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Vocabulary development among languages is neither evenly distributed or
uniform. Yet, people around the world appreciate the art of a good insult,
especially of another person’s intelligence. Simply put, calling someone stupid
or an idiot or whatever the word in the local language, simply does not cut it.
The audience, if not the victim, expects creativity and style. In practice, the
approaches to questioning other people’s intellectual ability primarily involve
making remarks about the material between their ears, the ability to process
information, medical conditions and any resemblance to somethng or someone considered unintelligent as
well as a few wonderful lexiconic inventions. I will provide a small sample of
such terms from English, French and Hebrew as well as present my favorites.
A common way of explaining stupidity is speculating on the lack of grey
matter between the ears. In English, it may appear that the interlocker is a blockhead
, meathead or dope, a thick soup in Dutch. If we believe there is
nothing, an airhead is appropriate. If we know that there is something
but its nature is unclear, nitwit, an older word for a drink with
unidentified ingredients, can apply. Possibly,
the person may be just dense, i.e., too solid for the brain to function.
The French seem to focus less on this aspect. Cul (ass) implies
that an error occurred in anatomical placement while cloche, a
clock, applies a hard outside but hollow inside. Modern Hebrew, despite its
relatively young age, places such materials as floor tiles, cabbage and sweet
potatoes between the ears as in the expressions ראש בלטה [rosh
balata], ראש כרוב [rosh kruv] and ראש בטטה [rosh bottata], respectively. Of course, it the head is filled
with beech wood בוק [bok], thoughts also do not come easily.
All these are material insults.
Sometimes, the problems appears to be how the information is actually
processed. If a person is dull, half-witted or simpleminded,
thinking is not an easy task. Nitwit, a word actually derived from
Yiddish, a language particularly rich in insults, implies no ability at all.
The French consider being heavy, balourd, blocked, bouché, and off-angle, obtuse, excellent
causes of stupidity. In Israel, having a room that is sealed off is a positive
feature during a war but having a brain that is אטום [atum] is a definite handicap. For such
people, even when there is a will, there is no way.
Of course,
medical conditions do affect mental activity. Despite the fact most people
cannot identify such conditions and, even if they do exist, they are not the
fault of the person, off-handed diagnosis makes for great insults. Calling
someone retarded may be true statement but not in most instances. The French use of the word crétin technically refers
to chronic iodine deficiency, a rare condition today. As for sanity, the words sot and
abruti cast doubts about the mental stability of the individual.
The Hebrew curse פוסטמה [pustema] comes
from a word for pus, whatever the connection is. טוםטום [tumtum] is a term to describe ambiguous physical sexual
identify. which may or may not be obvious to the casual observer. On occasions, anybody can become a doctor.
Of course, metaphors are both direct and creative. Somehow, Anglo-Saxons
think birds are not very intelligent, which may explain the term birdbrain.
(The raptors of the world may be angry at this comparison). For that matter, asses,
the animal, are very adept at surviving unlike humans accused of being like
them. The French compare idiots to both animals, bêta, and lower-class
people, rustre, agricultural workers with low intelligence.
Hebrew sources comparisons come from all period of the history of the Jews. אוויל [avvil] is
simpleton in the Bible; גולם [golem] is a unfinished Frankenstein-like creature
from medieval myths; and דפר [dapar] is one of
the initial psychotechnics tests that the IDF gives to new recruits.
Apparently, a very low grade implies stupidity. These metaphorical comparisons
can be very nasty.
As for my top three choices, picked on the basis of creativity and sheer
weirdness. In English, I now appreciate dunce for its amazing history.
Originally, people considered the 13th century theologian John Duns Scotus and
his followers very intelligent but rudely rejected them their approach
several centuries later, regarding them and their hats look as quite stupid. The
French duconneau literally means from Conneau. Apparently,
somebody was not very bright in that family or area. Finally, in Hebrew, in a TV commercial, one of
the banks used the expression לא עיפרון חכי חד בקלמר [lo
ha’iparon hachi chad b’kalmar], meaning not the sharpest pencil in the pencil
box. Now, that’s a witty insult.
Please be assured that I never use such terms directly to a person as I
am very polite but in the privacy of our own brain, we can think what we want.
As Pascal said, man (and woman) are thinking reeds. He did not discuss how much
critical thoughts dominate. The fact is that human beings love to criticize
other people, especially their intelligence. One of the beauties of human thought is the
level of creativity and innovation we apply in doing it. Insulting is an art.
* Picture captions help the blind fully access the Internet.
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