village idiot
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English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From the saying “Every village has its village idiot”, alleged to be an old Yiddish proverb.[1]
Noun[edit]
village idiot (plural village idiots)
- A person widely known in their community for their stupidity and ignorant behaviour.
- 1825, The Abduction; Or, the Adventures of Major Sarney: A Story of the Times of Charles the Second, volume II, Charles Knight, page 170:
- It is true that the Doocot was occasionally appropriated to other purposes than that of a tolbooth for the sorner, the drunken gipsy, the village idiot at the change of the moon, the swearing bluegown, and the contumacious birdnester on the sabbath; […]
- 1930, Norman Lindsay, Redheap, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1965, →OCLC, page 85:
- "So kindly keep the vainglorious enumeration of your pots for the benefit of those village idiots who compose your particular set of boozing companions."
- 2023 March 14, Charlie Nash, “How Jordan Peterson became the internet's village idiot”, in New Statesman[2]:
- Then [Jordan] Peterson transformed; whether due to a well-documented health crisis, or due to his non-stop tweeting, he has, in recent years, unwittingly become a 21st-century village idiot.
Usage notes[edit]
Usually used in the singular with the definite article (“the village idiot”) or preceded by another definite determiner (“its”, “our”, ...).
Translations[edit]
person widely known in their community for their stupidity and ignorant behaviour
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See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ Abigail Van Buren (1999 March 26) “Year 2000 is not quite the new millennium”, in Chicago Tribune[1], Tribune Publishing.