History InsultBackfire / RealLife

* [[CanadaEh Soviet Canuckistan]]. Embraced by many Canadians.

* UsefulNotes/PCVsConsole had console fanboys, more prominently ''WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation'' dub PC elitists as "PC master race" as an insult to those that think PC gamers are above everyone else. PC gamers saw the phrase as "yes, we are better than those console gaming scrubs, as we can actually bother to improve upon our hardware, unlike console scrubs who have to wait for entire new version release", so now many PC gamers dub themselves as the glorious PC master race whenever they troll gaming consoles and their fans.

* The line "It's called UsefulNotes/XBox360 because you turn 360 degrees and walk away." became a meme after people quickly pointed out that 360 degrees is a circle and you'd be facing exactly where you started. [[https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/265/714/fd1.gif Cue people]] [[https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/507/919/bc0.jpg getting inventive with it.]]

** Former newscaster turned gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake infamously tried to excite Trump supporters by calling the late John [=McCain=] a loser and told any [=McCain=]-supporting Republican to "get the hell out". Needless to say, they [[ExactWords heeded her advice]] by voting for Democrat Katie Hobbs instead. They also cited Trump's past insults about [=McCain=]'s military service as another reason. Lake since then filed dozens of {{Frivolous Lawsuit}}s to overturn the results ''even after'' Hobbs was inaugurated. Because of her 30+ dud lawsuits, the Arizona Republican Party was bankrupted under hefty legal fees and disciplinary sanctions for Lake's attorneys. Lake has since regretted badmouthing [=McCain=], but the deceased senator's family has refused to accept her apology.

** Gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake infamously tried to excite Trump supporters by calling the late John [=McCain=] a loser and told any [=McCain=]-supporting Republican to "get the hell out". Needless to say, they heeded her advice by electing her opponent, Democrat Katie Hobbs, to the governorship. They also cited Trump's past insults about [=McCain=]'s military service as another reason. Lake since then filed dozens of {{Frivolous Lawsuit}}s to overturn the results ''even after'' Hobbs was inaugurated. Because of her 30+ dud lawsuits, the Arizona Republican Party was bankrupted under a mountain of legal fees and disciplinary sanctions for Lake's attorneys.

* The word ''queer'', once an insult leveled against homosexuals, has largely been adopted by the community for self-description.

** Gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake infamously tried to excite Trump supporters by calling the late John [=McCain=] a loser and told any [=McCain=]-supporting Republican to "get the hell out". Needless to say, they heeded her advice by electing her opponent, Democrat Katie Hobbs, to the governorship. They also cited Trump's past insults about [=McCain=]'s military service as another reason. Lake has been since perceived as a bratty {{Womanchild}} by the public for [[SoreLoser whining]] about her loss and filing {{Frivolous Lawsuit}}s to overturn the results ''even after'' Hobbs was inaugurated. Because of her 30+ dud lawsuits, the Arizona Republican Party was bankrupted under a mountain of legal fees and disciplinary sanctions for Lake's attorneys.

** Kickboxer and right-wing troll Andrew Tate attempted to do this and it [[HoistByHisOwnPetard backfired tremendously on him in response]]. He tweeted at Thunberg, bragging about how many luxury cars he owns, and Thunberg responded by implying that he is [[TeenyWeenie definitely]] CompensatingForSomething. Tate responded with a video that was basically NoYou, but which also, thanks to a pizza box in front of him, revealed his whereabouts and got him arrested by Romanian police on charges of sex trafficking.

** The innocuous usage of variants of "nigger" by African-Americans appears to have this trope's intent.

** "Let's Go Brandon" came about after a reporter at a UsefulNotes/{{NASCAR}} race heard the crowd chanting "Fuck Joe Biden" and thought they were cheering on one of the racers, named Brandon (or possibly trying to deflect away from the profanities being chanted on live television by [[LameRhymeDodge pretending it was something else entirely.]]) Trump supporters have used the phrase as an attempt at a StealthInsult to Biden, while Biden supporters turned it around into the "Dark Brandon" meme, portraying Biden as a MemeticBadass with GlowingEyes who's going to [[ChewBubblegum eat ice cream cones and put an end to your]] [[{{Catchphrase}} malarkey]].

* When Jon Stewart appeared on ''Series/TheOReillyFactor'', O'Reilly claimed that 87% of ''[[Series/TheDailyShow Daily Show]]'' fans were intoxicated while watching and repeatedly referred to them as "stoned slackers". The fans adopted it as a {{Fan Community Nickname|s}} and now there are "I'm one of Jon's stoned slackers" T-shirts.

** Gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake infamously tried to excite Trump supporters by calling the late John [=McCain=] a loser and told any [=McCain=]-supporting Republican to "get the hell out". Needless to say, said voters heeded her advice by electing her opponent, Democrat Katie Hobbs, to the governorship. They also cited Trump's past insults about [=McCain=]'s military service as another reason. Lake has been since perceived as a bratty PsychopathicWomanchild by the public for [[SoreLoser whining]] about her loss and filing {{Frivolous Lawsuit}}s to overturn the results ''even after'' Hobbs was inaugurated.

** UsefulNotes/HillaryClinton controversially referred to half of Trump's supporters as a "basket of deplorables". It wasn't long before Trump supporters were wearing T-shirts reading, "Proud to be a Deplorable". They even named a formal event they held after UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump's victory "[[JustForPun Deploraball]]".

** "Let's Go Brandon" came about after a reporter at a UsefulNotes/{{NASCAR}} race heard the crowd chanting "Fuck Joe Biden" and thought they were cheering on one of the racers, named Brandon. Trump supporters have used the phrase as an attempt at a StealthInsult to Biden, while Biden supporters turned it around into the "Dark Brandon" meme, portraying Biden as a MemeticBadass with GlowingEyes who's going to [[ChewBubblegum eat ice cream cones and put an end to your]] [[{{Catchphrase}} malarkey]].

* The great cartoonist Al Hirschfeld (whose drawings mostly satirized Broadway) drew a picture of the legendary Broadway producer David Merrick [[http://tm.tm-cdn.com/photos/theatermania/v1/andquotunlikely-casting-10-david-merrick-as-santa-88400.jpg as Santa Claus]] in a series on [[WTHCastingAgency "Unlikely Casting".]] David Merrick used the drawing on his Christmas cards, adding a burning Christmas tree.

* In Pride Month of 2023, queerphobes created a [[https://twitter.com/LaurenWitzkeDE/status/1662136303809445902?s=20 meme]] where the letters of the phrase "PRIDEMONTH" were faded out until the word "DEMON" remained. It was intended to insult Pride and the LGBTQ community, but instead, queer people actually ran with it, printing the meme on t-shirts, super-imposing it onto fictional characters, [[https://www.reddit.com/r/HazbinHotel/comments/v3zajc/happy_pride_month_art_by_idpollution/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3 like]] [[WebAnimation/HazbinHotel Angel Dust]], and phasing out different letters to create other random words. At this point, one might see the meme and not even know it was meant to be ''anti''-queer in the first place.

* Andrew Young, in addition to being a pioneer in the CivilRights movement, served as Mayor of Atlanta, Congressman from Georgia, and US Ambassador to the {{UN}}. During Walter Mondale's presidential campaign in 1984 he said that it was being "...run by a bunch of smart-ass white boys who think they know it all." Cue T-shirt and cap vendors all over the country, "SAWB" was the acronym of the year.

** The different schools of Communism/Socialism. Marxism was originally "scientific socialism" (as opposed to Christian socialism and utopian socialism[[note]]This one was Marx's particular bugbear; Marx had no time for the "perfect societies" dreamt up ''a priori'' from first principles by the earlier generations of "socialists." Marx wanted to emphasize that his theories were rooted in modern "scientific" economics and data and thus analytically sound, unlike the pie-in-the-sky ideas of earlier socialists.[[/note]] and was later adopted by many Marxists. Same went with [[UsefulNotes/JosefStalin Stalinism]] and [[UsefulNotes/LeonTrotsky Trotskyism]]. Stalin labeled himself a "Marxist-Leninist" with Trotsky calling his supporters "Stalinists". Stalin called Trotsky's supporters "Trotskyists" while Trotsky called himself a "Bolshevik-Leninist".

* A popular anti-Japanese slur in China is 日本鬼子 (''riben guizi'', "Japanese demon"). Following [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Senkaku_boat_collision_incident an international dispute between the two countries in 2010]] Japanese netizens noted that the slur looks like a Japanese girl's name, with 本 ("-moto") being a common family name component and 子 ("-ko") being a common female given name component. So, using the magic of AlternateCharacterReading, they created the [[MoeAnthropomorphism moe character]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinomoto_Oniko Hinomoto Oniko]], a [[CuteMonsterGirl Cute Oni Girl]] in traditional Japanese attire who became instantly popular on Japanese ImageBoards and inspired an impressive amount of fanart, videos, and a [[Music/{{UTAU}} [=VIPPERloid=]]] with her own [[ImageSong image]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5tzP-GES9k song]]. Chinese netizens were baffled at the way the slur was reappropriated, citing it as another example of the [[WidgetSeries weirdness and craziness of Japan]].

* In Pride Month of 2023, conservatives created a [[https://twitter.com/LaurenWitzkeDE/status/1662136303809445902?s=20 meme]] where the letters of the phrase "PRIDEMONTH" were slowly phased out until the only letters spelled the word "DEMON". It was intended to insult Pride and the LGBTQ community, but instead, queer people actually ran with it, printing the meme on tshirts it on t-shirts, super-imposing it onto fictional characters, [[https://www.reddit.com/r/HazbinHotel/comments/v3zajc/happy_pride_month_art_by_idpollution/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3 like]] [[WebAnimation/HazbinHotel Angel Dust]], and phasing out different letters to create other random words. At this point, someone might see the meme and not even know it was meant to be ''anti''-queer in the first place.

* In Pride Month of 2023, conservatives created a [[https://twitter.com/LaurenWitzkeDE/status/1662136303809445902?s=20 meme]] where the letters of the word "Pride Month" were slowly phased out until the only letters spelled the word "Demon". It was intended to insult the month and the queer community but needless to say, it didn't work. Members of the LGBTQ+ community gladly embraced the meme as a source of pride by superimposing the shirt onto fictional characters, [[https://www.reddit.com/r/HazbinHotel/comments/v3zajc/happy_pride_month_art_by_idpollution/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3 like]] [[WebAnimation/HazbinHotel Angel Dust]], and phasing out different letters to create other random words.

* There is a meme on social media showing a photo of a DragQueen sitting on a subway next to a Muslim woman in full veil, with a caption that read, "This is the future liberals want for America." The average liberal response was, "People from different walks of life peacefully coexisting on well-funded public transit? Yes, that's ''exactly'' what we want!" The tweet's caption additionally became a meme used to highlight surreal or amusing situations as a means of making fun of the original post's intentions.