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The Big Book of Being Rude: 7000 Slang Insults

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More than 6,000 insulting phrases for that special comeback-or just to savor for their delicious wit! From over 1,000 ways to call somebody a fool, to hundreds of little-known terms for know-it-alls, egotists, flatterers, and nags, to below-the-belt, politically incorrect zingers, this is true glee for the clever and catty.

384 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2001

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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
28 reviews
June 22, 2024
There are some gems hidden in here but much of what pass for "insults" here are just various forms of discrimination: ageism, classism, homophobia, racism, sexism, transphobia, you name it. A more honest title would leave out the subtitle and the table of contents could stand to be re-organized as follows: Insults, Slurs, Epithets, etc. It's frankly shocking that this was printed as-is as recently as 2000. Then again, it was published in London...
Profile Image for Kirsti.
2,994 reviews128 followers
March 8, 2015
[Not safe for work]

My favorite insult from this book: "Go to hell and help your mother make bitch pie!"

A few of these made me laugh out loud:

* In the 19th century, someone who worried excessively was a fret-kidney.

* "A woman who dissects her acquaintances over tea and muffins" was a muffin-walloper. In African-American slang of the 1940s, a gossipy woman was a gatemouth.

* In 1980s college slang, a misfit was a penis wrinkle.

* In 1940s African-American slang, a thin woman was a straight-up six o'clock girl.

* In 1970s U.S. college-campus slang, a woman who looks attractive by night but not in daylight is a night fighter.

* In the 1600s, a drunkard was an afternoon man or a fuddlecap.

* To 1950s Australians, the type of person who cannot drink without becoming obstreperously drunk was a one-pot screamer.

* In Glasgow, Scotland, in the late 1800s, a child who could eat its weight in groceries was a breadsnapper.

* A synonym for "rich person" in the late 1800s was a turkey-buyer.

* To African Americans in the 1940s and 1950s, a police officer in a patrol vehicle was the man who rides the screaming gasser and one on foot was the man with the headache stick. But to gay people in the 1980s, a cop was our friend with the talking brooch.

* A teacher is an alphabet slinger or a chalk-and-talker.


Profile Image for Julie.
48 reviews31 followers
July 7, 2015
I don't mind general insults, and some can be fun. I draw the line at listing names about personal appearance, disability and race. Not my cup of tea, but it is a well organized list with drawings to illustrate.
Profile Image for Lorri.
61 reviews
June 23, 2008
Really fun book to flip through when you need to let off steam.

Beware, after you read a few pages you will be laughing so hard, and thinking of a bunch people you could use the slang on.
Profile Image for John.
237 reviews
August 13, 2016
Need a good laugh? This book covers it all!
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews

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