Concept in Definition ABC

A fool is a person who is intellectually limited or with little reasoning. In a sense colloquial, it is said that someone is a fool to indicate that he is a fool. The noun corresponding to this adjective would be mindless.

As for its etymological origin, it comes from Latin and is the result of the combination of a expression Latin, mind captus, which can be translated as private or taken of mind. Thus, in beginning the mind captus was someone with some mental problem, but over time it became a derogatory term and an insult.

The term idiot in Spain is in disuse and is part of the vocabulary of other times

Therefore, we are before a dying word, which can appear in the literature classical, in crossword puzzles and, in general, in contexts of language that are not current. It should be borne in mind that words also go out of style and the vocabulary of a language is permanently evolution, with idioms and jargons that appear and eventually fall into oblivion. In other times, goofy was a word in common use and today we can value it as a cultism.

Particularities and "nice" synonyms for goofy

There are many ways to disqualify someone for their intellectual clumsiness. The best known is the word fool. However, in Spanish it is also used fool, lelo, simple, bobo, merluzo or asshole. Other terms are less common, such as papanatas, pazguato, zopenco, zote, bodoque or ceporro.

On the other hand, we must not forget some expressions to indicate the intellectual simplicity of someone: missing a boil, being agilipollado, being alelado, sack of pears or fried egg, among others many. It should be noted that certain expressions are known only in a country concrete, as happens with the expression fried egg in Peru.

Different ways of saying silly in America

If goofy equals goofy, it's worth a short tour of the geography Americana for some synonyms for fool. In Argentina it could be said in various ways, such as boludo, pelotudo, pavote or gallego.

In Cuba words like guanajo or guacarnaco are used. In Mexico the terms guarín or meco are very popular. In Chile, a fool is an agüeonao, a longi or an idiot. In Venezuela, silly is equivalent to rooster, asshole or gafo. In Peru, the word huamán is very popular. In Ecuador, the word mamerto is used and in Uruguay, choto or boludo.

Photos: iStock - Martine Doucet / Rich Legg