Kim Jong Un issued a scathing 510-word statement (translated) in response to Donald Trump's United Nation address -- a speech in which the president called the North Korean leader "Rocket Man" and said he was "on a suicide mission."
Jong Un's ominous, at times rambling, retort threatens to make Trump "pay dearly" for his remarks. He calls the president "mentally deranged." And yet, it's one word, the third to last word of the translated copy, that has all of America -- and much of the globe -- in a total tizzy: Dotard.
[NATL] Donald Trump's Presidency in Pictures
Huh? A dotard? Is that like a dolt? Sort of, hundreds of years ago, according to Merriam-Webster. The dictionary says the word meant "imbecile" when it was first used in the 14th century, but it's now taken on a different meaning.
According to the official Merriam-Webster definition, "dotage" is "a state or period of senile decay marked by decline of mental poise and alertness." The dictionary's Twitter account says searches for the term were "high as a kite" once Jong Un's comments were released.
#DotardTrump was still trending on Twitter Friday morning, and Merriam-Webster got tens of thousands of retweets and likes on a series of explainers.
