30+ Colorful Ways of Calling Someone STUPID In English

English idioms seem to be the most colorful when they concern the characteristics of a person. This is especially true when an idiom is used to describe someone as dumb, stupid, or slow-witted. There is a large group of related idioms that use the same metaphor of something missing, or not having enough of something, and other related expressions, to say that someone is not very smart. They are all indirect ways of saying someone is stupid. As a curator of idioms, I have never seen so many variables on a theme as these 'stupid' idioms. It seems the creativity never ends when we are insulting someone's intelligence! The reason is simple. Throughout history, the stupidity of a person has been a subject that we avoid talking about directly. Therefore, we have created an endless variety of euphemisms and circumlocutions to avoid saying it directly. Yet, the idioms we use to say 'stupid' are completely transparent and obvious.

Someone who is unintelligent is sometimes said to be 'not the sharpest knife in the drawer.' When someone is particularly dull, we might say 'the lights are on, but nobody's home.'  A particularly insulting alternative is calling someone 'dead from the neck up.' Even worse sounding to my ears is 'braindead.' Here is a list of other similar idioms that are used to call someone stupid.

English idioms are types of English sayings, expressions, or phrases. However, an idiom is different from other sayings or expressions. It is a phrase that behaves more like a word. The meaning of an idiom is not always easy to tell based on the words used. They are groups of words which mean something different than they appear to mean. These videos from Idioms.Online will help you understand the meanings of English and American idioms, learn how to use them with examples in sentences, and, when possible, will even explain the origin of these enigmatic expressions.

[EssentialEnglishIdioms]

YouTube seems to be blocking it when people comment with other ways to say "it"...sorry about that, I can't control it.

[thejoshsings]

When you mentioned meathead, Archie bunker calling Michael stivick that came to my mind