A sociolinguistic and etymological challenge

[doe_witch]

Not to beat a dead horse, but while r_blackcat's post on ableist language was mostly struck through, it's prompted me to make an inquiry about something I've wondered for years. It's arguably the kind of question that belongs on a community more directly centered around issues of privilege, discrimination, etc., but since we have a bunch of etymology-

Comments

[tsukikage85]

This encompasses all of humanity (actually, all living organisms, I believe), so it's probably okay in that it disparages EVERYONE, but there was one video game I played that frequently used "You bloated sack of protoplasm!"

[mad_troll]

I'm not sure what you're looking for (English isn't my native language and I get easily lost).
A very common insult in Italian is stronzo - basically, you're calling someone a turd - and coglione(testicle) is also common enough but...is that what you're looking for?

[secretsoflife]

what you're basically saying in this comment is that your desire to use certain words supersedes anyone else's experiences of being hurt or marginalized by those words, and so you're not even going to put in a minimal effort (except where it's become socially unacceptable enough, such as with "gay" and "retard").

i've got some words for that! i'll start with "inconsiderate" and "asshole".

Moderative

[muckefuck]

What hontou said. You can disagree vehemently with someone, but if you can't also do it civilly then you're in the wrong comm.

Re: Moderative

[secretsoflife]

it's not so much that i disagree as that hontou missed the point, but i will take your caution under advisement.

[mirmarmelade]

Not exactly an answer to your post, but I remember an article in Onze Taal (a Dutch magazine about the Dutch language and language more generally) that surveyed the kinds of swear words/bad words that appear in diffeent languages (all European, if I remember correctly). Some interesting differences were found between languages and cultural areas that are somewhat relevant to your questions. In some languages, the worst things you can call someone have to with sex: questioning one's assumed heterosexuality, calling them or their mother a whore. In other languages very bad insults are more likely to be health related, and those can then be divided in physical and mental health related insults. (And then there are the religiously inspired ones, but they seem less relevant in this discussion

[nenena]

Turdwaffle. A personal favorite of mine.

In general, I think that English provides a wealth of insults related to the human posterior and scatalogical products thereof that are generally baggage-free. For example: Asswipe. Half-assed. Butthead. Asshole. Shitty/crappy/variants thereof. Etc. I think that references to anal sex should be avoided ("butthurt" is something that I'm trying hard to exorcise from my own vocabularly), but the human ass in general is really an excellent starting point for concocting insults.

[nenena]

I would not say it that way, no.

[melissa_42]

I'm curious as to why you believe references to anal sex should be avoided. Is it because people see anal sex as a solely homosexual act? This kind of activity is not restricted to a certain group of people--homosexual men and women can engage in it, as well as heterosexual men and women. Is there another reason you avoid the term 'butthurt'?