A History of Insults in English: 1900-1935

I argued in the previous essay that the two other primary periods of insult formation in English were 1900-1935 and 1955-1980. Of course, not every insult or derogatory category was invented in that period, but many were. If we look at the period from 1900-1935, we have the following "new words": boob (1909) dingbat (1911), nitwit (1914), screwball (1933) and jerk (1935). The psychologists also took over some terms that had long histories, such as idiot and imbecile, added to them a new term, moron (1910) and were able to develop an intelligence scale that still remains with us (imbecile--IQ less than 30; idiot--IQ from 30-50; moron--IQ from 50-70). Let's begin our consideration of some of these terms with reference to a few earlier ones: sucker and chump.

1900-1935, With Two Others

Though the first reference to "sucker" in English goes back to Wycliffe, its meaning in that context relates to young mammals before they are weaned. In the 1850s, however, we have this reference from the San Francisco Call (Dec. 5, 1857; though the OED refers to it as the SF Call, it was actually the Morning Call from 1856-1895, after which it was called the San Francisco Call): "You may think I'm a sucker." Thus, the meaning of sucker as simpleton or fool entered into American speech. I didn't know until now that "Suckers" was to early Illinois (as early as the 1830s) as "Hoosier" was to Indiana as Badger was to Wisconsin. Stories abound about "Sucker volunteers" who fought in the Mexican-American War of the 1840s. But the reference to sucker in a derogatory way, a sort of rube (originated 1896, to refer to a rustic person) or greenhorn, owes its origin to later in the 19th century.

The word chump can be explained more briefly. Referring to a person as unintelligent as a "chump" of wood, or a blockhead, chump in this sense appeared first in 1883. "Such a long-winded old chump at telling a story." Or, from 1887: "Frank audibly remarked: 'This man is a chump. I could go..this minute and do better than that."

The New Century--Boob First

But 1900 launched us into a new series of insult or derogatory terms as well as a new century. The word boob, as a derogatory term, first appeared in 1909. Derived from the much older word booby, coined around 1600, it means a "dull, heavy, stupid fellow," or a "clown, a nincompoop." Johnson, in his Life of Boswell, could say (1776): "We work with our heads, and make the boobies of Birmingham work for us with their hands." Indeed, the origin of the concept of "booby prize" goes back to the 1820s, when booby also referred to the "last boy in a school class, the dunce." From Charlotte Bronte (1849): "He was the booby of..grammar school" (the actual phrase booby-prize, however, didn't appear until the 1880s).

By 1909, however, the "y" had dropped out of the word and we just had "boob." It would not assume its sexual connotation for 40 years, and in 1909 either meant a "prison" or a "fool, simpleton." Actually, the word "stir" also meant a prison (first attested in 1851) and so a person who went "stir-crazy" is someone who was driven to that state by the realities of prison life. The Saturday Evening Post had this in its March 7, 1909 edition: "I had to tell her the boob had gone for the day." G. B. Shaw, in his 1930 work Apple Cart could say: "You gave it away, like the boobs you are, to the Pentland Fourth Syndicate."*

[*As indicated above, it was not until 1949 that the word "boob" first appeared in its current sexual connotation. I love the initial attestation: "I felt her sloshy boobs joggling me but I was too intent on pursuing the ramifications of Coleridge's amazing mind to let her vegetable appendages disturb me."]

Finishing with Dingbat

Though dingbat as an insult didn't appear until 1911, the word dingbat first appeared in the 19th century. It was, at first, a plastic term, able to be used in several different contexts. In fact, an 1895 entry in Dialect Notes suggested seven current definitions for dingbat, such as (1) Balls of dung on buttocks of sheep or cattle; (3) A flying missile; (7) An affectionate embrace of mothers hugging and kissing their children; or (8) A term of admiration ('They are regular ding-bats' (speaking of girls)). We can see, can't we, how America needed ORDER in this cacophonous situation. So around 1911 ding-bat took on another meaning, the one which dominates today--a term of disparagement denoting a foolish or stupid person. What fascinates me is that at first the term denoted a foolish man but then gradually morphed, as the century wore on, to refer to a foolish woman. With the advent of "All in the Family," a sitcom of the 1970s, where Archie Bunker continually referred to his wife Edith as a "dingbat," the feminine association of the term was seared into our consciousness.

Well, you win and you lose. Recall how douche-bag went through precisely an opposite cultural transformation. When it was introduced as a derogatory term in 1963 it referred exclusively to females, but by the time I got to college in 1970, it was the standard greeting term among members of most fraternities. "How are you doing today, douche-bag?" Now, if anyone is a douche-bag, it is a male. See how the scales of justice work secretly in the world?

Here is an example of what I mean by the evolution of dingbat. From 1911: "Dingbatty, half crazy, imbecile. 'That fellow is dingbatty.'" 1915: "Dingbat, a fool. 'The boss called Ralph a dingbat because he made fun of him.'" But, John Irving, in his hilarious and strange World According to Garp (1972) could say: "Midge was such a dingbat...that she went to Hawaii for a vacation during WWII." Now, in 2006, a dingbat is a female. Actually, this trend began in the 1940s, according to S.B. Flexner, in his 1982 Listening to America, 282. In 2006 I don't believe that one would ever hear a man referred to as a dingbat.

I am afraid I need one more essay just on the 1900-1935 words.

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