A fool's paradise

The rest of us are just living in it

As long as there have been people, there has been tomfoolery. In response, humans have come up with an astounding number of increasingly creative words for those fools. Here are some notable insults through the ages. (Disclaimer: I know I write a lot about myself, but this column is not about me. Really.)

Blockhead: This word dates from the early 1500s, …