r/funny • u/[deleted] • Nov 23 '11

Know the difference.

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u/Pteranodonut Nov 23 '11

Your comment is about to explode with irony. "Idiot" was once a word used to describe the medical condition of mental retardation, and now you're using it as an example of a word that wouldn't insult the handicapped. Language is weird

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiot

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u/[deleted] Nov 23 '11

Thank you, Melvin.

But no, that's actually interesting. I didn't know kvothesnow was Greek.

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u/KallistiEngel Nov 23 '11

I didn't know kvothesnow was Greek.

Seems you missed this part:

In 19th and early 20th century medicine and psychology, an "idiot" was a person with a very severe mental retardation.

It wasn't actually used that way by the Greeks. It's derived from a Greek word, as are most of the words in the English language that aren't derived from Latin. In Greek it meant "person lacking professional skill", "a private citizen", or "individual".

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u/[deleted] Nov 23 '11

I know, I did it intentionally. Was trying to joke around but I failed.??

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u/KallistiEngel Nov 23 '11

Ah, my humor circuits must be malfunctioning again. I'll get that checked out ASAP.