Shakespearean Insult Kit
From Jack Bogut
There is no doubt, William Shakespeare was a genius with words. And some of his terminology could be used today, if for no other reason than to give us new ammunition to express our displeasure with public figures and politicians. Here are three columns of Shakespearean terms. Just pick one term from each column at random and simply preface it with, “You…”
Column 1 Column 2 Column 3
bawdy bat-fowling baggage
beslubbering beef-witted barnacle
bootless beetle-headed bladder
cockered clapper-clawed bugbear
craven common-kissing canker-blossom
currish crook-pated clack-dish
dankish dismal clotpole
droning doghearted codpiece
fawning earth-vexing dewberry
fobbing elf-skinned flap-dragon
gleeking flap-mouthed foot-licker
goatish fly-bitten fustilarian
impertinent fool-born gudgeon
jarring guts-griping harpy
lumpish hasty-witted horn-beast
mangled hell-hated joithead
mewling idle-headed lewdster
paunchy ill-breeding lout
pribbling ill-nurtured maggot-pie
puny knotty-pated malt-worm
qualling motley-minded measle
rank `onion-eyed minnow
roguish pottle-deep moldwarp
saucy reeling-ripe nut-hook
spleeny rough-hewn pigeon-egg
spongy rude-growing pignut
tottering shard-borne pumpion
unmuzzled sheep-biting ratsbane
vain spur-galled scut
venomed swag-bellied skainsmate
villainous tardy-gaited strumpet
warped tickle-brained varlet
wayward toad-spotted vassal
weedy unchin-snouted whey-face
yeasty weather-bitten wagtail