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American Idiot

Shouldn't this be mentioned on the idiot page?

For a March 2005 deletion debate over this page see Wikipedia:Votes for deletion/Idiot

jeg er ikke en idiot, men det er du dit klamme svin, jeg har ingen penge men det har du dit klamme svin gi' mig nogle eller jeg smadre dit fjæs imod en.... småkage! eller en mur dit møgbelortede svin

Re: Greek origin of Idiot

Extract from article in question: The word is derived from the Greek word ιδιωτης, idiôtês, "a private citizen, individual", from ιδιος, idios, "private". In ancient Athens, an idiot was a person who declined to take part in public life, such as democratic city government. Since such activities were honorable and could directly affect all citizens, idiot was a term of derision.

This is not my paragraph. The original editor evidently took the material from/or wrote the material in Athenian democracy. Since the root of the word is Greek (see your dictionary insert), I simply restored this material after your unexplained deletion. I also copy edited your material to make your edit blend with the previous article. Wiki protocol suggests that if you wish to delete a block of material for cause, move it to the discussion page and explain why. This allows the original editor to respond, and to defend if necessary. Peace. WBardwin 15:37, 22 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Added "Idiot Lights" to Other Uses Grumpyoldgeek 05:48, 11 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]

 Isn't idiot, "without political knowledge" in Greek?

This source says: idiot — c.1300, "person so mentally deficient as to be incapable of ordinary reasoning," from O.Fr. idiote "uneducated or ignorant person," from L. idiota "ordinary person, layman," in L.L. "uneducated or ignorant person," from Gk. idiotes "layman, person lacking professional skill," lit. "private person," used patronizingly for "ignorant person," from idios "one's own". -- Boracay Bill (talk) 23:58, 20 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

What is "O.Fr."?? And what is "c.1300"?? The cited article doesn´t seem to be in chronological order. So the "person so ..." might not have been the original meaning.

history

the sentence " ... defining idiots as people whose IQ were below 20 ... " must be "below 24" not "20" anon. user. 20.April.2006

            NO! I was wrong. :) it is strange but different countries accepts different grades. for US. the true one "20". sorry :)

New Jersey

Removed 'idiot' from constitution. should be removed from article? tildetildetildetilde

About time. Perhaps about 99% of New Jerseyans were probably barred from voting by that language, but nobody noticed it. ;-) 204.52.215.107 05:14, 9 November 2007 (UTC) ("Idiots" were among the people not allowed to vote under the old language.)[reply]

"Other uses" section

The "Other uses" section is a joke. It is not necessary to 'give examples' of a term that appears on every other web page of the Internet, and, for obvious reason, that section is nothing but bait for flame wars and vandalism. "Examples" of "idiot", indeed. Can anyone think of a better bait for vandalism in wikipedia than an editable "examples of idiots" section ??

Personally I think the whole section should be removed.

I removed the obvious flames, along with advertisements for rock groups. Yes, I know it won't last. At least I'll know I tried.

"Quotes" section

Someone needs to move that to wikiquote. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by DocRocks1 (talk • contribs) 02:01, 7 May 2007 (UTC).[reply]

Idiot lights

"Idiot light" is still a term and has not "fallen into disuse." Words like "phylactery" and "shamefastness" have. But idiot light is still a word used among motor enthusiasts and by those who remember the term's popularity. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 207.43.79.22 (talk) 19:52, 15 May 2007 (UTC).[reply]

Bob Smith quote

I'm working on the Robert Smith disambiguation page, and found out that in this article there's a quote by a Bob Smith, but it doesn't say which Bob Smith or where he said that. So I took out the link and added a "citation needed". But there's a comment above that suggests moving the entire Quote Section to Wikiquote. Any opinion? --PeterCantropus 17:33, 28 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Christ

Nietzsche characterized Christ as an idiot. In his The Antichrist, Nietzsche claimed that Christ was extremely detached from the world that was around him. This resulted in a naïve idiocy. In Part 3, Chapter 3, Dostoevsky wrote that Prince Myshkin, the idiot, "…seemed to have forgotten all the world" or "He seemed oblivious of the whole universe." This characterization may have influenced Nietzsche's use of the word to describe Christ.Lestrade 16:34, 23 August 2007 (UTC)Lestrade[reply]

Even if Nietzsche did "claim that Jesus was as an idiot", I find there to be something wrong with a person choosing to present his own words as evidence, when providing quotes would be more effective. I fail to see how claiming anyone to be "detatched from the world" is the same as claiming him to be "an idiot". That the latter is [i]implied[/i] or [i]caused[/i] by the former, does not mean the latter is ever [i]claimed[/i] (as the article says). To claim that Dostoevsky's characterization may have influenced Nietzsche's use of the word is as true as claiming that it may have influenced Nietzsche's use of scissors to trim the hair under his nose. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.195.72.122 (talk) 16:06, August 28, 2007 (UTC)

Distracted by the superior intelligence of Lestrade's argumentation, I didn't at first notice the now available quotation (numbered 15). I only possessed the H. L. Mencken translation, so I accept the quotation as sufficient evidence. I admit it, I'm an idiot, and I don't plan to apologize for it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.195.72.122 (talk) 14:58, August 29, 2007 (UTC)

Apple lover - iDiot

the term iDiot is widely used now to describe emo Apple lover, using iPods, iMacs and iPhones. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Thebiggestmac (talk • contribs) 07:43, 10 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

First I have ever heard that term used. Do you have a citation? - Fearless Son 22:42, 2 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Eejit

Is this just a bastardisation of idiot? I had heard it before, and thought it a seperate word. Does anyone who how it came about?82.75.218.105 (talk) 15:23, 17 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

You don't mention where you have heard this one, but Wictionary defines this an Irish variant of idiot; no source is given. http://Dict.org, http://dictionary.com, and http://m-w.com have nothing. / edg ☺ ☭ 16:05, 17 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Protection

Why is this article locked? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.199.25.9 (talk) 23:03, 10 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Oaf

I removed the redirect for OAF. And oaf was an actual type of person in the old days, like a "fool" was a person that amused royalty. It was an actual job title that became a word 4.143.227.109 (talk) 21:38, 2 May 2008 (UTC)eric[reply]

I've moved this recently added section from the top to the bottom.

I still see the redirect at Oaf, but perhaps that is due to sever-update lag. I'm not arguing against the removal, but would point out this refuting source. -- Boracay Bill (talk) 00:49, 3 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Permitted from voting?

Do they acctualy enforce laws in the US to prevent "idiots" from voting? That isn't exactly democracy. So i doub't it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.160.45.109 (talk) 12:35, 26 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

No, there's no laws against idiots voting. As a matter of fact, idiots are actually encouraged to run for public office. How else do you explain George W. Bush? 96.236.180.7 (talk) 00:24, 28 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Add pictures.

Please? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.217.40.128 (talk) 23:02, 8 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Bush or Palin? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Riggy1990 (talk • contribs) 20:57, 19 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Homer Simpson —Preceding unsigned comment added by Pigmonkey69 (talk • contribs) 01:45, 15 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

History error?

" "Idiot" was originally created to refer to "layman, person lacking professional skill", "person so mentally deficient as to be incapable of ordinary reasoning". " Originally it stems from Greek, which is the first part of the sentence. So how does the psychological definition fit in that sentence, the second part??

From the Greek letters

For what it's worth, here's the word meaning from the meaning of each Greek letter.

i/d/i/o/t/e/s= arises with/ arises/ arises/ heir (conclusion) with/ decision/ come (together)/ dies.

So the person is not instructable, or more simply, untrainable.

You can look at the meanings of Greek here, if you care to look at the concept. [1]

That is, unless you're also not trainable.... :) --No938 (talk) 02:35, 24 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

@@ Line 4: / Line 4: @@
 For a March 2005 deletion debate over this page see [[Wikipedia:Votes for deletion/Idiot]]
 ----
+jeg er ikke en idiot, men det er du dit klamme svin, jeg har ingen penge men det har du dit klamme svin gi' mig nogle eller jeg smadre dit fjæs imod en.... småkage! eller en mur dit møgbelortede svin
-Not to be confused with 'Imbecile' -  which defines far lower intelligence and is harder to spell.
-I think we can expand this quite a bit. The history of the idiot would be quite interesting. - [[User:Ta bu shi da yu|Ta bu shi da yu]] 00:33, 22 Dec 2004 (UTC)
-:I agree - it shouldn't be moved to wiktionary (or at least it should only be copied). [[User:Thue|Thue]] | [[User talk:Thue|talk]] 11:09, 18 Jan 2005 (UTC)
 == Re:  Greek origin of [[Idiot]] ==