to Trump as a " mentally deranged U.S. dotard . " According to reports , North Korea ’s communications squad has been known to expend out - of - date English - Korean dictionaries for translation . ( So peradventure there ’s something to the 45th American chair ’s claims that he hasthe just words . )
Whether the nations ' drawing card plan to come up their verbal spar with existent military force , or whether they ’re just have a little schoolyard playfulness at the expense of the rest of the world ’s already - frazzled cheek stay on to be seen . But if nothing else comes of this latest incident , at least the word " dotard " is feature a consequence . Here ’s what it means , as well as a few more insulting terms that’ve gone the elbow room of the fogy , but that we ’re skip at some point will enjoy their own renaissance .
1. Dotard
So Kim Jong - un called Donald Trump a dotard . What is that , exactly ? The term run back to the 1300s , and means someone who ’s in his or her second childhood — which , according to the Merriam - Webster dictionary , is " a state or time period of senile decomposition differentiate by decline of mental poise and on the qui vive . " In recent years , dotard has in the main showed up inwriting about the artistry .
2. Mumpsimus
Ever met someone who dumbfound to their style despite being show better or more correct overture ? Perhaps you ’ve got that congener who just prefers not to employ smartphone shortcuts , or hotkey combinations on their laptop computer . Congrats , you ’re related to a mumpsimus ! Merriam - Webster suggests the etymology ofmumpsimusgoes back to an illiterate non-Christian priest who mistakenly used the full term in spot of the Latin wordsumpsimus(“we have occupy " ) during a Mass ritual , but refused to correct himself even after the error was pointed out .
3. Snoutband
Everyone ’s got that pedantic friend who only break up or chimes in to correct another someone . You may call them nitpicky know - it - alls who live to contradict with an irritating " well , technically , " or just unmistakable oldmansplainers , but why not call thema snoutband ? That ’s what the draw a blank Old English contumely means .
4. Medlar
The medlar is a type of hard - skin fruit with a gape - open apex of the sun’s way , and the only time it ’s indulgent enough to eat is when it ’s on the verge of going bad — so it was often associated with putridness , and showed up in insulting references to prostitution , genital organ and rearward ends . In post - Renaissance England , medlarswere often yell " exposed - arses"due to their appearance , cause for plenty of wordplay and vilification voltage in poems and plays . Shakespeare in particular savor the wild medlar tree , using the password as a pun on " meddler " in " Timon of Athens , " and for some of Mercutio ’s teasing of Romeo in " Romeo and Juliet . " Jokes about medlar appeared even in the first place than that , though , popping up in Chaucer ’s " The Canterbury Tales " in the late 14th hundred .
5. Snollygoster
What to call someone who , astute and guileful as they may be , seems to be motivate by no principles whatsoever ? specially if that someoneis in government ? " Snollygoster " is the condition you ’re looking for . generalise in the 1890s by the Georgia politician Col . H. J. W. Ham , the condition goes back at least a half - decade more than that . An 1895 Ohio newspaperdefined itthusly : " A snollygoster is a fellow who wants office staff , regardless of party , platform or principle , and who , whenever he gain , gets there by the sheer force out of monumental talknophical assumnancy . " Snollygoster disappeared for much of the 20th century , but enjoy a brief resurgence during President Harry S. Truman ’s 1952 reelection campaign when he used the term in reference to other campaigner .
6. Sack of Wine
In the 21st one C , we still say that someone ’s as dull as a base of rock , or call them a sack of … well , something not so nice . One similar insult that ’s faded over the ages , though , is calling someone a sack of wine . This one come courtesy of epic poet Homer and " The Iliad . " At one point duringthe saga , the goddess Athena intervenes when the protagonist Achilles add up close to attack the character Agamemnon . Achilles stay his hand , but vents his thwarting at Agamemnon after Athena vanish , predict him a " sack of wine " and follow that up with the brainsick burn that he has the nitty-gritty of an antelope . That former item showed up in the 2004 moving-picture show " Troy , " with Brad Pitt trifle Achilles :
7. Slumgullion
Want to insult someone ’s cooking ? Call that plate in front of you a slumgullion . The word ’s run through some changes over its lifetime , but today means an unappetizing or cheaply made stew . In 1851 ’s " Moby - Dick , " Herman Melville used the phrase " slobgollion " to pertain to the waste matter from processing whale carcasses , and the Good Book " slumgullion " shows up that same decade in miner ' diaries describing a slurry leftover from mining gold . In 1872 , when Mark Twain used the word in " rough in It , " his semi - autobiographic leger about travels in the Wild West to concern to a repellant drink , and within two decades it was used to refer to muddy - looking lather .
