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[citation needed] Other reasons of apparent foolishness include naivety, gullibility, and credulity. Foolishness differs from stupidity, which is the lack of intelligence. [2] An act of foolishness is called folly. A person who is foolish is called a fool. The opposite of foolishness is prudence. [3]
Foolish (disambiguation) Foolishness, the unawareness or lack of social norms which causes offence, annoyance, trouble or injury; FoolishPeople, a British theatre collective; Fool's Gold, colloquial name for the mineral iron iron pyrite; Fools Guild, a social club of comedic performers; Foolscap (disambiguation) List of jesters; Clown; Harlequin
The term useful idiot, for a foolish person whose views can be taken advantage of for political purposes, was used in a British periodical as early as 1864. [3] In relation to the Cold War, the term appeared in a June 1948 New York Times article on contemporary Italian politics ("Communist shift is seen in Europe"), [1] citing the Italian Democratic Socialist Party's newspaper L'Umanità []. [4]
The Idiot by Evert Larock (1892). An idiot, in modern use, is a stupid or foolish person. 'Idiot' was formerly a technical term in legal and psychiatric contexts for some kinds of profound intellectual disability where the mental age is two years or less, and the person cannot guard themself against common physical dangers.
Term of abuse used of someone perceived to be foolish, stupid, incompetent, clumsy, uncoordinated, ridiculous, idiotic. Originated with the appearances of cerebral palsy sufferer Joey Deacon on children's TV programme Blue Peter; still a popular insult among adults who saw the programmes as children. [98] jumble sale (see article; US: rummage ...
Schmuck, or shmuck, is a pejorative term meaning one who is stupid or foolish, or an obnoxious, contemptible or detestable person. The word came into the English language from Yiddish (Yiddish: שמאָק, shmok), where it has similar pejorative meanings, but where its literal meaning is a vulgar term for a penis.
The words gullible and credulous are commonly used as synonyms. Goepp & Kay (1984) state that while both words mean "unduly trusting or confiding", gullibility stresses being duped or made a fool of, suggesting a lack of intelligence, whereas credulity stresses uncritically forming beliefs, suggesting a lack of skepticism. [4]
The term oxymoron is first recorded as Latinized Greek oxymōrum, in Maurus Servius Honoratus (c. AD 400); [4] it is derived from the Greek word ὀξύς oksús "sharp, keen, pointed" [5] and μωρός mōros "dull, stupid, foolish"; [6] as it were, "sharp-dull", "keenly stupid", or "pointedly foolish". [7] The word oxymoron is autological, i ...