At last, a compendium of ingeniously insulting words for every occasion. For anyone who's been stymied by the level of sloth, bad looks and low intelligence of his fellow man (and woman), help is on the way. You can't change the tiresome creatures around you, but now you can describe them behind their backs with pleasing specificity. Yes, Insulting English is a user's guide to little-known and much-needed words that include: Gubbertush: Buck-toothed person Hogminny: A depraved young woman Nihilarian: Person with a meaningless job Pursy: Fat and short of breath Scombroid: Resembling a mackerel Tumbrel: A person who is drunk to the point of vomiting These and many other gems from our colorful mother tongue are collected on these pages. Now every gink, knipperdollin, and grizely dunderwhelp can be called by his rightful name.

A comprehensive dictionary of offensive and obscene words in the English language.

From the scatologically inclined word-hounds who wrote "Depraved English" comes a compendium of hilarious, unsavory, off-color words people never knew they needed but won't be able to do without.

Do you long for the days when a jerk was a “cad”? Want to tell that “swillbelly” to clean up his table manners and that grumbling “glump” to stop whining? Would you like a way of saying simpleton that’s not quite so simple—“ninnyhammer,” perhaps? All this nastiness and more can be found in the pages of this fun reference book. With insults ranging from Roman times (lutum lenonium = filthy pimp) and Shakespearean snipes (I’m talking to you, you knotty-pated fool) to salty pirate-speak and Wild West zingers, you’re sure to find an insult for everyone, be they a helminth (a parasite in Ancient Greece) or a swinge-buckler (an Elizabethan braggart). Chapters are organized chronologically by historical period—Ancient Attacks, Medieval Madness, Edgy Elizabethans, Victorian Venom, Jazz Age Jibes, and Cold War Cuts—and include themed sidebars focusing on Pirate Put-Downs, Hobo Huffs, and Cowboy Curses, as well as samplers for words with many different sayings per period. Fun, a little bit lewd, and incredibly informative this is a must-read for humor fans, history buffs, armchair etymologists, and the most sneaping of breedbates.

Many words and expressions are viewed as 'taboo', such as those used to describe sex, our bodies and their functions, and those used to insult other people. This 2006 book provides a fascinating insight into taboo language and its role in everyday life. It looks at the ways we use language to be polite or impolite, politically correct or offensive, depending on whether we are 'sweet-talking', 'straight-talking' or being deliberately rude. Using a range of colourful examples, it shows how we use language playfully and figuratively in order to swear, to insult, and also to be politically correct, and what our motivations are for doing so. It goes on to examine the differences between institutionalized censorship and the ways individuals censor their own language. Lively and revealing, Forbidden Words will fascinate anyone who is interested in how and why we use and avoid taboos in daily conversation.

n A Slap in the Face, William Irvine undertakes a wide-ranging investigation of insults, their history, the role they play in social relationships, and the science behind them. He offers advice, based primarily on the writings of the Stoic philosophers, on how best to curb our own insulting tendencies and how to respond to the insults that are directed our way. A rousing follow-up to The Good Life, A Slap in the Face will interest anyone who's ever delivered an insult or felt the sting of one--in other words, everyone.