Thursday, March 10: Femme Fatale
WHO’S A NIMROD?
by Deborah Elliott-Upton
Nimrod – n. a skillful or enthusiastic hunter —Encarta Dictionary
Many of grew up believing being referred to as a “nimrod” was an insult. And yes, it probably was in grade school. By middle school years, we may have wised-up and found the correct definition while we were also looking up all those other words we weren’t learning in school from teachers, but from our classmates. I remember this one kid who kept saying dam and hell because he looked them in the dictionary and knew they had double meanings. “My parents can’t do a thing about it,” he boasted during homeroom. (He was an early incarnation of Bart Simpson). Maybe his parents couldn’t do anything, but the principal had a remedy for his outbursts. He liked to call everyone a nimrod and I don’t think he meant to imply the skilled hunter definition.
Nimrod, great-grandson of Noah, is known for building a ziggurat to worship God with a temple at the top of the structure. Scholars differ in their assumptions of whether Nimrod was a great warrior or an arrogant king. He may have been either a renowned hunter, but it is not known if he hunted only animals or also men to use as slaves.
What is clear is that Nimrod International Journal of Prose and Poetry consistently publish short stories worth reading in their magazine and promote a contest each year. The Nimrod Literary Awards include the Katherine Anne Porter Prize in Fiction. (Information can be found at) The University of Tulsa also sponsors the Nimrod Literary Awards Conference for Readers and Writers. Not bad for a bunch of Nimrods, huh?
Would I enjoy being called a Nimrod? I think I just might.
How weird. I never knew this ‘nerd/klutz’ definition of nimrod! I feel like I dropped into the Twilight Zone and I used to watch Bugs Bunny, too.
Growing up with educators and Civil War history, I knew nimrod only as a sharpshooter. Pity my lack of education, especially since my teachers didn’t look like the HotForWords chick. (sigh)
ROFL over this one. My sisters and I STILL use nimrod as an ‘insult’ (though a funny kind of one). I have never looked it up and had no idea what it meant. It was just a funny word to throw out. I loved this!!
Nimrod is a real word! Thanks for helping to educate me Debbie. I will now have to investigate “dufus” and “dweeb”.
When I was a kid, “nimrod” was used as an insult. I always lumped it together with words like “dimwit” and “numbnuts.” They all do have similar rings to them, don’t they?
Proper names often get abused as pejoratives. I seem to recall the name “Elmer” used at my elementary school to apply to unrefined, hillbilly types. That’s kind of funny when you think about it, especially after watching the YouTube explanation.
(I dunno whether Deborah or JLW was responsible for the “Hot For Words” video getting inserted into the column, but WOW. Up until now I thought being a philologist made me a kind of nimrod.)
All credit for selecting the video goes to Deborah.
Lisa,
I don’t mean to be a nimrod but was does ROFL mean?
BTW, ROFL = ‘rolling on floor laughing’, FWIW.
LOL (That’s one of my most despised internet terms!)
In a Monk episode, Monk thinks he’s really cool because he’s starting to use the internet. In an uncomfortable meeting, he says “LOL out loud.”
OK, Leigh, I am betting you just made up the FWIW just so we’d ask…(muttering under my breath), Nimrod.
As I watched the clip, I came to the conclusion that the way a person pronounces “Nimrod,” seems to make a difference in how a person understands it. For example, when I last called a person Nimrod, using my Texan drawl, they were offended. However, I think they would have enjoyed it if the blond on the video called them a Nimrod, regardless of the meaning.
For What It’s Worth, I hate LOL too. And BTW, I’m thinking you guys are all a bunch of nimrods.
Rory, I’m with you — I think the way it’s pronounced makes a world of difference. And I’m used to being called much worse anyhow . . .
So let me get this straight; when folks said Cheney was a nimrod, they weren’t saying he was a great shot? That’s disappointing.
Hey, just askin’.