Here’s What Kim Jong-un’s Insult ‘Dotard’ Actually Means

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Who you calling a what now?

In the latest instalment of ‘My Nuclear Warhead Is Bigger Than Yours’, starring President Donald Trump and North Korean despot, Kim Jong-un, we’ve all be forced to pull our dusty dictionaries down from the top shelf as we bear witness to some really eloquent – if a little archaic – fighting talk.

The verbal sparring between President Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un has reached breaking point, as Kim delivers a damning blow to the American President.

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The only problem is, no one knows what the hell it means.

After Donald Trump called Kim ‘Rocket Man’ – a surprisingly cool and desirable nickname for the trigger-happy guy whose finger is poised over the red button that spells nuclear war – Kim has responded with equal gusto.

The North Korean leader called Mr. Trump a ‘mentally deranged U.S. dotard’ on Friday and vowed the ‘highest level of hard-line countermeasure in history’ in response to Trump’s demand that the United Nations ‘totally destroy‘ North Korea in self-defence.

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In his United Nations speech, Mr Trump called North Korea’s autocracy a ‘band of criminals’ and Mr Kim a ‘Rocket Man’ on ‘a suicide mission’.

Keeping up with the political pissing contest, Jong-un said of Donald, ‘A frightened dog barks louder’.

It’s a rare public appearance but the message isn’t out of character considering Kim’s track record:

[ooyal[ooyala code=”50ZTNxYzE69EopD2IzUtlciV0qAS6Jkq” player_id=”5df2ff5a35d24237905833bd032cd5d8" auto=”true” width=”1920" height=”1080" pcode=”twa2oyOnjiGwU8-cvdRQbrVTiR2l”]p>North Korean foreign minister, Ri Yong-ho, speaking on Wednesday at the General Assembly in New York said only Mr Kim would understand the meaning of ‘hard-line countermeasure’.

Mr Ri added he thought the North might be considering the largest test of a hydrogen bomb ever in the Pacific Ocean, according to the South Korean news agency Yonhap.

North Korea tested two intercontinental ballistic missiles in July, one of which demonstrated potential to reach the mainland US.

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Kim has also fired two ballistic missiles over Japan in recent weeks, causing South Korea to weigh in with their own threats.

While the situation does feel somewhat perilous, you can always trust the Twitter-people to see the funny side.

They have responded on behalf of their Presidential ‘dotard’ accordingly:

Donald Trump is many things. But is he a dotard? Grab the dictionary, stat.

So, here’s the actual definition, as laid out by the Oxford English dictionary, of a dotard:

A person, especially an old person, exhibiting a decline in mental faculties; a weak-minded or foolish old person.

Dotard is actually a Middle-English word dating back to 1350-1400, but Urban Dictionary would have you believe it has a more modern origin.

Urban Dictionary

Considering The Donald’s pretty Freudian obsession with his own nuclear warheads, perhaps Kim was throwing down for a Warcraft two-player stand-off.

Eerily, this isn’t the first time an American president has been dubbed a ‘dotard’ in the public sphere. Remember the one that couldn’t open a door?

Good ol’ George W. Bush was also deemed to be in his dotage back in 2004:

Urban Dictionary

While the mental faculties of Donald Trump are the reserves of doctors and medical professionals, Kim has sparked another round of wild conjecture online.

If the Middle-English insult fits.

Francesca Donovan

A former emo kid who talks too much about 8Chan meme culture, the Kardashian Klan, and how her smartphone is probably killing her. Francesca is a Cardiff University Journalism Masters grad who has done words for BBC, ELLE, The Debrief, DAZED, an art magazine you’ve never heard of and a feminist zine which never went to print.