Perhaps you want to call this a public service announcement. Or maybe just a friendly tip for all my good friends out there.
Here we are in this world. And quite a lot is, and has been, happening.
So my gift to the world today is 20 Alternative Words for ‘Fool.’
1. Oaf
2. Dolt
3. Sap
4. Boob
5. Lubber
6. Buffoon
7. Bozo
8. Bumpkin
9. Rube
10. Hick
11. Yokel
12. Kook
13. Doofus
14. Goofus
15. Schlub
16. Schmo and Schmuck
17. Schnook
18. Klutz
19. Nincompoop
20. Nimrod
One of my favorites is oaf. The word oaf was first recorded in the early 1600s. Here is the thing about it. It originally referred to an ugly child that elves left behind to replace one they’d carried off. And there you have it. It came from a Scandinavian word. Oaf evolved from “changeling” to “stupid or clumsy person.”
My other good favorite is dolt. A dolt is a “dull person”—in every sense. It’s first found in the form doltish in the 1540s. Dullard.
And finally, another one of my best is nimrod.
The origin of nimrod is another great mystery. Biblically, Nimrod, the great grandson of Noah, was a mighty hunter.
And then, nimrod was used to describe hunters in the U.S. in the early 1900s. It then shifted to an insult for incompetent shooters in the 1930s.
By the 1980s, nimrod had lost its hunting associations and was used in student slang for a fool.
So, there are 20 alternatives for a fool. I imagine, with the world the way it is, you will have ample opportunities to whisper these under your breath.
“””””””””
“Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.” – Abraham Lincoln
“””””””””
“Only a fool tests the depth of the water with both feet.” – African Proverb
“””””””””
“A fool and his money are soon parted.” – Thomas Tusser
“””””””””
Here’s a fool. And a fool. And a fool.
