#doddering

[stoicmike]

The members of a gerontocracy are deluded that they aren’t like all the other doddering old fools... -- Michael Lipsey

[thewordwideweb]

A doddering old fool

I got into a discussion with a friend the other day about a “doddering old fool.” Now, you might suspect we were talking about a well-known politician, but alas, no. The doddering fellow in question was me. 

I told my friend I objected to that characterization. I haven’t doddered in years! (Well, months, anyway).

And that got me thinking about doddering – which, in addition to being somewhat insulting, is the Word of the Day. 

Where did the word come from? I figured doddering was just a corruption of “tottering.” Well, yes and no. (Mostly, no). Doddering does mean “shaking, trembling, or tottering; walking in a slow and unsteady manner because of old age” and by extension, “feeble, senile.” 

According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, “dodder” is most likely a variant of “dadder,” from the Middle English “daderen,” (to quake, tremble), and in addition to “totter,” it is probably also related to a whole bunch of other words like “dither, diddle, dandle, and toddle,” all of which relate to types of movement. 

So, once again, I resent being called “doddering.” Senescent, yes. Superannuated, possibly. But trembling, quaking, tottering, feeble, senile…I’m sorry, what were we talking about again?

[5wordsaday]

doddering (adj.)

trembling, shaking