Insults

Having been called a ‘wazzock’ recently – purely a friendly barb, I can assure you – I wondered about its etymology and if there were other regional insults which might prove of interesting derivation.

Wazzock may be a contraction of ‘wiseacre’, one who thinks himself wise. There is also the theory it refers to an instrument used to remove royal excrement from a window – which hardly seems likely as it is surely far too specific.

Lummox is a word originating around East Anglia, first seen in 1825, it is most likely a derivative of ‘lummock’ meaning to move heavily or clumsily.

Numpty began in Scotland, this from an older term ‘numps’ meaning ‘fool’.

Plonker is a term first seen in 1862, when the reference seems to suggest extraordinary substance or depth – ie ‘thiock’.

Git is first seen in 1946, a variant of Scottish get ‘illegitimate child or brat’, itself first recorded in 1706.

Prat is suggesting someone has the intellect of a buttock – for that is exactly what ‘prat’ meant, although today we only use ‘pratfall’.

Tosspot is first used in the 1560s when it referred to a heavy drinker.

Berk is an abbreviation of ‘Berkshire hunt’, an example of rhyming slang.

Muppet, coined by Jim Henson for his famous characters including Kermit and Miss Piggy, said to be a combination of marionette and puppet. He trademarked the term on 26th September 1972, although the term had been used in November 1956 – a sketch saw Kermit in drag singing I’ve Grown Accustomed to Your Face to a skull in a Hamlet spoof. As a derogatory term it is possible the modern ‘muppet’ is simply from ‘moppet’, used to mean ‘rag doll’, ‘baby’, ‘girl’ in various periods of history.

Wally seems to have originated in Scotland where, from 1969, it described ‘an unfashionable person’ before becoming a more general insult.

Doughnut seems to have begun in the London and southeast of England in the early 1970s. One strong possibility is this came from the children’s television series The Double Deckers, where the character named Doughnut was seen as rather overweight and of limited intelligence.

Pillock, as an insult, can be traced to 1967. However, the term comes from much earlier and is seen in the 13th century as a surname. Mr and Mrs Pillock might not have been overly happy about this, as the term comes from Middle English pillicock or ‘penis’.

Dipstick was first used as an insult in the 1920s, although ‘dip’ was at least as common as ‘dipshit’. Dipstick is yet another euphemism for ‘penis’.

Nutter is first used as an insult in 1958; earlier a ‘nuttery’ had been a slang term for a ‘mental hospital’ from 1931.

Wobbler is derived from ‘wobble’, suggesting someone is unstable, and has been used as an insult since the early 18th century. Certainly going to be using this term as it really needs to make a comeback.

Turnip has been used by two of England’s greatest literary figures – Charles Dickens and William Shakespeare. (I’m so tempted to suggest I could make it three - you turnip!)

Pudding is to refer to someone as overweight, although it is not overly clear when it came into use. What is clear is Virginia Woolf considered referring to a dessert as a pudding to be the ultimate insult.

Thick was originally thick-skulled, suggesting it was difficult to get much in there, and thick-skinned was also used the same way shortly afterwards during the 16th century.

Daft has been used as an insult since the early 14th century; a hundred years earlier it had been used to mean ‘mild-mannered’ or ‘gentle, becoming’. The word later was seen as daffe meaning ‘fool, idiot’.

Dense was not used as an insult until 1732.

Gormless has been used since 1746 to mean ‘stupid’. Of course we don’t use ‘gorm’ to describe anything; but gome was used to mean ‘understanding’ from around 1200.

Dimwit is US college slang from 1922.

Pea brain seems to have come into being at some point after the Second World War.

Div is a shortened version of ‘divot’, itself from ‘clod’, and has been used as an insult since the 1960s.

Nitwit is fairly easy to as a compound word, it is thought to have been coined by David G Phillips in his writings published in 1910.

Plank is solid and unyielding, much as a person who fails to grasp an idea, and seems to have appeared around the start of the 20th century.

Bugger is thought to have originated in the Bogomils, an heretical sect founded in Bulgaria.

Twit was first used as an insult in the 1920s, but the word is much older having appeared in the 1520s when it meant ‘to blame, reproach’.

Nincompoop has certainly been around since 1680 – seen as nincompoop, nincompoop, nickum-poop - and appears in the 1699 Dictionary of the Canting Crew when it is defined as ‘a silly, soft, uxorious fellow’.

Sod is first used in print in 1818, it’s an abbreviated form of ‘sodomite’.

Nob began as an insult in the early 18th century, as we would expect it is a reference to male genitalia.