Am I being a moron of is this just a form of idiocy?

Ok, this blog is going to be on a much lighter note than what has gone up on here lately. I know I need a laugh and I'm sure you would all enjoy one as well.

So this was pointed out to me this afternoon by a co-worker. It seems that a couple of them had gotten into a debate on the finner details of stupidity. In particular the definitions for many of the synonyms...yeah, I know, grad school is a hard life. But I suppose these are important things to know. After all, you don't want to call the guy who cut you off in traffic a moron, when really such an act is more deserving of the title of idiot...yeah, it really doesn't matter, but I swear this thing gets funnier in a second.

So here are the definitions found in Merriam-Webster on-line:

Moron:

Pronunciation: 'mor-"än
Function: noun
Etymology: irregular from Greek mOros foolish, stupid
1 usually offensive : a mildly mentally retarded person
2 : a very stupid person

Idiocy:

Pronunciation: 'i-dE-&-sE
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural -cies
1 usually offensive : extreme mental retardation
2 : something notably stupid or foolish


Now am I just being stupid here, or do the definitions 1 and 2 conflict in each case? Seriously, how can someone of "extreme mental retardation" be only "notably stupid". Whereas someone who is "very stupid" is classified as being only "mildly mentally retarded".