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Comment by quesera | Hacker News Reader

I thought "nimrod" as an epithet (meaning ~"dummy") came from Nimrod, the Biblical king who ordered the construction of the Tower of Babel (which caused offense to God and thereafter great confusion -- which would have earned him the reputation of being a person who makes bad choices, if your belief system is so aligned).

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Assyrian in origin, Nimrud was a very talented hunter, but perhaps he got mixed up with a city along the way, and the Bible's thoughts on Assyrians, Persians, and Babylonians is always interesting to trace back to the truth.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nimrod_(disambiguation)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nimrud_(disambiguation)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nimrud

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borsippa

Either way, Bugs Bunny used it sarcastically to describe Elmer Fudd, and here we are.

I believe I have heard it used that way in something pre-20th century as well but I can't figure out where right now.

But making poor decisions and offending god is not particularly noteworthy for a figure in genesis. Possibly the most interesting thing about genesis as a piece of literature is that making horrible god-offending choices is quite routine and the figures are not understood as less important because of it, nor more important in spite of it, but simply important for unrelated reasons that cannot be changed by the quality of their judgement or morality of their actions.

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