Talk:Dummkopf

Offensive?

Is this a bad word? I heard it in Horrible Histories, a British tv show that is generally appropriate for older children. Just making sure so that I do not offend anyone. — This unsigned comment was added by 2020‎ 2601:203:4002:a490:b969:9f:7b79:3d29 (talk • contribs) at 20:12, 17 May (UTC).

Nobody's gonna get offended. --Undurbjáni (talk) 20:37, 17 May 2020 (UTC)

@Lambiam: Does German use dumm for "dumb" in the sense of a person lacking speech still? Or is that archaic or whatnot? Tharthan (talk) 14:00, 19 May 2020 (UTC)

Applied to people, the primary meaning of dumm is “not smart”, which (like English stupid) may refer to a lasting condition of intelligence deficiency (“you are too stupid to understand physics”), or to occasional imprudent behaviour (“how could I have been so stupid?”). There is no connotation of muteness. This carries over to Dummkopf. (Actually, I question whether the core meaning of Proto-Germanic *dumbaz is “mute”. I think it means “obtuse”, “not sharp”, “addled” with regard to using one’s natural facilities, from which both the English sense of “mute” and the German sense of “stupid” arose.) German speakers will not be offended by the use of the term as long as you don’t apply it to them or their loved ones. I can imagine PC-sensitive English-speaking folks who don’t know German being offended for no good reason, but that is because they are Dummköpfe.  --Lambiam 19:46, 19 May 2020 (UTC)