History Main / InspirationalInsult

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}'':

* ''LightNovel/IsItWrongToTryToPickUpGirlsInADungeon'':

** In the spinoff ''LightNovel/SwordOratoria'', when the Loki Familia are in danger of losing to a Spirit/Monster hybrid, Fynn managed to get them to rise back up again by saying they can't compare to the aforementioned Bell. Of course, the familia who are high-levelled take issue with being called inferior to the then level one Bell, who is just a newbie.

[[folder: an Works]]

->'''Crubbs:''' Don't listen to them, Wright. You're a ''teacher'' and not cut out to be principal.
->'''Wright:''' It...it's not that. I just don't want the job.
->'''Crubbs:''' Because it's too demanding. I'd hate to see you humiliate yourself. Mr. Wright equals Principal Wrong.
->'''Wright:''' ''(Shows doctorate degree)'' That's ''Doctor'' Wright.
-> '''Crubbs:''' Oh. All my negative prodding is actually motivating you, isn't it?
->''(Wright, Ned, Mose & Cookie all nod their heads)''

[[folder: Anime and Manga]]

[[folder: Comic Books]]

[[folder: Fan Works]]
* In a sidestory of ''Fanfic/PokemonResetBloodlines'', this is revealed as the source of [[BadassArmy Twenty]] [[TheDreaded Gyarados]] [[TomTheDarkLord Bill's]] motivation to become the terror of coastal Johto. He was given a Magikarp as a mocking gift, and his crewmates called him "the Magikarp of all humans". However, he recalled that Magikarp [[MagikarpPower can become one of the most powerful and destructive Pokémon with enough training]], and thus [[AnalogyBackfire he took this comparison to heart]] [[FromNobodyToNightmare and decided that he would become "the Gyarados of all humans". ]]

[[folder: Film - Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}'': Doc tells Lightning who fell into the cactus that his driving is as lousy as his ability to fix roads, giving Lightning more motivation to do a proper job in fixing the road he damaged. Lightning even says "I'll show him."

--->'''Chick Hicks''': You want thunder? You want thunder?! Ka-Chicka! KA-CHICKA!

-->'''Captain Sparrow''': On deck, you scabrous dogs!
-->'''Captain Barbossa''': Bloomin' cockroaches!

--> Deadshot: I was just trying to get you there.

[[folder: Literature]]

[[folder: Live-Action TV]]

-->'''Crubbs:''' Don't listen to them Wright. You're a ''teacher'' and not cut out to be principal.
-->'''Wright:''' It... it's not that. I just don't want the job.
-->'''Crubbs:''' Because it's too demanding. I hate to see you humiliate yourself. Mr. Wright equals Principal Wrong.
-->'''Wright:''' "''Shows doctorate degree''" That's Doctor Wright.
--> '''Crubbs:''' Oh, all my negative prodding is actually motivating you, isn't it?
-->'''Wright, Ned, Mose & Cookie:''' "''All nod their heads''".
* ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}''
** "The Cartoon," in which washed-up actress Sally Weaver takes Jerry's criticism (actually said by Kramer) of her acting abilities (or lack thereof) and applies it to her new stand-up rountine she calls ''Jerry Seinfeld is the Devil'', in which she basically just mocks everything Jerry does or say to her to make him seem like a bigger {{Jerkass}}. Her new act launches her into celebrity status overnight.
** Mocked in another episode; George is trying to get fired from his job at the Yankees so he can get a new, lucrative job with the Mets, [[SpringtimeForHitler but his attempts to get canned are all backfiring]]. Jerry gives him a "Pep-Talk."
-->'''George:''' Who'd have thought I could fail at failing? I can't do anything wrong-
-->'''Jerry:''' Nonsense! You do everything wrong.
-->'''George:''' You really think so?
-->'''Jerry:''' Absolutely. I have no confidence in you.
-->'''George:''' Alright... I guess I just have to pick myself up, dust myself off, and throw myself right back down again!
-->'''Jerry:''' That's the spirit. You suck!

* {{Discussed}} on ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'' when Buster is having trouble with basic training and asks why his drill sergeant isn't yelling at him and using insults like "homo" to motivate him. Turns out a recent lawsuit put the kibosh on that.
--> "It'll be a long time before Sergeant Wendell Baker calls anyone 'Private Homo' again."

[[folder: Video Games]]

[[folder: Webcomics]]

--> '''Penny:''' If you like making speeches so much, run for president.\\

-->'''Belkar''': Of course, it would mean that [[spoiler:your best friend got horribly killed]] for absolutely no damn reason at all. Me, I'm a heartless little bastard. I can shrug that kind of thing off. But you seem like maybe that might bother you at some point down the road.
-->'''Roy''': You- You of all people- You have no right to-! *''{{Beat}}''* Fine. We keep going.

[[folder: Western Animation]]

[[folder: Real Life]]

--> "The word 'grovel' is one guaranteed to raise the blood pressure of any black man. The fact they were used by a white South African made it even worse. We were angry and West Indians everywhere were angry. We resolved to show him and everyone else that the days for grovelling were over."

* ''ComicBook/{{Sword}}:'' The first issue has Abigail Brand state that her WhatTheHellHero speech to Carol Danvers at the end of ''ComicBook/{{Empyre}}'' was an attempt to make Carol step up her game. Since the result was Carol quitting being Earth's "ambassador extraordinaire", it's safe to say that backfired.

'''Seymour:''' Prove me wrong, children. Prove me wrong!

* A particularly [[BrokenBase base-breaking]] scene of ''ComicBook/{{Ironheart}}'' is a flashback to Riri in kindergarten, where she stands up and announces to the whole class that she wants to be a scientist when she grows up. The teacher responds with words of encouragement, which actually causes Riri to get upset since she expected to be discriminated against and told that she couldn't become one due to her race and gender, which would then inspire her to prove the naysayers wrong out of spite. The teacher tells her that those days are over, and anyone of any race or gender is now free to pursue whatever career they want. Riri does not accept this answer and remains standing, giving the teacher an unblinking DeathGlare until she finally rolls her eyes and tells Riri that she'll never be the next Tony Stark. Despite the teacher's blatantly insincere tone, it's still good enough to fuel Riri's spite as she sits down and begins making plans to do just that.

Supertrope to NobodyCallsMeChicken, which is specific to insulting a person's courage and often used to [[BlindedByRage make the person do something against their better judgement]]. Compare QuitYourWhining, in which a character on the verge of giving up is hectored back into action, and DareToBeBadass, for straight encouragement to do awesome things.

Come on! 'Til the meter reads Nine! Nine! Nine-[[note]]a reference to a Canibus lyric from "How We Roll" - "''I’ll hop into the back seat of a cab and rhyme till the meter says Nine, Nine, Nine, Nine!''"[[/note]]\\
-ty nine percent of my fans are blond! [[note]]a reference to a Canibus lyric dissing Music/LLCoolJ - "''99% of Cool J’s fans [[EstrogenBrigade wear high heels]]''". LL responded with the ice-cold "''99% of Canibus’s fans don’t exist''". Eminem subtly reminds Canibus of LL's insult, but turns it into a [[BoastfulRap brag]] about his own [[LoonyFan scarily dedicated fandom]], implying Canibus could have one of his own if he tried harder.[[/note]]\\

Bite another line from Music/{{Redman}}'s song! [[note]]Redman used the line "''raw like Film/ReservoirDogs''" in "How High" - Canibus later bragged "''‘Bus is raw, raw to the floor, raw like reservoirs''" in "The Rip Off". "Raw" in hip-hop slang means original, so Eminem is mocking him for plagiarising his boasts about being original.[[/note]]

-ty nine percent of my fans are blond! [[note]]a reference to a Canibus lyric dissing Music/LLCoolJ - "''99% of Cool J’s fans wear high heels''". LL responded with "''99% of Canibus’s fans don’t exist''". Eminem subtly reminds Canibus of LL's insult, but turns it into a [[BoastfulRap brag]] about his own [[LoonyFan scarily dedicated fandom]], implying Canibus could have one of his own if he tried harder.[[/note]]\\

'Bus, come on, answer me, man, respond!\\

Intergalactical metaphors from Mars!\\

* Music/{{Eminem}}'s [[TheDissTrack diss track]] against Canibus, "Can I Bitch", was an attempt at trying to get Canibus to start acting like a WorthyOpponent. It was a response to an entire diss ConceptAlbum from Canibus, ''C! True Hollywood Stories'', in which Canibus rapped in character as Stan from Eminem's famous song, dumbing down his [[SignatureStyle signature]] SesquipedalianLoquaciousness into a [[FollowTheLeader pastiche of Eminem's flow]] as part of the process. "Can I Bitch" is a deliberately [[SubvertedKidsShow childish-sounding]] track, designed so that Canibus wouldn't take the insults to heart, and tells the story of Eminem and Music/DrDre driving to fight Canibus in the Batmobile while mourning Canibus changing his distinctive style. When they meet him, Canibus won't fight back, culminating in a long speech from Eminem in which he begs Canibus to fight back, implying 'Bus could have a dedicated fandom like him if he started rapping like a WorthyOpponent. Canibus got the message, releasing several albums in something closer to his original style and allowing the beef to cool off. Until 2009, anyway.

-->'''Chick Hicks''': You want thunder? You want thunder?! Ka-Chicka! KA-CHICKA!

Could be part of some EnforcedMethodActing attempts.

Supertrope to NobodyCallsMeChicken, which is specific to insulting a person's courage and often used to [[BlindedByRage make the person do something against their better judgement]]. Compare QuitYourWhining, in which a character on the verge of giving up is hectored back into action, and DareToBeBadass, for straight encouragement to do awesome things.

** Cruz Ramirez invokes this in Cars 3.

* [[http://thescienceofreality.tumblr.com/post/86937911252/yesallwomen-tweets-reveal-persistent-sexism-in This Tumblr post]] shows some women who chose a career in science specifically because people told them females can't be scientists.

* In ''Manga/WastefulDaysOfHighSchoolGirls'', [[ChaoticStupid Baka]] unwittingly causes one to [[spoiler:Hime's father]] four years before PresentDay. She hammered down on his ramen so mercilessly (saying it's so bad that she doesn't even need to eat to know it's bad) that in anger, he decides to try to improve his product, improving his self-esteem and his culinary capabilities. This ends up cementing his drive as a restaurateur, opting to move away to build his food a better reputation. This touches his daughter, who has [[FatGirl more than a bit of body-image issues]], so much that she strives to improve herself in any way she can.