Thought it came from Jeff K. on Something Awful, back when Something Awful was good.
Some notes on 'asshat' (2018)
31–40 of 89 posts
Re: Some notes on 'asshat' (2018)
#32The use of written word in these scenarios is always interesting to me. I have video of me and some friends using the word "asshat" predating their first recorded usage by almost a decade. (I have no idea why I remembered that video when reading this... but here it is on my hard drive)
Ironically in a similar context, a bunch of punk rockers talking about someone in a band we didn't like!
I always wonder how many words have an etymology which predates written use significantly due to the "class" of people who use that word. This certainly seems to be a minor case at least.
Re: Some notes on 'asshat' (2018)
#33Another 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.
nah Office resonates because it MIRRORED real life en vérité, not the other way around. That's always been Mike Judge's strength, casting the actual as fantastic as it really is for better or often worse.
we were saying assclown or azzclown before the movie but it hit so sweetly thus
Re: Some notes on 'asshat' (2018)
#34Another 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.
Confirmed by OP: https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/what-does-assc...
Not that it was not the intended reading though, unless I'm missing it, just that the term likely came from the film?
Re: Some notes on 'asshat' (2018)
#35> In the case of pronoun usage, it really comes down to: Are you being a nice person or an asshat?” — Steve Kleinedler (interviewed by Sarah Grey), Conscious Style Guide (consciousstyleguide.com), “Conscious Language in the American Heritage Dictionary,” 22 Feb. 2018 I had no idea this guide for not being an asshat existed. That's pretty interesting and could help a lot of would-be asshats who don't feel comfortable…
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Re: Some notes on 'asshat' (2018)
#36I’ve always associated this word with fark.com, I remember it being used frequently on that site around 2000.
Re: Some notes on 'asshat' (2018)
#37Is 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 com…
I first encountered "asshat" in the context of network security: there are white hats, who are motivated by ethics and social responsibility. There are black hats, who are motivated by personal gain and seem to lack a sense of morality. Then there are asshats, who don't care about anything other than amusing themselves at other people's expense.
I have absolutely no idea of this is the origin of the term, or if it just fit there perfectly.
Re: Some notes on 'asshat' (2018)
#38Re: Some notes on 'asshat' (2018)
#39The use of written word in these scenarios is always interesting to me. I have video of me and some friends using the word "asshat" predating their first recorded usage by almost a decade. (I have no idea why I remembered that video when reading this... but here it is on my hard drive) Ironically in a similar context, a bunch of punk rockers talking about someone in a band we didn't like! I always wonder how many wor…
It's pretty much universal. Etymologists and lexicographers know that most words were in use for some time before being written -- anywhere from years to centuries. They try to make inferences by other means, as best they can.
They gradually expand the corpus they can search. A lot of words that are attributed to Shakespeare are gradually finding earlier sources, often in manuscripts. They knew all along that Shakespeare wasn't the first person to use a word (a common myth), but that his works were widely printed and thus survived.
Those manuscripts still don't include spoken usages, and show only the use by the class of people who could write. But it is solid data, before they go off into more tenuous hypotheses.
Re: Some notes on 'asshat' (2018)
#40This 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”).
I don't think so. This one had to do with a memorial for someone who was murdered.