On Sun, 2005-09-25 at 14:54 -0500, Cybe R. Wizard wrote:
> On Sun, 25 Sep 2005 09:36:05 -0500
> John Hasler <jhasler@debian.org> wrote:
>
> > Cybe R. Wizard writes:
> > > It has been my experience that 'average' (and, of course, below)
> > > contains a large supply of doofuses, too, so there /must/ be a
> > > substantial percentage of doofuses if the number is (as it seems to
> > > be) above 50% of the population.
> >
> > I do not equate "of below average intelligence" with "doofus".
>
> Hmmm,
> cybe@WizardsTower:~$ dict doofus
>
> 2 definitions found
>
> >From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
> [gcide]:
>
> doofus \doo"fus\, n.
> a person who is stupid or inept; -- used contemptuously.
> [Also spelled {dufus}.] [Slang]
>
> Syn: dingdong, ding-a-ling. [PJC]
>
> >From WordNet (r) 2.0 (August 2003) [wn]:
>
> doofus
> n : a stupid incompetent person [syn: {dimwit}, {nitwit},
> {half-wit}]
>
> Maybe we don't speak the same language.
Doofus, stupid, etc are pejoratives. I don't consider it appropriate to
describe someone in such terms merely because they happen to have been
delt a smaller portion of intelligence. However, when someone actively
refuses to use the brain they have...I have no qualms about applying
such labels.
Perhaps you speak the same language, but with less tact.
-davidc
--
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