North Korea's Leader Calls Trump a 'Dotard,' Twitter Rejoices at Le Mot Juste
With Merriam-Webster reporting that their online dictionary has had a run on the definition, social media erupts with delight at their choice of translation

Famous for using bombastic, derogatory and often-awkward English slams against enemies, North Korean state media sent people scrambling for dictionaries Friday with a dispatch that quotes leader Kim Jong Un calling President Donald Trump "the mentally deranged U.S. dotard."
The what?
Dotard is a translation of a Korean word, "neukdari," which is a derogatory reference to an old person.
📈 Kim Jong Un calls Trump a mentally deranged U.S. dotard. Searches for 'dotard' are high as a kite. https://t.co/HztPoLSjXi
— Merriam-Webster (@MerriamWebster) September 21, 2017
By making people look up the word #dotard, Kim Jong Un has done more for American education than Betsy DeVos.
— The Incredible Sulk (@TurnUp_TheTweet) September 22, 2017
It was used in an unusual direct statement from Kim that the Korean Central News Agency transmitted verbatim in response to Trump's speech at the UN this week, in which he mocked Kim as a "Rocket Man" on a "suicide mission," and said that if the U.S. is "forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea."
.@realDonaldTrump best efforts:
— Edan Clay (@EdanClay) September 22, 2017
Lyin Ted
Little Marco
Low Energy Jeb
Crooked Hillary
RocketMan?
Kim Jong-un
DEFINES @POTUS FOREVER#DOTARD😂 pic.twitter.com/yTFyI7HjPe
Merriam-Webster Dictionary announced that people were rushing to look up the word, and social media soon erupted with people sharing the word as a new hashtag. Many expressed pleasure at having learned the word so that they, too, could apply it to Trump.
Google Trends graph for the term 'Dotard' over the last seven days #Dotard #DotardTrump pic.twitter.com/hUfvaq1pYi
— Ash Whitley (@ashwhitley_) September 22, 2017
Past KCNA reports have used the Korean word against South Korean conservatives, but they rarely translate it as dotard.
#dotard
— Funny Or Die (@funnyordie) September 22, 2017
do·tard (dōdərd) noun
A word you didn't previously know existed, but googled today and said, "Damn, that's pretty accurate."
Sometimes, it is translated into the neutral "old people" or omitted, depending on the context or the importance of the statement. KCNA last used the word in February to describe supporters of ousted South Korean President Park Geun-hye, whom it also called "neukdari" and a "prostitute." Before that, KCNA called Park's conservative predecessor, Lee Myung-bak, "the traitor like a dotard."
Donald Trump: "I have the best words, Rocket Man."
— Donald J. Trump (@BiglyPrez) September 22, 2017
Kim Jong-un: "Hold my covfefe, #dotard."
So why did KCNA use the word?
Rocket Man was hoisted by his own #Dotard.
— Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) September 22, 2017
Haha everyone's looking up 'dotard' and saying "oh, yeah, that's bang on actually"
— Graham Linehan (@Glinner) September 22, 2017
It may have simply resorted to a Korean-English dictionary. Putting "neukdari" into a popular online Korean-English dictionary in South Korea returns two English equivalents: an "aged (old) person" and a "dotard."
There has been a widening linguistic divide between the rival Koreas, but "neukdari" has the same meaning in North Korea as in the South, according to a South Korean organization involved in a now-stalled project to produce a joint dictionary.
Rocket man & Dotard meet in nambia to avoid another bowling green massacre, Obama tapes the entire thing via microwave #dotard
— rjb (@RobinJOJO) September 22, 2017
The Korean version of Friday's dispatch places "michigwangi," which means a mad or crazy person, before "neukdari," so a more accurate translation might have been a "crazy old man" or an "old lunatic."
In the past, KCNA has occasionally not published English versions of crude insults directed at U.S. leaders or officials in an apparent effort to differentiate its statements for domestic audiences and outsiders.
KCNA called President Barack Obama a "monkey" in 2014, but attributed the remarks to a factory worker and did not issue an English version. Later the same year, an unidentified North Korean defense commission spokesman called U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry a wolf with a "hideous lantern jaw," but again only in Korean.
After Trump threatened North Korea with "fire and fury" in August, Gen. Kim Rak Gyom, commander of the North's strategic rocket forces, was quoted in a KCNA Korean dispatch as saying Trump showed his "senility" again. But the KCNA English dispatch omitted that word.
Woke still thinking that yes our president @realdonaldtrump is a #dotard. There's no better word. #DotardTrump
— Brian G. Fay (@brianfay) September 22, 2017
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