North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un, made an unprecedented statement on Thursday, calling President Donald Trump “a frightened dog” and a “gangster fond of playing with fire,” according to NBC News.
Kim’s comments come just days after Trump issued a warning to North Korea in a threatening speech at the U.N. General Assembly. In an aggressive speech, Trump said he may be forced to “destroy” North Korea, referring to the country’s leader as “Rocket Man.”
https://twitter.com/DrewLiquerman/status/910158702539415552Kim responded Thursday with a statement that warned Trump for what could lay ahead for him.
"Far from making remarks of any persuasive power that can be viewed to be helpful to defusing tension, he made unprecedented rude nonsense one has never heard from any of his predecessors," Kim said. "A frightened dog barks louder."
He also referred to Trump as a “dotard.”
"I will surely and definitely tame the mentally deranged U.S. dotard with fire," Kim said.
What is a dotard?: Multiple article across the internet have worked to define the word, since search traffic for it climbed insanely high, according to Meriam Webster.
The archane term, which originates from the 14th century, originally meant “imbecile,” according to Merriam-Webster.
NPR South Korean journalist Jihye Lee explained it this way:
Merriam-Webster also shared a deeper look into the word, saying it means someone who is in their state of “dotage,” which means "a state or period of senile decay marked by decline of mental poise and alertness.”
Dotard, which derives from the Middle English word “doten,” originally meant imbecile.
Similarly, Oxford defines it as: “An old person, especially one who has become weak or senile.”
The word has been used several times in history. It appeared in “The Canterbury Tales,” by Chaucer, as well as “The Merchant of Venice” and “King Lear” from William Shakespeare, The Washington Post reported.
J.R.R. Tolkien also used the term in his literature and to insult Andrew Jackson, according to The Washington Post.
The term has lost popularity since the 1800s, though. But, as one Associated Press reported pointed out, those in North Korea are “using very old Korean-English dictionaries,” which explains the word’s usage.
But, according to the Associated Press, the translation included the word “neukdari,” which can mean a “dotard” or “aged (old) person.”
And since the word “michigwangi” — meaning a crazy or mad person — proceeds it, “more accurate translation might have been a ‘crazy old man’ or an ‘old lunatic,’” according to the Associated Press.