I’m at my usual place - my favourite cafe, eating and drinking cappuccinos and have begun to ponder the decline of the articulate insult. Insulting one’s opponents was an art form no so long ago. It took flair and certain amount of literary panache to come up with an intelligent insult. Today, alas, insulting someone has been watered down to foul language and nasty comments.
Why, you are asking, am I sitting here thinking such strange thoughts? The answer could be, I’m bored and I have a low grade migraine. Or it could be I was sitting here enjoying myself when some clod with a cell phone intruded upon my peace of mind and threw a temper tantrum on the phone. Evidently his vocabulary is very limited to base bodily functions. All so terribly boring. Why not tell someone to go do rude things to their lower anatomy rather than F@ck themselves? It sounds so much more intelligent.
Canada’s own Sir John A. MacDonald (our first Prime Minister) was a legend when it came to insulting his opponents. He was a hard drinking politician who added a great deal of colour to any campaign he was on. During an election stop, in 1863, Sir John A., hung over, vomited during his speech. His opponent was making great hay from the unfortunate event when Sir John responded:
I get sick … not because of drink [but because]I am forced to listen to the ranting of my honourable opponent.
An excellent comeback.
How about we bring back the term guttersnipe. How wonderfully descriptive is that word!
British politician Denis Healey once described an attack by rival politician Geoffrey Howe as being “savaged by a dead sheep”
Benjamin Disraeli was a master of the barb. He once described his opponent, Robert Peel as having a “smile is like the silver fittings on a coffin.” Oh.. cold!
Another favourite is “A rich rogue nowadays is a fit company for any gentleman” in reference to Robert Walpole. This line could be applied to almost every practicing politician today.
Teddy Roosevelt was no slouch in the insult department, “he has no more backbone than a chocolate eclair”. I’m not sure who he was talking about.
Oscar Wilde said “he has no enemies, but is intensely disliked by his friends.”
Edit Sitwell wrote a very appropriate line, “A great many people now reading and writing would be better employed keeping rabbits.” I think in this day and age, this may apply to speech writers.
I’m not sure why we settle for such base insults. Perhaps its a symptom of the hurried pace in our lives. How often do we get to stop and think? Maybe, we simply need more dictionaries. I think everyone should learn 1 new word every 3 days.
Stumble it!
7 responses so far ↓
1
Becky
// Oct 21, 2007 at 4:11 pm
Excellent post and your references gave me a good chuckle. I do enjoy a witty insult, it is indeed a shame that our vocabulary seems to have devolved into shouting matches consisting of four-letter words.
I have to say the insult which annoys me more than any other, however, is “you’re gay” or, as it’s more commonly written, “your gay”. Not really surprising that the kind of people who throw that one around equally have no concept of grammar.
2
catpaw
// Oct 22, 2007 at 1:15 pm
I agree with you on the ‘your gay’ insult. It is one of the lamest insults around. Am I supposed to take offense at that? My response is two fold - gay traditionally means happy so thank you and get a vocabulary.
LOL thanks for your comment
3
bimmy the bookish
// Oct 26, 2007 at 4:05 pm
Your Clawriness,
Ever one to be late to a conversation (I WAS here last week, but got dragged away by a snivellling misanthrope and……DANG!!!
Now my time is up again and I have to leave you to watch one of my fave detectives, Rebus.
I will be back!
You may think of suitable insults about this shodddy behaviour whilst I am gone - it will be good practice!
4
catpaw
// Oct 26, 2007 at 5:51 pm
Well… I must say, to be left in the lurch for Rebus is fine by this grumpy clawed cat. Such a noble distraction.
5
bimmy the bookish
// Oct 27, 2007 at 6:40 pm
Ah, not SO grumpy then! A fan of Rebus too??
I’ve been reading thebooks for years, but my memory ispoor, that when i watch the TV version, i inevitably spend too much time trying to recall if what’s happening on screen actually happened in the book or not. Or, MORE annoyingly, trying (but usually missing out large important chunks) to recount what “really happened” in the book to my long suffering husband.
But as i was about to say, before i so rudely left, the articulate insult does indeed seem to be the thing of the past, more’s the pity. Past politicians seem to have been particularly good at it, so if we are now lacking in this, can we rightly blame the government??
Everything else is apparently their fault!
i am doing what i can to be creatie in any insults I now impart, though of course this doesnt happen very often, as everything in Frog World is super and gorgeous.
But when i rant in private i have vowed to be more particular as to my choice of adjective.
Thank you, Paw with a Claw, for providing this impetus.
6
bimmy the bookish
// Oct 27, 2007 at 6:42 pm
PS: do you have a spare time job selling dictionaries??
7
catpaw
// Oct 29, 2007 at 6:55 pm
Hey … maybe I should contact Oxford Concise and see if they have any openings! The world needs more dictionaries.
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