# Idiots, Morons & Imbeciles

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiots-morons-imbeciles/112839>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [June 7, 2002, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiots-morons-imbeciles/112839 "2002-06-07T14:29:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![av8rmike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/edb3f5/32.png) [@av8rmike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/av8rmike)\
**Post date:** [June 7, 2002, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiots-morons-imbeciles/112839/1 "2002-06-07T14:29:31Z")

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The Ask Jeeves[sup][symbol]â[/symbol][/sup] desk calendar gets the big laugh for the day with today’s entry:

> [@](#):
>
> **What’s the difference between idiots, morons, and imbeciles?**
> 
> These words were originally designated as legitimate medical classifications to differentiate among different levels of mental retardation. Those classified as morons were thought to have the mental, physical, and emotional capacity of a 12-year-old; imbeciles were believed to have the capacities of a 7-year-old; and idiots were thought to resemble 3-year-olds.

And here I thought they were all the same thing. Nothing deeper than that, just a MPTIMS.