- The term is used with some hostility to prove a point. Addressing another as “fool” shows that you are displeased and it is less violent than using expletives towards another.
Fool
noun
Used to address someone when they are acting in a manner not pleasing to you.
Etymology : Circa 1300, fools referred to silly or stupid persons. It was more playful of a term back in the 1300s than it is now. The term has not quite gone through a pejoration, but its meaning has developed from a near neutral meaning to a negative one.
Source : Me being displeased with another person. “Wow fool, you knocked over my hat” [Mid November 2013]
Last modified: 12 December 2013