An insult (also called putdown) is an expression, statement or behavior that is considered degrading. Insults may be intentional or accidental. An example of the latter is a well-intended simple explanation, which in fact is superfluous, but is given due to underestimating intelligence or knowledge of the other. This practice is also called flouting. The Insult is a fiction novel by Rupert Thomson. ...

Whether speech or behavior is insulting, in practice and sometimes by the terms of local assault statutes, is often a product of the subjective sense of the person insulted. But insults to one person who might not mind the derogatory speech may indirectly insult others. Many states and local municipalities enforce prohibitions against rude, offensive or insulting speech, leaving citizens, law enforcement officers and courts to decide what is and what is not an insult. The concept of fighting words as a form of prohibited speech has developed in the jurisprudence of U.S. constitutional law concerning terms of disparagement. But insults offered as satire in an artistic venue, such as a novel, a film or a song, are usually regarded as protected speech, especially in the United States. The fighting words doctrine, in United States constitutional law, is a limitation to freedom of speech as granted in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution In its 9-0 decision, Chaplinsky v. ... For the jurisprudence of courts, see Case law. ... Wikisource has original text related to this article: The United States Constitution The United States Constitution is the supreme law of the United States of America. ... Terms of disparagement are pejorative terms such as yid, kike, nigger, whore, slut, fag and queer whose use usually arouses painful feelings in the target, members of the targeted group or sympathizers. ... 1867 edition of Punch, a ground-breaking British magazine of popular humour, including a good deal of satire of the contemporary social and political scene. ...

The role of insults in the social sense may be better understood by an appreciation of how the term is used in a medical setting. Though a popular idiom refers to "adding insult to injury," in a medical context they are the same. Physicians examine injuries resulting from an insult to flesh and bones, caused by various traumatic events. In speech and in social settings, insults are words that tend to injure the psyche. In humor, insults may be exchanged in much the way fighters exchange blows in training, to develop a resistance to the pain of mild injuries, or to spar with no real intention of seriously injuring the other. Injury is damage or harm caused to the structure or function of the body caused by an outside agent or force, which may be physical or chemical. ... The neutrality of this article is disputed. ... Look up Humour in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Types of insults

Behavioral insults

Insults are not limited to words. Behavioral expectations create boundaries that, when crossed, can be the substance of insults. A guest who wears casual clothing to a formal event might offend the host of a party. At times the casual wearing of military garb has been seen or intended as an insult to the uniform. The deliberate adoption of some affectation, mannerism, or clothing may be used as a deliberate insult. Misuse of flags, especially burning a national flag, can be used as an insult (but can also be a political statement). In Parmigianinos Madonna with the Long Neck (1534-40), Mannerism makes itself known by elongated proportions, affected poses, and unclear perspective. ...

Verbal insults

Profanity is frequently used as part of insults to strengthen their emotional impact. Some body parts, although useful, may be of low esteem; the word may then be used as insult. For example, the word asshole (or arsehole) is used to imply disapproval for the behavior or morals of another, but tends to imply the behavior resulted from a character flaw. In cartoons, profanity is often depicted by substituting symbols for words, as a form of non-specific censorship. ...

The examination of insulting language reveals the tensions between social classes and ethnic groups in modern society, where expectations are sometimes viewed as insulting by some and failure to comply with those expectations being seen as insulting by others. Social class refers to the hierarchical distinctions between individuals or groups in societies or cultures. ...

Categories of insults

• Insult to intelligence (e.g. idiot, retard, moron, dumbass, dummy, bighead)
• Insult to being educated (e.g. egghead, nerd, smart-ass)
• Insult to morals and behavior (e.g. liar, thief, psycho, coward)
• Insult to personality (e.g. bitch, asshole, jerk, Douchebag, jerk-off)
• Insult to conception (e.g. bastard)
• Insult via relatives (e.g. "Yo Momma" or "Your Mum")
• Insult via implied drug use (e.g. tweaker, crackhead, druggie, wino)
• Insult to economic class (e.g. redneck, bum, greaser)
• Insult against lack of skill (e.g rookie, loser, noob)
• Insult to appearance (e.g. fatso, ugly, fatty, fatass, fuck-face)
• Insult to race (e.g. white trash, chink, gook, wetback, nigger)
• Insult to gender (e.g. "What are you? A girl!!!")
• Insult to religion (e.g. kike)
• Insult to hair colour (e.g. Blonde, Ginger, Brunette)
• Insult to sexual behavior (e.g. whore, slut, skank)
• Insult to sexual orientation (e.g. gay, dyke, fag)
• Insult to an adult man still living at home with his mother or both parents (e.g. Mummy's or Mamma's boy)
• Insult adults of middle age and elderly people (e.g old bag or bat, old fogy, left-overs)
• Inappropriately intended insults (e.g. fuckface, dickweed, shithead)
• Insult to disability (e.g. vegetable,spineless freak, two-faced lizard, retard)
• Insult to nationality (e.g. yankee, cheese-eating surrender monkey)

Intelligence is the mental capacity to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend ideas and language, and learn. ... For other uses, see Idiot (disambiguation). ... Mental retardation (also called mental handicap[1] and, as defined by the UK Mental Health Act 1983, mental impairment and severe mental impairment[2]) is a term for a pattern of persistently slow learning of basic motor and language skills (milestones) during childhood, and a significantly below-normal global intellectual... Look up moron in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Look up Dummy in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Adlai Stevenson was called an egghead by Richard Nixon during the 1952 US presidential race. ... For other uses, see Nerd (disambiguation). ... This article is about the use of the moral in storytelling. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... This article is about untruthfulness. ... Everyday instance of theft: the bike which fits on this wheel has disappeared. ... This article is about psychological theories of psychopathy. ... Cowardice is a vice. ... Personality may refer to: // Personality psychology, a branch of psychology which studies personality and individual differences Personality development, the study of human personality development over time Personality disorders, a class of mental disorders that is characterized by long-lasting rigid patterns of thought and actions. ... Look up bitch in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... For other uses, see Asshole (disambiguation). ... This article is about the physics concept of jerk. ... A vaginal bulb syringe. ... The term conception can refer to more than one meaning: Concept Fertilisation This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Illegitimacy is the status that was once commonly ascribed to individuals born to parents who were not married. ... Kinship is a biological and/or familial relationship between two organisms. ... Mother insult is a reference to a persons mother through the use of phrases such as your mom, ur mom, yer mum, ya mum, or yo mama, frequently used to insult the target by way of his or her mother. ... The dozens is a custom derived from the oral tradition in African American culture in which two acquaintances go head to head in a meeting of often ribald trash-talk. They take turns kidding or insulting—cracking, ranking, sparking, or snapping—on one another, their adversarys mother, or other... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... ... Wino or WINO may refer to: A slang term for someone consuming large amounts of alcohol in wine form: see Alcoholism. ... This article is about a stereotypical description. ... Look up bum in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... For other uses of the term, see Greaser This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Look up loser in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Variation in the physical appearance of humans is believed by anthropologists to be an important factor in the development of personality and social relations in particular physical attractiveness. ... Fatso the Fat-Arsed Wombat was an unofficial mascot of the Sydney 2000 Summer Olympics created and promoted by sports/comedy televison program The Dream which covered the event. ... Ugly may refer to: Ugly, having ugliness of appearance or having little or no beauty. ... Fatty is a derogative term for someone who is obese. ... A slur can be anything from an insinuation or critical remark to an insult. ... For other uses, see White trash (disambiguation). ... Look up chink in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The following is a list of ethnic slurs, also known as ethnophaulisms, that are, or have been, used to refer to members of a given ethnicity (or, in some cases, nationality, region, or religion) in a derogatory or pejorative manner. ... For other uses, see Wetback (disambiguation). ... // Nigger is a racial slur used to refer to dark-skinned people, especially those of African ancestry. ... Look up Kike in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Hair color is the result of pigmentation due to the presence of the chemicals of melanin and phaeomelanin. ... One of the worlds most famous blondes Marilyn Monroe, who was in fact a natural brunette Blond (feminine, blonde) is a hair colour found in certain mammals characterised by low levels of the dark pigment eumelanin and higher levels of the pale pigment phæomelanin, in common with red or... Woman with red hair Man with red hair Red hair (also referred to as auburn, ginger, ranga or titian) varies from a deep orange-red through burnt orange to bright copper. ... Brunette is the feminine of French brunet, which is a diminutive of brun, brune, meaning brown or dark-haired, ultimately from Latin BRVNVS (brown). ... Sexual behavior is a form of physical intimacy that may be directed to reproduction (one possible goal of sexual intercourse) and/or to the enjoyment of activity involving sexual gratification. ... Whore redirects here. ... Look up slut in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... For other uses, see Skank (disambiguation). ... Sexual orientation refers to an enduring emotional, romantic, sexual, or affectional attraction toward others,[1] usually conceived of as classifiable according to the sex or gender of the persons whom the individual finds sexually attractive. ... GAY can mean: Gay, a term referring to homosexual men or women The IATA code for Gaya Airport Category: ... Dyke is a slang term for a lesbian. ... Look up faggot in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Higher level insults (or: The art of verbal abuse)

Disguised insult

E.g. as an apology after a previous insult: "I'm sorry Sir, I didn't think you could be insulted."

This implies that you're thinking that no matter how bad a thing anyone could say to him, surely it would not be an insult to him. Thus this apology constitutes in effect an insult.

Perceptions of insults

Sociologists suggest insults are often an indicator of flawed reasoning about the character or motivation of others. Though insults are common, and often used in jest, a fundamental axiom of sociology recognizes that derogatory forms of speech make erroneous attributions about the motivation of a person. Scholars classify the erroneous assumptions as the fundamental attribution error. In attribution theory, the fundamental attribution error (also known as correspondence bias or overattribution effect and frequently confused with the actor-observer bias) is the tendency for people to over-emphasize dispositional, or personality-based, explanations for behaviors observed in others while under-emphasizing the role and power of situational...

Cultural perceptions

Perceptions of insulting language often vary, and often depend on the context and persons involved as much as the actual words. For example, in 21st century America, African American descendants of former slaves hold mixed views of the term "nigger", sometimes using it as a rugged form of mutual affection in popular culture, but resenting the term when used in pejorative sense, especially when spoken by members of other ethnic groups. Other African-Americans take offense at any use of the term even between friends, holding that even though it is shared affectionately perhaps as a sign of strength, it acts as a term of mutual degradation, and inevitably serves to degrade African-Americans in general. Another example would be reference (even in a joke) to stereotypical aspects of a person, for example jokingly linking a person's Jewishness with a joke about money, a person's Pole nationality with their intelligence, or making a joke about how feminine or "gay" someone is with a French joke. For other uses of terms redirecting here, see US (disambiguation), USA (disambiguation), and United States (disambiguation) Motto In God We Trust(since 1956) (From Many, One; Latin, traditional) Anthem The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington, D.C. Largest city New York City National language English (de facto)1 Demonym American... An African American (also Afro-American, Black American, or simply black) is a member of an ethnic group in the United States whose ancestors, usually in predominant part, were indigenous to Africa. ... Slave redirects here. ... // Nigger is a racial slur used to refer to dark-skinned people, especially those of African ancestry. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with pejoration. ... For other uses, see Jew (disambiguation). ...

See also

• The dozens
• Maledicta
• Slander and libel (defamation)

Your father redirects here. ... Maledicta (ISSN US 0363-3659) is a scholarly journal dedicated to the study of offensive and negatively-valued words and expressions. ... “Libel” redirects here. ...

External links and references

• insults, insulting quotations & insulting quotes
• The International Journal of Verbal Aggression
• List of Shakespeare's insults
• A collection of insults in a comprehensive range of categories