difference between dumb and stupid

[Jamie_K]

Very articulately put, Amy. I agree with all of it.

[MrPedantic]

I think “dumb” for “stupid” has its place in BrE. “Dummy”, which derives from “dumb”, has indicated a “blockhead” since the late 18th century; British schoolchildren have called each other “dumbo” for several decades.

Cf. Robert Graves’s play on the word in:

Children are dumb to say how hot the day is,
How hot the scent is of the summer rose,
How dreadful the black wastes of evening sky,
How dreadful the tall soldiers drumming by.

But we have speech, to chill the angry day,
And speech, to dull the rose’s cruel scent.
We spell away the overhanging night,
We spell away the soldiers and the fright.

There’s a cool web of language winds us in,
Retreat from too much joy or too much fear:
We grow sea-green at last and coldly die
In brininess and volubility.

But if we let our tongues lose self-possession,
Throwing off language and its watery clasp
Before our death, instead of when death comes,
Facing the wide glare of the children’s day,
Facing the rose, the dark sky and the drums,
We shall go mad no doubt and die that way.

(I’m not sure why “crazy” should be excluded, either, in that particular test: “thin partitions”, etc.)

MrP

[Yankee]

.
You’re right, MrP. Come to think of it, the word ‘crazy’ isn’t that far-fetched a choice for the test sentence either.
.

[MariaEbb]

There is a book called What’s the difference written by Norman Moss. There are many words that differ from British English and American language.
/Maria

[Jamie_K]

@MariaEbb

There is a book called What’s the difference written by Norman Moss. There are many words that differ from British English and American language.

Be careful of those lists of “differences” in British and American English, because many of the items are not true.

[MariaEbb]

Well I am Swedish so I have to trust the dictionaries until I get a better word or expression by a native.
I know that the English language changes very fast. The word “hey” has changed it’s meaning for example and it puzzles me
/Maria

[Jamie_K]

“Hey” used to be a noise to get people’s attention. Now more and more Americans are using it in the same way the Swedish word “hej” is used. I think it’s because it has always been used that way a lot in the deep south, where the language has old, old Nordic influence, probably predating the split of the various Germanic languages.