As you probably suspect, it is related to "stupid" through the term "stupidity", but before I get into the connection, let us define out terms.
Samuel Johnson's dictionary, 1841 edition defines "stupid":
STUPID a. [stupide, Fr. stupidus, Lat.]
Dull ; wanting sensibility ; wanting apprehension ; heavy ; sluggish of understanding-. Milton. Per- formed without skill or genius. Swift:
Note that it is an adjective, which is to say it modifies a noun or a verb. From Webster's of 1898:
STUPID a. 1. Very dull; insensible; senseless; wanting in understanding; heavy; sluggish; in a state of stupor; - said of persons.
2. Resulting from, or evincing stupidity; formed without skill or genius; dull; heavy; - said of things.
Stupidity, a noun, is as follows, again from Websters:
STUPIDITY, n. 1. The quality or state of being stupid; extreme dullness of perception or understanding; sluggishness.
2 Stupor; astonishment; stupefaction.
What is "stupor":
1. Great diminution or suspension of sensibility ; suppression of sense or feeling lethargy.
2. Intellectual insensibility ; moral stupidity ; heedlessness or inattention to one's interests.
Note how "sense" is part of every definition. From Webster's, the relevant passage:
SENSE n. ... 4. Sound perception and reasoning; correct judgment; good mental capacity; understanding; also, that which is sound, true, or reasonable; rational meaning."Good mental capacity." There's the pay-dirt for our purposes here.
Therefore, "senseless" connotes an absence of good mental capacity, that this is the place where "stupid" and "stoopid" are distinguished from one another, through their linkage with "stupidity".
While stupid and stupidity are related, one cannot perforce infer "stupid" from "stupidity". Many very intelligent, which is to say not-stupid, people have engaged in or subscribed to stupidity of one form or another. We are prone to making such errors on occasion, even when we are very smart. A stupid person, on the other hand, one who is un- or ill-equipped for intelligent living, cannot be held fully accountable for his acts of stupidity because he is, after all, unaware of it precisely because he lacks the capacity of understanding. A man with no legs cannot be blamed for his inability to run a marathon.
"Stoopid", on the other hand is the term I have coined to denote the condition where someone willfully chooses stupidity, whereas the stupid man has no choice due to incapacity. The man with brain lesions, microcephaly, or any of the other organically-based malformations of intellect for which there is no compensation to normal capacity, cannot help being what he is. Therefore, we excuse his stupidity because he has no choice in the matter; he is simply and irreconcilably stupid.
But the man who is organically intact and possessing of nominal intellect, or better, yet chooses stupidity over intelligent reasoning and choice in his actions, cannot be so excused, for he has everything he needs to avoid the calamitous results of stupidity, yet embraces it nonetheless, often with the accompanying belief that he is, in fact, very clued-in and wise in both his knowledge, opinions, and the choices he makes pursuant to that which he thinks so highly in himself. That is what defines the stoopid man, v. the stupid.
The world abounds with stoopid people, I am so very sad to report. The degrees and sorts of stupidity that now pass as intelligence is almost not to be believed. We could go chapter and verse for thousands of pages listing the mind-bending idiocies to which vast pluralities of humanity wed themselves and upon which they make their choices and undertake action. There is no point in going through that list as I am sure nearly anyone reading these words will have lists of their own. That is a discussion for other times.
The thin slice of good news there is that there exists at least a theoretical potential for bringing stoopid people back to sense. If a man becomes willing to depart with his errant beliefs and deeds, then almost anything of good becomes possible. Thank God that the stoopid people of the world have sufficient native intelligence to be able of making the choice to turn away from stupidity, an option unavailable to the truly stupid man. The only question, then, becomes that of the will to lift oneself up and out of the pit that is the willingness to live in self-deceit.
I hold vanishing hope that people will adopt "stoopid" in their daily expressions when describing people who choose stupidity over intelligence, but shall nevertheless encourage everyone to do so. Calling a man "stupid" puts him on the defensive, but if "stoopid" were to become well enough known and understood, referring to one as being "stoopid" would indicate that an otherwise intelligent man is choosing stupidity and that it may be corrected with some effort, large or small.
Stupid people are not a great problem for humanity as a whole, for they are few and far between. Stoopid people, on the other hand, represent an enormous threat to humanity's survival, much less the status of men as free beings upon the earth.
So consider integrating this term into your well used vocabulary. There is so much stupidity running amok in every corner of the planet, I daresay it could become one of your more often employed words.
Thanks once again, and as always, please accept my best wishes.
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