If
you are tired of the same old insults, you may try some creative ones
we found in Wired.com, mined from ‘Green’s Dictionary of Slang, a
6,200-page lexicon spanning more than half a millennium’. You probably
know and have used the term oxygen thief for someone who is completely
useless. How about flaba-flaba? Guess the sound says it all. What do you
call these? Onomatopoeias?There are others in the category like Shabberoon n. A shabby person from 1650-1700 or Gollumpus n. A large, loutish, uncoordinated person from 1750-1800 with are quite easy to guess meanings of, as would Beef-witted adj. Stupid, simple. But, we don’t quite get Chafe-litter n. An impudent, cheeky person (1550-1600); Lerrycometwang n. A fool, a simpleton (1600-1650); or Crow mcgee adj. No good, unreal, false (1900-1950). We love Sir Posthumous Hobby n. An obsessive dandy (1650-1700); and Demi-rep n. A woman of doubtful reputation (1700-1750); though we have no idea of the origins of these term. Does Abrahamer n. A tramp, have anything to do with Abraham, or is Fhawkner n. A thief who steals poultry related to Faulkner or to the word fowl?
An abstractionist n. is a pickpocket. Sounds like an artist. And why is Cakey-pannum fencer n. A street-seller of pastries, an insult? Don’t quite get that.
In Malay, kayu (timber) is a useful word to describe someone who is clueless. What if one comes across a room full of clueless people? We like the term rainforest for that: an entire forest of hardwood timber. One only has to walk into some government offices, banks or call to complain about your broadband to understand what that means. Variations of the term include sawmill and lumber yard. Other useful permutations include blur central or like sotong (cuttlefish).
Wired.com
