Stupidity

maritime city whose inhabitants were known proverbially for their stupidity. [Gk. Folklore: Benét, 2]

inhabitants of rural Greek district; considered by Athenians to be dolts. [Gk. Folklore: Brewer Dictionary, 124]

mythical place inhabited by amiable simpletons. [Jew. Folklore: Rosten, 84]

chooses cuckoo’s singing over nightingale’s. [Ger. Folk-lore and Poetry: Brentano and Arnim, Des Knaben Wunderhorn; NCE, 363]

Dull, Anthony

archexample of stupidity. [Br. Lit.: Love’s Labour’s Lost]

Elbow

ignorant, blundering constable. [Br. Lit.: Measure for Measure]

Gimpel

a baker, foolish to the point of saintliness, is cuckolded and mocked, becomes a Wandering Jew. [Jewish Lit.: Singer Gimpel the Fool in Weiss, 174]

Mendel, Menachem

hopeless schlemiel who devises impossible enterprises. [Yid. Lit.: Sholem Aleichem in Haydn & Fuller, 685]

pomegranate

symbol of foolishness. [Flower Symbolism: Flora Symbolica, 176]

Simple Simon

simpleton of bumptious ways. [Nurs. Rhyme: Opie, 385]

Slender

“though well-landed, an idiot.” [Br. Lit.: Merry Wives of Windsor]

Smith, Knucklehead

dummy with self-referring name. [TV: “Winchell and Mahoney” in Terrace, II, 190–192]

Snerd, Mortimer

a real dummy. [Radio: “The Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy Show” in Buxton, 76–77]

Stephen

simpleton; made gapingstock by all. [Br. Lit.: Every Man in His Humour]

three wise men of Gotham

fools momentarily afloat in a light bowl. [Nuns. Rhyme: Opie, 193]

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References in periodicals archive

A practical definition of stupidity is this: Knowing what is wrong, seeing what is wrong, hearing what is wrong, feeling what is wrong, but continuing to defer to the perpetrators of these wrongs

Our peak season of prolonged stupidity

History and all that it can teach is absolutely useless to those inflicted with stupidity. And not only history but any fact or truth will be rendered helpless against those who resist intelligence and cling tightly to stupidity.

Challenging intelligence

The other day I was walking down the footpath on the main road in Bromsgrove and I could not believe the stupidity that I witnessed.

Binmen's stupidity blocked the street; Letters & Emails

'It's plain stupidity to call for legalized smuggling of products.

Plan to legalize rice smugglers' operations hit

Judge Simon Batiste said Rose was likely to suffer medical problems for years to come as a result of his "staggering stupidity".

Man riding stolen motorbike with no helmet slides under wheels of car as judge slams 'staggering stupidity'; Nathan Rose was seriously injured after he crashed the stolen bike while speeding around a corner without a helmet in Northumberland

"To dump them and to destroy their training is an act of crass stupidity."

Failed Carillion dumps its last 341 apprentices

The council has described it as a 'new level of stupidity'

New fly-tipping technique condemned as 'new level of stupidity'; 'It turns what we consider to be an environmental issue into a potentially very serious public safety issue'

One woman, who took a picture said: "I couldn't believe the sheer stupidity of what I was seeing.

IDIOTS

Network Rail called for an end to the "entirely avoidable stupidity of lorry drivers who crash into bridges because they don't know the height of their vehicles".

Network Rail slams 'stupidity of lorry drivers' hitting bridges

"God willing, this litany of stupidity will be the epitaph of the Haqqani network," he said.

Hostage Taliban killed my daughter

Surely this stupidity is encouraging criminality on roads.

Car makers guilty of stupidity; LETTERS&NOSTALGIA

One can admire in all its grandeur not only the stupidity the proposal contains but also the political schizophrenia that reigns in the camp of the so-called in-between space.

Political stupidity is clearly hereditary