By: John Priest,
on 10/8/2016
Insults have lately been making headline news. Last year, the world witnessed an attack on the offices of the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo.
The post How would the ancient Stoics have dealt with hate speech? appeared first on OUPblog.
By: Molly Blaisdell,
on 7/19/2014
Hi folks. I'm continuing my series of writing lessons from Shakespeare. He was the master of the put down. I think you would agree his ability to cast the insults is unparalleled. The Bard's work continues to breathe and live because of the richness and density of language. We live in an age where cursing is ubiquitous. Originality in the insult is at an all time low. I think taking a few minutes and really absorbing the Bard's insulting craft will help you with your craft. Do you best when casting out your put downs.
Here's an insult I like from All's Well that Ends Well: "A most notable coward, an infinite and endless liar, an hourly promise breaker, the owner of no one good quality." Coward, liar, promise breaker, and low born. How do these ideas transfer into our society today? Who is the coward of today? The liar? The promise breaker? Who is low born? Also note that you have to pile on the insults for effect and you have to modify the insult with adjectives. Simple but, oh, so powerful.
I think peeking at Shakespeare's insults may help you sharpen your insulting skills. Here is a link to the Shakespearean Insulter for fun. This will toss an insult at you randomly. Here is a Shakespeare insulter kit, basically three lists to build your own insults. Enjoy. I will be back next week!
Here is a doodle. Sunflower.
On the tenth day of Shakespeare, my true love sent to me...
10.... Shakespearean.... Insults....
1. Thou saucy, ill-shaped foot-licker!
2. Thou blubbering, pigeon-livered hobgoblin!
3. Thou monstrous, cream-faced hedgehog!
4. Thou reeky, pale-hearted loon!
5. Thou churlish, pickle-herring loggerhead!
6. Thou ignorant, green-sickness weasel!
7. Thou grizzled, ill-beseeming relic!
8. Thou wanton, sour-eyed noisemaker!
9. Thou odious, shag-eared ratcatcher!
10. Thou treacherous, periwig-pated hazelnut!
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Guess who’s coming over for dinner? It’s your mother-in-law. Are you excited? Well here are ten fortune cookie sayings that you might hear from your dear mother-in-law.
1. You look like a bum. You smell like a bum. I guess you are a bum. I don’t mean to be rude.
2. Get a job! Get off your butt! What’s the matter with you? Have a nice day.
3. You call this cooking? What are you trying to do? Are you trying to poison me? I’ll just have some wine.
4. Lose some weight! You look like my next door neighbor. They call him the Elephant Man.
5. Why did you ever marry my daughter? Where did I go wrong? By the way, wash your face and comb your hair.
6. Did you know that divorce is a seven letter word? You can use it in Scrabble or on some other occasion.
7. I’m ill. Call my doctor! Call my lawyer! Call my psychiatrist! Just get off your ass and start calling.
8. You’re not getting anything from me when I’m dead. I’ve written you out of my will. Now start massaging my feet.
9. Did anyone ever tell you that you bear a striking resemblance to the picture of the serial killer that is terrorizing the city?
10. Good news! Someone is moving into your home to live with you. I’ll give you one guess.
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Guess who’s coming over for dinner? It’s your mother-in-law. Are you excited? Well here are ten fortune cookie sayings that you might hear from your dear mother-in-law.
1. You look like a bum. You smell like a bum. I guess you are a bum. I don’t mean to be rude.
2. Get a job! Get off your butt! What’s the matter with you? Have a nice day.
3. You call this cooking? What are you trying to do? Are you trying to poison me? I’ll just have some wine.
4. Lose some weight! You look like my next door neighbor. They call him the Elephant Man.
5. Why did you ever marry my daughter? Where did I go wrong? By the way, wash your face and comb your hair.
6. Did you know that divorce is a seven letter word? You can use it in Scrabble or on some other occasion.
7. I’m ill. Call my doctor! Call my lawyer! Call my psychiatrist! Just get off your ass and start calling.
8. You’re not getting anything from me when I’m dead. I’ve written you out of my will. Now start massaging my feet.
9. Did anyone ever tell you that you bear a striking resemblance to the picture of the serial killer that is terrorizing the city?
10. Good news! Someone is moving into your home to live with you. I’ll give you one guess.
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1. Hi! I’m a human being! What are you?
2. I can’t talk to you right now; tell me,where will you be in the next 10 years?
3. I don’t want you to turn the other cheek; it’s just as ugly.
4. I don’t know who you are, but whatever you are, I’m sure everyone will agree with me.
5. I don’t know what makes you so stupid, but it really works.
6. I could make a monkey out of you, but why should I take all the credit?
7. I can’t seem to remember your name, and please don’t help me!
8. I don’t even like the people you’re trying to imitate, if you are at all.
9. I know you were born silly, but why did you have a relapse?
10. I know you’re a self-made man. It’s nice of you to take the blame!
11. I know you’re not as stupid as you look. Nobody could be!
12. I’ve seen people like you, but I had to pay admission!
13. Why are you so stupid today? Anyway, I think that’s very typical of you.
14. How would you like to feel the way you look?
Add a Comment
Image via Wikipedia
1. Hi! I’m a human being! What are you?
2. I can’t talk to you right now; tell me,where will you be in the next 10 years?
3. I don’t want you to turn the other cheek; it’s just as ugly.
4. I don’t know who you are, but whatever you are, I’m sure everyone will agree with me.
5. I don’t know what makes you so stupid, but it really works.
6. I could make a monkey out of you, but why should I take all the credit?
7. I can’t seem to remember your name, and please don’t help me!
8. I don’t even like the people you’re trying to imitate, if you are at all.
9. I know you were born silly, but why did you have a relapse?
10. I know you’re a self-made man. It’s nice of you to take the blame!
11. I know you’re not as stupid as you look. Nobody could be!
12. I’ve seen people like you, but I had to pay admission!
13. Why are you so stupid today? Anyway, I think that’s very typical of you.
14. How would you like to feel the way you look?
By: Rebecca,
on 12/19/2008
In Sticks and Stones: The Philosophy of Insults, philosopher Jerome Neu, a Professor of Humanities at the University of California, Santa Cruz, probes the nature, purpose, and effects of insults, exploring how and why they humiliate, embarrass, infuriate, and wound us so deeply. In the post below Neu looks at the meaning of the shoes thrown at the Baghdad press conference earlier this week.
During what was meant to be a final triumphal press conference in Baghdad at the end of 2008
, an Iraqi journalist hurled two shoes towards the head of President George W. Bush. The shoes missed (Bush was nimble), but the insult was heard round the world. Indeed, the journalist has become something of a folk hero in many Arab quarters. While what counts as an insult varies widely from culture to culture, the desire for respect (and the related desire to avoid being disrespected or diss’d) is universal. One need not go very deep into Middle Eastern attitudes towards feet to see the insult in the shoe assault. Of course, one must remove shoes on entering a mosque (or a Buddhist temple for that matter), and they are widely regarded as dirty. If the intention to insult had been obscure, the accompanying epithet (the journalist called the President a “dog”) was surely enough to make the point clear. But the throwing of the shoes (the journalist had been searched before entering the room and doubtless there was little else tossable to hand) had its significance written in a language of expressive gesture readable across cultures. While it was clearly a physical assault, the point was not the infliction of physical damage. Consider a related gesture: “a slap in the face.” Unlike a fist to the face, the point is not typically to cause serious physical injury. The boundary violation is largely symbolic. It may be a response to insult, as in a woman’s slap of a man who has made an unwanted and inappropriate sexual advance. It may be the formal prelude to a duel, as may be the throwing down of a gauntlet. Shoes, gloves, hands can all be instruments of communication. Throwing shoes might also be compared to throwing pies. It is not that anyone thinks ill of pies, it is just that pies are not designed as projectiles, and that throwing a pie in the face is not the normal use (thereby doubtless voiding any pie warranties) and the aggression-without-intent-to-physically-injure is writ (perhaps humorously) large. The assault, as with insults in general, is more psychological and moral than physical, it is an assault on dignity, expressing disrespect, and perhaps also an attempt to reclaim the insulter’s own dignity. Questions about the language of expressive gesture (whether universal or local) remain. Why is throwing flowers onto the stage at La Scala a compliment but throwing tomatoes not? Surely the world does not despise tomatoes (whatever the consensus of the Arab world towards shoes). Convention? But how do conventions get started and established in a way that yields a widely understood language? Sometimes a gesture is simply a truncated version of a full action (as when one shakes a fist to express hostility). The truncated shoes-to-head assault spoke eloquently to the world. It did not need actually to connect or do any physical damage for the message of outraged honor to be heard.
I dislike pigeons, so #2 is my favorite.
I like saucy, ill-shaped foot-licker. First, saucy is a damn good word. Second, two hyphenated words. And third, I like how ill-shaped it really sort of unnecessary. If you're licking feet, does it really matter if you're ill-shaped? You've pretty much sunk as low as you can get already.
I like #1, #2, and #4 :)
Gotta love Shakespeare's way with words!
I now know why "louse" is such an insult. We discovered them in Blondie's hair tonight. Pray for us. :-)
My favorite Shakespearean insult is:
"Not so much brain as ear wax"
I'll bet your students LOVE these.