Kim’s ‘dotard’ insult spurs laughs, highlights words’ power

North Korean leader Kim Jung Un lashes back at Trump’s ‘Rocket Man’ snipe, sending many scurrying to online dictionaries and offering lessons on speaking the language of your audience.

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Seldom do fire-and-brimstone threats offer laughs or communication lessons.

North Korea’s bellicose leader, Kim Jong Un, offered both yesterday when he threatened, in a statement directed at President Donald Trump, “I will surely and definitely tame the deranged U.S. dotard with fire.”

Yet it was the word “dotard,” that caught fire, in the form of a trending #DotardTrump hashtag and a flurry of internet users educating themselves on the burn heard ’round the world:

📈 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

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