# Is Trump confused?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589>\
**Category:** Politics & Elections\
**Tags:** trump\
**Created:** [January 24, 2024, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589 "2024-01-24T13:53:03Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 29

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**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\
**Post date:** [May 4, 2024, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/561 "2024-05-04T21:32:18Z")

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> [@BobLibDem](#):
>
> Which is especially confounding given his education in nuclear reactors and nuclear physics.

He used a perfectly cromulent alt pronunciation. 🤪

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**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\
**Post date:** [May 4, 2024, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/562 "2024-05-04T21:55:40Z")

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> [@Smapti](#):
>
> “He’s no good on flation”

He meant fellatio.

> [@Smapti](#):
>
> “It’s even more becocked”

See?

> [@DrDeth](#):
>
> And the way Jimmy Carter said Nuclear drove some people nuts.

That was peanuts!

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**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\
**Post date:** [May 4, 2024, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/563 "2024-05-04T21:58:01Z")

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> [@Smapti](#):
>
> “It’s even more becocked”
> 
> [x.com](https://twitter.com/BidenHQ/status/1785751842657312846)

Pandering to his Yiddish-speaking base?

[https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/verkakte](https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/verkakte)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\
**Post date:** [May 4, 2024, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/564 "2024-05-04T22:04:16Z")

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> [@anny\_m](#):
>
> When reading off a teleprompter, aren’t you supposed to parse the meaning of what you’re saying?

[Ask Ron Burgundy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMXRxNbPvGI).

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**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\
**Post date:** [May 4, 2024, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/565 "2024-05-04T22:56:36Z")

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> [@BobLibDem](#):
>
> > [@Skywatcher](#):
> >
> > I would give him a soft pass on “Venezueler”
> 
> Oh yes, I still can hear JFK talking about Cuber

Was gonna say, every clip I hear of that it just grates…

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**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\
**Post date:** [May 4, 2024, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/566 "2024-05-04T23:18:08Z")

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> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#):
>
> Pandering to his Yiddish-speaking base?
> 
> [verkakte - Wiktionary, the free dictionary](https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/verkakte)

That’s what I assumed he was trying to say, also, but of course he covfefe’d it into near incomprehensibility.

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**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\
**Post date:** [May 4, 2024, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/567 "2024-05-04T23:27:27Z")

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> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#):
>
> Pandering to his Yiddish-speaking base?

You guys give him way too much credit. I doubt Loser Donald even knows what Yiddish is, and if you told him it’s a language spoken by about a quarter million people in America, he’d probably start telling you he just got a phone call from “a very respected person” who said “Sir, there’s no prisons in Yidland any more, they sent all their criminals here”.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\
**Post date:** [May 4, 2024, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/568 "2024-05-04T23:33:53Z")

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Well it’s in Wiktionary now as a synonym for verkakte, except that the entry was only created yesterday. But we two are far from the only people who have thought that that was he was, in his classic distinctive manner, attempting to say.

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**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2024, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/569 "2024-05-05T01:21:15Z")

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> [@JRDelirious](#):
>
> Was gonna say, every clip I hear of that it just grates…

Just a different accent.

The USA does have regional accents, and sometimes they sound odd to those not used to it.

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**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2024, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/570 "2024-05-05T02:30:29Z")

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I mean, the speech in question was at a rural airport outside Saginaw, MI, and unless Saginaw has a massive Hasidic population I’m not aware of, it seems like a stretch.

Really, it seems pointless trying to play “What Trump MEANT when he said that was” when it’s clear that there’s no greater meaning to anything he says other than that he’s in a tizzy because of something he saw on TV or he wants you to know that anything good that happens was his idea and he deserves all of the credit for it.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2024, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/571 "2024-05-05T13:34:28Z")

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> [@Smapti](#):
>
> I mean, the speech in question was at a rural airport outside Saginaw, MI, and unless Saginaw has a massive Hasidic population I’m not aware of, it seems like a stretch.

Except Trump both lived in New York, and is a poorly educated ignoramus. It’s entirely possible he heard smarter people than him using this word, and latched onto it as “Smart people talk”, without realizing that it was Yiddish in the first place. So he’s trying to sound smart, and screwing it all up, as usual.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2024, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/572 "2024-05-05T13:37:58Z")

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People from all classes that live and work in NYC, usually pick up some Yiddish. It is basically part of the local dialect along with some Italian words.

Here is a partial list of borrowed Yiddish words:

- Putz: To describe someone who is acting like a jerk or a fool
- Bupkis: Means “nothing”
- Chutzpah: Means “supreme self-confidence”
- Schlep: To carry something with difficulty, or to drag or haul
- Schmooze: To chat or engage in casual conversation
- Nosh: To snack or eat between meals
- Oy vey: An expression of dismay or exasperation
- Meshugge: Crazy or eccentric
- Kvetch: To complain or whine, often about trivial matters
- Shlemiel: An incompetent person
- Klutz: A clumsy person
- Schmuck: A deplorable or foolish person
- Schtick: A gimmick or a routine, often used in a humorous context
- Farpitzet: To get dolled up or dressed up
- Farmisht: Confused
- Futz: To fool or play around
- Nuschlep: Chaperone
- Schlimazel: Means “unlucky”
- Schmatte: Means “rag”
- Shiksa: Means “non-Jewish woman”
- Spiel: Means “to speak one’s opinion at length”
- Tchotchke: Means “small decorative item”
- Yenta: Means “busybody”

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2024, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/573 "2024-05-05T14:04:50Z")

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Nice list. I’m a Gentile from Southern California, and I grew up hearing and using a lot (at least half) of those words. (Of course I grew up with TV and movies.)

> [@What\_Exit](#):
>
> - Putz: To describe someone who is acting like a jerk or a fool  
> …
> 
> - Futz: To fool or play around

In the mid-'80s my boss was Jewish, from Rochester, NY, and educated at MIT. He once told a couple/three of us, ‘No putzing around.’ I thought the way he used ‘putz’ sounded funny, so I said, ‘Putzing?’ He said, ‘No putzing.’ So I still say ‘putzing’ instead of ‘futzing’.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2024, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/574 "2024-05-05T15:45:58Z")

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> [@What\_Exit](#):
>
> People from all classes that live and work in NYC, usually pick up some Yiddish. It is basically part of the local dialect along with some Italian words.

I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m familiar with many of those words even though I’ve only been to New York twice and never stepped foot outside the airport. I don’t hear them every day, but other than 3-4 of them I’d recognize them.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2024, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/575 "2024-05-05T15:53:56Z")

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> [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
>
> He said, ‘No putzing.’

Actually, he said ‘Yeah, no putzing.’ Funnier with the ‘yeah’.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2024, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/576 "2024-05-05T18:06:45Z")

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Trump’s vocabulary isn’t large enough to use a Yiddishism. You folks are giving him way too much credit.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2024, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/577 "2024-05-05T18:08:36Z")

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But it can still describe Trump. I see the list does not include “yutz”. Nor Lionel Yutz, attorney.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2024, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/578 "2024-05-05T18:18:02Z")

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> [@Dr\_Paprika](#):
>
> But it can still describe Trump.

I think ‘yutz’ is too mild. I don’t associate malevolence with it.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2024, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/579 "2024-05-05T18:23:18Z")

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Ganef?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2024, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-trump-confused/996589/580 "2024-05-05T18:36:46Z")

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Momzer.

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