Aninsult is an expression, statement, or behavior that is often deliberatelydisrespectful, offensive, scornful, orderogatory towards an individual or a group. Insults can be intentional or unintentional, and they often aim to belittle, offend, orhumiliate the target. While insults may sometimes includefactual information, such information is typically presented in a pejorative manner, intended to provoke a negative emotional response or tosocially undermine ordiscredit the target. Insults can also be made unintentionally or in a playful way, but these can, in some cases, also haveunintended negative impacts and effects.
Insults can have varying impacts, effects, and meanings depending on intent, use, recipient's understanding of the meaning, intent behind the action or words, andsocial setting andsocial norms, including cultural references and meanings.
Inancient Rome, political speeches and debates were known to include strong harshness and personal attacks. Historians suggest that insults and verbal attacks were common in the political discourse of the time. This practice reflected the highly confrontational nature of political engagement in ancient Rome.[1]
Many religious texts and beliefs have also contributed to views on insults and the implications of making insults inanger.Buddhism teaches 'Right Speech' is a part of theNoble Eightfold Path.[2]
InChristianity, for example, theSermon on the Mount delivered byJesus includes teachings on the significance of anger. Jesus emphasized the importance of managing one's emotions and non judgment in this example.[3][4]
In addition to political contexts, history also reveals unusual instances of insults. TheCadaver Synod, was an event wherePope Stephen VI held aposthumous trial forPope Formosus in 897 AD. Stephen became the Pope after Pope Formosus and had his body dug up, dressed, and placed on a throne to stand trial even after his death.[5]
An example of an unintentional insult may be not tasting a dessert made by a host.[6] Careless social actions can also become unintentional insults; for example, comments about facial features, personality traits, personal taste (e.g., in music), underestimating personal abilities or interests, use or acknowledgement ofstereotypes,[7] jokes, or even walking away from someone are among some things that may be misinterpreted as intentional and accidentally cause offence.[8]
Jacques Lacan considered insults a primary form ofsocial interaction, central to theimaginary order – "a situation that is symbolized in the 'Yah-boo, so are you' of the transitivist quarrel, the original form of aggressive communication".[clarification needed][9]
Erving Goffman points out that every "crack or remark set up the possibility of a counter-riposte, topper, or squelch, that is, a comeback".[10] He cites the example of possible interchanges at a dance in a school gym:
- A one-liner: Boy: "Care to dance?" Girl: "No, I came here to play basketball" Boy: (crumbles)
- A comeback: Boy: "Care to dance?" Girl: "No, I came here to play basketball" Boy: "Sorry, I should have guessed by the way you're dressed".[11]
A backhanded (or left-handed) compliment, orasteism, is an insult that is disguised as, or accompanied by, acompliment, especially in situations where the belittling or condescension is intentional.[12]
Examples of backhanded compliments include, but are not limited to:
Negging is a type of backhanded compliment used foremotional manipulation or as aseduction method. The term was coined and prescribed bypickup artists.[14] Negging is often viewed as a straightforward insult rather than as a pick-up line,[15] in spite of the fact that proponents of the technique traditionally stress it is not an insult.
A personal attack is an insult which is directed at some attribute of the person.
TheFederal Communications Commission'spersonal attack rule defined a personal attack as one made upon honesty, character, integrity, or like personal qualities[16] in theCommunications Act of 1934.
Personal attacks are generally considered afallacy when used in arguments since they do not attempt to debunk the opposing sides argument, rather attacking the qualities of a person.[17]
Verbal insults often take aphallic orpudendal form. This includesprofanity,[18][19] and may also include insults to one'ssexuality. There are also insults pertaining to the extent of one'ssexual activity. For example, according toJames Bloodworth,incel “has gradually crept into the vocabulary of everyinternet troll, sometimes being used against men who blame and harass women for not wanting to sleep with them.”[20]
Insults in poetic form is practiced throughout history, more often as entertainment rather than maliciousness.Flyting is a contest consisting of the exchange of insults between two parties, often conducted in verse and became public entertainment in Scotland in the 15th and 16th centuries.[21]Senna is a form ofOld NorseEddic poetry consisting of an exchange of insults between participants.[22]
O du eselhafter Peierl (Oh, you asinine Peierl), composed byWolfgang Amadeus Mozart, was meant for fun, mocking, scatological humor directed at a friend of Mozart's.[23]
More modern versions includepoetry slam,dozens,roasts,diss tracks andbattle rap.[24] In the 1980sMasters of the Universe franchise, the characterSkeletor became known for insulting those around him with comedic putdowns.[25] There is also a comedy genre ofinsult comedy.
Various typologies of insults have been proposed over the years.EthologistDesmond Morris, noting that "almost any action can operate as an Insult Signal if it is performed out of its appropriate context – at the wrong time or in the wrong place", classes such signals in ten "basic categories":[26]
Elizabethans took great interest in such analyses, distinguishing, for example, the "fleering frump ... when we give a mock with a scornful countenance as in some smiling sort looking aside or by drawing the lip awry, or shrinking up the nose".[27] Shakespeare humorously set up an insult-hierarchy of seven-fold "degrees. The first, the Retort Courteous; the second, the Quip Modest; the third, the Reply Churlish; the fourth, the Reproof Valiant; the fifth, the Countercheck Quarrelsome; the sixth, the Lie with Circumstance; the seventh, the Lie Direct".[28]
What qualifies as an insult is also determined both by the individual social situation and by changing socialmores. Thus, on one hand the insulting "obscene invitations of a man to a strange girl can be the spicy endearments of a husband to his wife".[29]
The dictionary definition ofJibe at Wiktionary
Media related toInsults at Wikimedia Commons
