What exactly is a "Dotard"?

[orangecrush]

(CNN)North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had some choice words for US President Donald Trump Friday, accusing the American leader of "mentally deranged behavior."

But it was Kim's use of the term "dotard," that has set the internet alight. While not widely used today, the insult is centuries old, appearing in medieval literature from the ninth century.
Searches for the term have spiked in the wake of Kim's address, according to dictionary Merriam-Webster, which defines the term as referring to "a state or period of senile decay marked by decline of mental poise."
Kim, of course, did not say the word -- he was speaking in Korean. "Dotard" was the official English translation provided by state news agency KCNA for the Korean "늙다리미치광이" ("neulg-dali-michigwang-i&quot , which literally translates as "old lunatic."


https://www.cnn.com/2017/09/22/asia/north-korea-dotard/index.html


Used in a sentence -

The doddering dotard diddled while decieving us about his dementia.

[ProudLib72]

1. "Old lunatic" might have been better than "dotard"

Precise and to the point instead of using a word 90% of Americans didn't know.

[orangecrush]

2. but "dotard"

Became an instant meme!

[ProudLib72]

4. Do you think they were trying to bury it

by using an archaic term? It certainly backfired on them. I still think "old lunatic" would have spoken directly to him and his base. Of course, he could have pushed his bigly button right then and there if they had used the direct translation.

[orangecrush]

12. entirely possible

they were hedging their words!

[rzemanfl]

3. +1 although I knew what dotard meant despite my age (or because of it?) n/t

[orangecrush]

13. Same here!

[Hekate]

7. Pfft. It never hurts for people to relearn how to use a dictionary and expand their vocabulary...

I already knew the word, as it is certainly sprinkled through literature, but had not heard it used in conversation. The Korean translator's use of the word tickled me.

[ProudLib72]

8. Pronounced "dough turd"

This is the image conjured by most people (and not too far from the truth).

[JI7]

10. Dough Turd itself would be a good name for him

[ProudLib72]

11. Another image I found (but couldn't steal) showed a set

that included bits of fake corn. So you could use one set for both tRump and pEnce!

[orangecrush]

14. It fits him

perfectly.

[no_hypocrisy]

5. Literate way of saying "Old Fool".

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. It wasn't that unheard-of a word

It's been declining in usage, but it's still close to comparable words dullard, dolt or oaf. Only dotard has the meaning of 'old' too, so I think it worked the way they wanted it to.

https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=dotard%2Cdullard%2Cdolt%2Coaf&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cdotard%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cdullard%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cdolt%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Coaf%3B%2Cc0

[SummerSnow]

9. If you look in the dictionary ..

dotard: Donald Trump

DOnaldTrumpARealDummy

[orangecrush]

15. !!!