WEBVTT - Great Archaic Ways To Insult Someone

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain stuff from How Stuff Works a brain

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<v Speaker 1>stuff It's Christian saga. After President Trump referred to Kim

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<v Speaker 1>Jong un as rocketman during a speech at the United Nations,

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<v Speaker 1>the North Korean Supreme Leader issued a statement referring to

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<v Speaker 1>Trump as a quote mentally deranged U S dodord. According

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<v Speaker 1>to reports, North Korea's communications team has been known to

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<v Speaker 1>actually use out of date English Korean dictionaries for translation.

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<v Speaker 1>So maybe there's something to the forty five American president's

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<v Speaker 1>claims that he has the best words. Regardless if nothing

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<v Speaker 1>else comes out of this latest incident, at least the

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<v Speaker 1>word dodord is having a moment. Here's what it means,

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<v Speaker 1>as well as a few more insulting terms that have

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<v Speaker 1>gone the way of the dodo but that we're hoping

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<v Speaker 1>at some point will enjoy their own renaissance. So Kim

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<v Speaker 1>Jong un called Donald Trump a do modored What is

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<v Speaker 1>that exactly? The term goes back to the thirteen hundreds

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<v Speaker 1>and means someone who's in his or her dotage, which,

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<v Speaker 1>according to the Miriam Webster Dictionary, is quote a state

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<v Speaker 1>or period of senile decay marked by decline of mental

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<v Speaker 1>poise and alertness. In recent years, dodored has primarily shown

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<v Speaker 1>up in writing about the arts. Have you ever met

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<v Speaker 1>someone who sticks to their ways despite being shown better

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<v Speaker 1>or more correct approaches. Perhaps you've got that relative who

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<v Speaker 1>just prefers not to use smartphone shortcuts or hot key

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<v Speaker 1>combinations on their laptop. Congrats, you are related to a mumpsimus.

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<v Speaker 1>Miriam Webster suggests that the etymology of mumpsimus goes back

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<v Speaker 1>to an illiterate priest who mistakenly used the term in

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<v Speaker 1>place of the Latin word sumpsimus, which means we have taken.

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<v Speaker 1>He did this during a mass ritual, but refused to

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<v Speaker 1>correct himself even after the error was pointed out. Now,

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<v Speaker 1>everyone's got that pedantic friend who only interrupts or chimes

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<v Speaker 1>in to correct another person. You may call them nitpicky,

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<v Speaker 1>no it alls who lived to contradict with an irritating

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<v Speaker 1>well technically or just plain old man splainers, But why

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<v Speaker 1>not call them a snout band? That is the forgotten

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<v Speaker 1>old English insult, and that's what it means snout band.

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<v Speaker 1>The med lar, however, is a type of hard skinned

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<v Speaker 1>fruit with a gaping open apex, and the only time

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<v Speaker 1>it's soft enough to eat is when it's on the

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<v Speaker 1>verge of going bad, so it was often associated with

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<v Speaker 1>rotten nous and showed up in insulting references to prostitution,

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<v Speaker 1>genitals and rear ends. In post Renaissance England, medlars were

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<v Speaker 1>often called open arses due to their appearance, making for

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<v Speaker 1>plenty of word play in insult potential in poems and plays.

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<v Speaker 1>Shakespeare in particular enjoyed the medlar, using the word as

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<v Speaker 1>a pun on Medler in Time and of Athens, and

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<v Speaker 1>for some of Mecurtio's teasing of Romeo in Romeo and Juliet.

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<v Speaker 1>Jokes about medlars appeared even earlier than that, though, popping

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<v Speaker 1>up in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in the late foe century.

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<v Speaker 1>But what do you call someone who, shrewd and cunning

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<v Speaker 1>as they may be, seems to be motivated by no

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<v Speaker 1>principles whatsoever, especially if that someone is in politics. Well,

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<v Speaker 1>snolly gostar is the term you're looking for. Popularized in

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<v Speaker 1>the eighteen nineties by the Georgia politician Colonel H. J. W. Ham,

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<v Speaker 1>the term goes back at least a half decade more

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<v Speaker 1>than that. In eight Ohio newspaper defined it thus Lee quote.

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<v Speaker 1>A snolly gowstar is a fellow who wants office regardless

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<v Speaker 1>of party platform er principles, and who, whenever he wins,

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<v Speaker 1>gets there by the sheer amount of monumental talk. Na

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<v Speaker 1>fickle Assumancy who snollygastar disappeared from much of the twenty century,

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<v Speaker 1>but enjoyed a brief resurgence during President Harry S. Truman's

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<v Speaker 1>nineteen fifty two re election campaign, when he used the

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<v Speaker 1>term in reference to other candidates. And here's our last one.

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<v Speaker 1>You want to insult someone's cooking, call that play in

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<v Speaker 1>front of you a slum gullion. The words gone through

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<v Speaker 1>some changes over its life span, but today it means

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<v Speaker 1>an unappetizing or cheaply made stew. In eighteen fifty ones,

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<v Speaker 1>Moby Dick Herman Melville used the phrase slobgollian to refer

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<v Speaker 1>to the waste from processing whale carcasses, and the word

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<v Speaker 1>slum gullion shows up that same decade in Miner's Diaries,

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<v Speaker 1>describing a slurry leftover from mining gold. In eighteen seventy two,

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<v Speaker 1>when Mark Twain used the word in his semi autobiographical

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<v Speaker 1>book Roughing It, he was using it to refer to

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<v Speaker 1>a disgusting beverage, and within two decades it was used

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<v Speaker 1>to refer to muddy looking stews. Today's episode was written

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<v Speaker 1>by Christopher hasiotis produced by Tristan McNeil, and For more

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<v Speaker 1>on this and other topics, please visit us at how

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<v Speaker 1>stuff works dot com