The Insult Dictionary: History's Best Slights, Street Talk, And Slang

This fun reference book contains insults ranging from Roman times and Shakespearean snipes to salty pirate-speak and Wild West zingers. You're sure to find an insult for everyone, be they a helminth or a swinge-buckler. 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.