> There is a profound difference between being in possession of a “sweet-ass hat” and a “sweet asshat” Someone at MW has read: https://xkcd.com/37/
37? I can't believe it was that long ago. (Didn't even click your link, I know what it is :)
Some notes on 'asshat' (2018)
21–30 of 89 posts
Re: Some notes on 'asshat' (2018)
#22Another related word is "assclown" — which, as far as I can tell, was created accidentally when actor David Herman delivered a line of dialoge with emphasis on the wrong syllable while filming Office Space. He was meant to call Michael Bolton a "no-talent-ass clown", but delivered the line as "no-talent ass-clown". Or something like that. And now assclown is a thing.
https://xkcd.com/37/
Of course there is an xkcd about it
Re: Some notes on 'asshat' (2018)
#23Here's and interesting and fun take on similar words:
Re: Some notes on 'asshat' (2018)
#24The article compares with a 15th century word ass-head, but IMO ass-hat is really meaning arse-head, and ass-head refers to the animal, making an ass-head closer to a stupid person, less a detestable and disagreeable one.
Re: Some notes on 'asshat' (2018)
#25> the etymological note we have describes the linking of ass and hat as “seemingly nonsensical” What? It's obviously a reference to having your head up your ass, thus turning your ass into a hat.
A minor issue with that reasoning is that it doesn't explain why you might use the word asshat to refer to a person who is wearing an asshat. Asshatter would make a bit more sense, akin to brownnoser. On the other hand, I guess words like fatass have this same problem of equating the person with something the person possesses.
Re: Some notes on 'asshat' (2018)
#26I think its usage on the internet grew as an acceptable alternative to the banned word "asshole" on various message boards.
"Asshat" also gives you plausible deniability for sneaking in "ass" + the past tense of "shit". That's how I've always read it.
Re: Some notes on 'asshat' (2018)
#27The article compares with a 15th century word ass-head, but IMO ass-hat is really meaning arse-head, and ass-head refers to the animal, making an ass-head closer to a stupid person, less a detestable and disagreeable one.
[deleted]
Re: Some notes on 'asshat' (2018)
#28For my money it probably started as a play on or corruption of ‘brass-hat’, the old unflattering slang word for a senior military officer.
Re: Some notes on 'asshat' (2018)
#29Is the etymology actually obscure? I seem to recall it gaining currency in the warblog era (late but not lamented) and it's a way of saying someone has their head up their ass. They're wearing their ass as a hat.
I remember this being explained a lot in various comment sections where folks would yell at each other about the war. It's hard for me to see this as folk etymology since afaik it's where the word itself comes from. Someone should ask Instapundit.
Re: Some notes on 'asshat' (2018)
#30This is the second Usenet-borne word I've seen enter the dictionary recently. I forget what the other one was, though I remember it had to do with graffiti and was popularized by rather than created on Usenet. I think we're going to see this more and more over the next decade or three as slow-burning words from the early internet stumble into memes and discourse around major events.
‘Unfriend’ is another one.
> (…) though I remember it had to do with graffiti and was popularized by rather than created on Usenet
That one’s probably king as a verb (“kinging New York”).