Archived Discussion Main / StealthInsult

This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.

Kizor: It looks like over half of this trope's volume consisted of people reciting how they've done this or once had it happen to them, and discussing their accomplishments. Personal anecdotes are cute, but they breed fast and a flood of such things kneecaps the presentation of the trope in the media. Conversation In The Main Page raises far more trouble than it's worth, so could I ask those who wish to discuss how this or any other trope relates to them to do so on the discussion page in the future?

Removed:

• This editor's mother was learning Latin insults for this specific purpose. She would tell someone something along the lines of "You have shit for brains" in Latin and tell them it means something complimentary.
  • Isn't that the point of learning another language?
    • This editor doesn't know about you, but I made a point of learning variations on "_____ if I know", i.e. "coitus si scio" or "Tartarus si scio."
    • This troper doesn't know about either of you, but rather than use actual German profanity (which sounds too similar to English anyway), he's been known to say "Did you come out of the closet yet?" and "I hope you grow flowers out of your knee," among others.
    • This troper has a part French Canadian friend who would secretly insult her incompetent French teacher to her face... in French.
    • So insulting the teacher, her French skills, highlighting the lack of those skills, and getting away with it! I take my metaphorical hat off to your friend.
    • This troper, who doesn't normally swear at all, has practiced a form of the Lapine highest insult so as to be ready to use it should occasion arise.
  • Henry Beard's books, Lingua Latina Occasionibus Omnibus (Latin For All Occasions) and X-Treme Latin have "Hidden Insult" and "Stealth Latin" sections respectively.
  • This was actually subverted in this troper's life. I called my mother something unrepeatable in Italian. Unfortunately for me, I had forgotten that mummy dear is fluent in Italian and I endured a hair-raising lecture.
  • This troper takes altogether too much pleasure in cussing people out in invented languages, too. Nothing like the Black Speech for insulting someone.
• (Real Life example about poem where first letters spell an insult)
  • This troper did something similar, but gave it to the person in question and had the first letters spell "Asshole." Despite the title being "Acrostic" . . .
    • And then there's the infamous photo of a lengthy tombstone epitaph that's actually an acrostic reading "FUCK YOU." According to the urban legend that accompanies this picture, the wife and mistress of the deceased only became aware of each other's existence once his funerary preparations were underway, and they both chipped in for the tombstone.
    • Not that smart. It rather looks like they wanted to insult whoever looks at the tombstone, not the guy buried under it - and that wouldn't be the point, would it?
    • I once had a severely incompetent history teacher who required us to make lists of key events from the chapter. My friend has his list spell out " Fuck [teacher's last name]" and the guy not only didn't notice, he complimented my friend on being thorough.
    • I did something subtler with my English teacher, who was incredibly incompetent; for the hell of it, to see if he would notice, I wrote part of that year's final project in Doctor Seuss-style rhyme and another in haiku. He didn't notice.
• Yet Another Real Life Example. This troper has been told on several occasions that part of the fun of being his friend is watching people not get it when they are being insulted, even when everyone else around him is laughing.

Bedinsis: I take it that these were moved here before the existance of a Troper Tales page? Anyways, I've copied-and-pasted it into the Troper Tales page.