Rare insulting names

[Magical Realist]

Got any? Here's a few I found:

loblolly--lout; a stupid, rude or awkward person

blatherskite--a person who talks foolishly at length

poltroon--a spiritless coward

cacafuego--a swaggering braggart or boaster

crepehanger--killjoy; someone who takes a pessimistic view of things

harriden--shrew; an ill-tempered, scolding woman

slubberdegullion--a dirty rascal; scoundrel; wretch

pilgarlic--a man looked upon with humorous contempt or mock pity

chawbacon--bumpkin; hick

flibbertigibbet--a frivolous, flighty, or excessively talkative person.

lickspittle-- a contemptible, fawning person; a servile flatterer or toady.

dweeb--a studious but socially inept person

flake---an unreliable person who says they'll do something, but then doesn't do it

floozy--a girl or woman with a reputation for sleeping with many people

twerp--a silly or annoying person.

 

[youreyes]

girls use ¨twerp¨ alot on guys who do not fit their criteria.

 

[wegs]

''charlatan'' -- a person falsely claiming to have a special knowledge or skill; a fraud.


''Cockalorum'' -- a boastful and self-important person

 

[KitemanSA]

"Anti-nuke". oh, you said rare. Oh well.

 

[origin]

Briar - hillbilly
Ridge runner - hillbilly
Hay seed - hillbilly
Hick - hillbilly
Spawn of an unforked family tree - hillbilly
Walmart shopping NAScar fan - hillbilly
Dentists nightmare - hillbilly
A guy who's last words are "hey ya'll watch this" - hillbilly

 

[Fraggle Rocker]

cacafuego--a swaggering braggart or boaster

Never heard that one, but it's obviously Spanish: caca = feces (equivalent to our own baby-word "caca," not rude enough to translate as "shit" or even "crap") + fuego = fire. So the sense is probably that one speaks bullshit so often and so quickly that it comes out like fire.

harriden--shrew; an ill-tempered, scolding woman

The correct spelling is harridan. Origin unknown but possibly from French haridelle, a thin, worn-out horse, later a large, gaunt woman. Our more common word "hag" is basically equivalent.

flake---an unreliable person who says they'll do something, but then doesn't do it

Originally it was a slang word for "eccentric" or just plain "crazy."

floozy--a girl or woman with a reputation for sleeping with many people

In the early 20th century it was part of the backlash against the "Gay Nineties," meaning merely a woman who dressed gaudily, went out without an escort, etc. The implication that she was a harlot came soon after.

twerp--a silly or annoying person.

The original meaning carried the sense of being insignificant or even despicable. Today it's been softened a bit. A person might refer to the least capable member of his posse as a twerp, yet still allow him to hang out with them.

''charlatan'' -- a person falsely claiming to have a special knowledge or skill; a fraud.

This is not slang. It goes back to an Italian word in the Middle Ages, meaning a person from the Umbrian village of Cerreto, where boasting was common.

Briar - hillbilly

Actually the name "hillbilly" itself is an insulting slang word. Apparently it first appeared in print in the New York Journal in 1900: "a Hill-Billie is a free and untrammeled white citizen of Alabama, who lives in the hills, has no means to speak of, dresses as he can, talks as he pleases, drinks whiskey when he gets it, and fires off his revolver as the fancy takes him."

Like "redneck," it surely was originally coined to describe the people in the hills of Appalachia, descendants of Scots-Irish immigrants who fled from the violence that even then plagued northern Ireland, arriving with little education and meager skills, having no choice but to become farmers in a region that turned out to be much more productive farmland than what they left behind. Although many of the states in which they lived became part of the Confederacy, their politics tended to side with the Union until after the Civil War. Eventually they spread out throughout the South, as attested by the ubiquitous Presbyterian churches in the region.

"Hillbilly" eventually became respectable in the South, particularly the term "hillbilly music" before the more elaborate "country and western" came into vogue. So has "redneck," as in Gretchen Wilson's big hit song "Redneck Woman." This is similar to the way Afro-Americans have taken possession of the N-word. In all three cases, the rest of us should think twice before uttering it ourselves.

 

[wegs]

@ Fraggle, I know it's not slang; charlatan is a word you don't hear much in terms of using it to insult someone.

 

[river]

Wunderwall

 

[Fraggle Rocker]

@ Fraggle, I know it's not slang; charlatan is a word you don't hear much in terms of using it to insult someone.

Yeah, sorry. I lost the thread of the thread.

Wunderwall

Is that an insult?

 

[Magical Realist]

More insulting names!


~#3: Smellfungus…

Definition: an excessively faultfinding person

About the word: The original Smelfungus was a character in an 18th century novel. Smelfungus, a traveler, satirized the author of Travels through France and Italy, a hypercritical guidebook of that time.

~#4: Snollygoster…

Definition: an unprincipled but shrewd person

About the word: The story of its origin remains unknown, but snollygoster was first used in the nasty politics of 19th century America. One definition of the word dates to 1895, when a newspaper editor explained “a snollygoster is a fellow who wants office, regardless of party, platform or principles….”

~#5: Ninnyhammer…

Definition: ninny; simpleton, fool

About the word: The word ninny is probably a shortening and alteration of “an innocent” (with the “n” from “an” getting transferred to the noun) and “hammer” adds punch. Writers who have used the word include J.R.R. Tolkien in the Lord of the Rings trilogy: “You’re nowt but a ninnyhammer, Sam Gamgee.”

~#6: Mumpsimus…

Definition: a stubborn person who insists on making an error in spite of being shown that it is wrong

About the word: Supposedly, this insult originated with an illiterate priest who said mumpsimus rather than sumpsimus (“we have taken” in Latin) during mass. When he was corrected, the priest replied that he would not change his old mumpsimus for his critic’s new sumpsimus.

~#7: Milksop…

Definition: an unmanly man; a mollycoddle (a pampered or effeminate boy or man)

About the word: Milksop literally means “bread soaked in milk.” Chaucer was among the earliest to use milksop to describe an unmanly man (presumably one whose fiber had softened). By the way, the modern cousin of milksop, milquetoast, comes from Caspar Milquetoast, a timid cartoon character from the 1920s.

~#8: Hobbledehoy…

Definition: an awkward, gawky young man

About the word: Hobbledehoy rhymes with boy: that’s an easy way to remember whom this 16th century term insults. Its origin is unknown, although theories about its ancestry include hobble and hob (a term for “a clownish lout”).

~#9: Pettifogger…

Definition: shyster; a lawyer whose methods are underhanded or disreputable

About the word: The petti part of this word comes from petty, meaning “insignificant” (from the French petit, “small”). As for fogger, it once meant “lawyer” in English. According to one theory, it may come from “Fugger,” the name of a successful family of 15th- and 16th-century German merchants and financiers. Germanic variations of “fugger” were used for the wealthy and avaricious, as well as for hucksters.

~#10: Mooncalf…

Definition: a foolish or absentminded person

About the word: The original mooncalf was a false pregnancy, a growth in the womb supposedly influenced by a bad moon. Mooncalf then grew a sense outside the womb: simpleton. It also morphed into a literary word for a deformed monster. For instance, in Shakespeare’s The Tempest, Stephano entreats Caliban, “Mooncalf, speak once in your life, if thou beest a good mooncalf.”

Source: http://michaelhendrick.wordpress.co...ual-bullies-top-ten-rare-and-amusing-insults/

 

[dumbest man on earth]

Cellar Dweller :

perpetual loser or always near last in ranking, i.e. sports teams that always finish the season near the bottom in their respective leagues.

 

[Fraggle Rocker]

Snollygoster… Definition: an unprincipled but shrewd person About the word: The story of its origin remains unknown, but snollygoster was first used in the nasty politics of 19th century America. One definition of the word dates to 1895, when a newspaper editor explained “a snollygoster is a fellow who wants office, regardless of party, platform or principles….”

So today, all American politicians are snollygosters?

ninny; simpleton, fool About the word: The word ninny is probably a shortening and alteration of “an innocent” (with the “n” from “an” getting transferred to the noun)

This phenomenon is called juncture loss, as in "a newt" from "an ewte," and "an orange" from "a narange": it works in both directions.

Mumpsimus… Supposedly, this insult originated with an illiterate priest who said mumpsimus rather than sumpsimus (“we have taken” in Latin) during mass. When he was corrected, the priest replied that he would not change his old mumpsimus for his critic’s new sumpsimus.

Garbled Latin is the source of many of our strange words. "Hocus pocus," for instance, probably comes from hoc est paucus, "Here is very little..."

Pettifogger… Definition: shyster; a lawyer whose methods are underhanded or disreputable.

Although it looks like one more Yiddishism from America's Jewish comedians, "shyster" itself is probably from German Scheiẞer, from scheiẞ, "shit," with the suffix expanded in English from -er to -ster. -ster comes to us from Anglo-Saxon, but it has a slightly more specific meaning than -er, for example, "someone who is associated with..."

So a Scheiẞer is someone who shits (and don't we all?) whereas a shyster is someone who first appeared by rising out of a pile of shit.

 

[Billy T]

Not insulting just interesting: I once met a young girl called Rosetta, what made that interesting was her last name was Stone.

But while here and speaking of even older things, this new quite complete human skull was discussed on TV (CNN) and the presenter did not completely agree that it cast an new light on how many "humanoids" there were. remarking that was a "bone of contention" - a figure of speech he used, not a reference to the new skull only. Perhaps a pun?

But I have heard "a bone of contention" long ago. I bet there was once some bone and it was subject of considerable dis agreement. If that is true - when and what bone gave rise to "a bone of contention"?

 

[Randwolf]

But I have heard "a bone of contention" long ago. I bet there was once some bone and it was subject of considerable dis agreement. If that is true - when and what bone gave rise to "a bone of contention"?

I always thought the origin had to do with two dogs fighting over a bone, no?

 

[jaizee]

Wuss - I just heard it from Hyde telling Kelso that he's a wuss for not approaching Jackie on That 70's Show. I guess the term "wuss" meant that Kelso is a coward.

 

[Fraggle Rocker]

I always thought the origin had to do with two dogs fighting over a bone, no?

Yes. That is correct.

 

[Fraggle Rocker]

Wuss - I just heard it from Hyde telling Kelso that he's a wuss for not approaching Jackie on That 70's Show. I guess the term "wuss" meant that Kelso is a coward.

"Wuss" is a truncation of "wussy," which is generally assumed to be a combination of "wimp" and "pussy."

The dictionary writers fall all over themselves to insist that "pussy" in this etymology refers to a cat, but that's ridiculous since the cat is one of very few animals whose name is virtually never tossed out by anglophones as an insult, especially to imply weakness or dishonor. It's obviously from the rude slang meaning of "vagina," since to call a man a "pussy" is universally interpreted to mean that he is effeminate: weak, meek and cowardly.

"Wussy" is just a slightly more polite word than "pussy," and can now used in mixed company. Same goes for "wuss."

(All of this, despite Betty White's admonition that vaginas are actually quite strong and sturdy and can take a lot of wear and tear. Therefore we should tell cowards to "grow a vagina" rather than "grow some balls," since testicles are soft and weak and generate incapacitating pain when attacked.)

 

[HEQ]

Mog - ugly person.
Skyver - A person who wastes time to avoid work.
Gobshite - derogatory term.