{"id":1180,"date":"2010-03-31T15:00:34","date_gmt":"2010-03-31T22:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/?p=1180"},"modified":"2015-12-10T03:57:48","modified_gmt":"2015-12-10T11:57:48","slug":"the-words-moron-imbecile-and-idiot-mean-different-things","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/2010\/03\/the-words-moron-imbecile-and-idiot-mean-different-things\/","title":{"rendered":"The Words Moron, Imbecile, and Idiot Mean Different Things"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"pf-content\"><p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/moron.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-21278\" src=\"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/moron-340x340.jpg\" alt=\"moron\" width=\"340\" height=\"340\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/moron-340x340.jpg 340w, https:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/moron-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/moron-640x640.jpg 640w, https:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/moron-90x90.jpg 90w, https:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/moron-75x75.jpg 75w, https:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/moron.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 340px) 100vw, 340px\" \/><\/a><a href='http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com' title='Interesting Facts'>Today I found out<\/a> the words moron, imbecile, and idiot mean different things.\u00a0 In psychology, an idiot has the least intelligence on the IQ scale (this now is equivalent to someone who is mentally retarded or the more politically correct &#8220;mentally challenged&#8221;); an imbecile is not quite as dumb as an idiot and is now considered equivalent to moderate retardation; a moron is then the highest level of intelligence for someone who is mentally retarded, thus considered as being mildly mentally retarded.\u00a0 Specifically, those who have an IQ between 0 and 25 are idiots; IQs between 26 and 50 are considered imbeciles; and those who have an IQ between 51 and 70 are considered morons.<\/p>\n<p>These terms were popular in psychology as associated with intelligence on an IQ test until around the 1960s.\u00a0 They were then replaced with the terms mild retardation, moderate retardation, severe retardation, and profound retardation.\u00a0 In addition to this, other factors besides IQ are now used in diagnosing these levels of mental deficiency.<\/p>\n<p>If you liked this article and the <span id=\"bonusfacts\">Bonus<\/span> Facts below, you might also enjoy:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/2010\/02\/how-gay-came-to-mean-homosexual\/\" target=\"_blank\">How &#8220;Gay&#8221; Came to Mean &#8220;Homosexual&#8221;<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/2010\/11\/why-turkeys-are-called-turkeys\/\" target=\"_blank\">Why Turkeys are Called Turkeys<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/2013\/05\/where-catch-22-came-from-and-the-origins-of-other-famous-words-and-phrases\/\" target=\"_blank\">Origin of &#8220;Catch-22&#8221; and Other Common Phrases<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span id=\"bonusfacts\">Bonus<\/span> Facts:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Before &#8220;Down&#8217;s Syndrome&#8221; was called such, people with Down&#8217;s syndrome were called &#8220;Mongolian idiots&#8221; and the syndrome itself was called &#8220;mongolism&#8221;.\u00a0 This comes from the fact that people thought that Down&#8217;s syndrome individuals resembled Mongolians.<\/li>\n<li>In Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, New Mexico, and Ohio, idiots don&#8217;t have the right to vote.<\/li>\n<li>Ironically, the term retarded was used to replace the terms idiot, moron, and imbecile due to the fact that these terms gradually became thought of as derogatory.\u00a0 This obviously only worked for a while and now &#8220;retarded&#8221; is itself considered a derogatory term.\u00a0 It seems any word that basically means &#8220;low intelligence&#8221; is fated to be thought of as derogatory eventually.\u00a0 So it&#8217;s only a matter of time before politically correct terms like &#8220;mentally handicapped&#8221; will come to be derogatory themselves.<\/li>\n<li>Retarded comes from the Latin &#8220;retardare&#8221;, which means &#8220;to make slow, delay, keep back, or hinder&#8221;.\u00a0 The first record of its use for someone considered mentally deficient was in 1895.<\/li>\n<li>The first IQ test was created by French psychologists Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon in 1911.\u00a0 This initial test measure intelligence by having children point to their nose and count pennies.<\/li>\n<li>In California, idiots are one of six types of people who are not capable of committing any form of crime.\u00a0 In 2007 the term &#8220;idiot&#8221; was replace with &#8220;persons who are mentally incapacitated&#8221; in the California legal wording of the penal code on this issue.<\/li>\n<li>The word &#8220;moron&#8221; was coined in 1910 by psychologist Henry H. Goddard and was derived from the ancient Greek word &#8220;moros&#8221;, which meant &#8220;dull&#8221;.<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;Idiot&#8221; derives from the ancient Greek, &#8220;idio&#8221;, meaning &#8220;person lacking professional skill&#8221; or &#8220;mentally deficient person incapable of ordinary reasoning&#8221;.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<span class=\"collapseomatic \" id=\"id69efbc1ed1677\"  tabindex=\"0\" title=\"Expand for References\"    >Expand for References<\/span><div id=\"target-id69efbc1ed1677\" class=\"collapseomatic_content \">\n<ul>\n<li><a title=\"Idiot vs Moron\" href=\"http:\/\/www.neatorama.com\/2006\/12\/11\/whats-the-difference-idiot-vs-moron\/\" target=\"_blank\">Idiot vs. Moron<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"Mental Retardation\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Mental_retardation\" target=\"_blank\">Mental Retardation<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"Idiot\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Idiot_%28usage%29\" target=\"_blank\">Idiot<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"Moron\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Moron_%28psychology%29\" target=\"_blank\">Moron<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"IQ Basics\" href=\"http:\/\/www.iqcomparisonsite.com\/IQBasics.aspx\" target=\"_blank\">IQ Basics<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><a href='http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com' title='Interesting Facts'>Today I found out<\/a> the words moron, imbecile, and idiot mean different things.\u00a0 In psychology, an idiot has the least intelligence on the IQ scale (this now is equivalent to someone who is mentally retarded or the more politically correct &#8220;mentally challenged&#8221;); an imbecile is not quite as dumb as an idiot and is now considered equivalent to moderate retardation; [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21278,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,7],"tags":[233,137,234,131,124],"class_list":["post-1180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-i-found-out","category-language","tag-definitions","tag-etymology","tag-iq","tag-language-2","tag-psychology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1180"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1180\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44819,"href":"https:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1180\/revisions\/44819"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}