Asshole. According to wordreference.com, “it is an insulting term of address for people who are stupid or irritating or ridiculous.” The excretory sphincter is considered a taboo region in many cultures. Naming someone the unnamable remains a potent act of verbal aggression.
Wikipedia tells us:
The word arse in English derives from the Proto-Germanic(reconstructed) word *arsaz, from the Proto-Indo-European word *ors-, meaning "buttocks" or "backside".[1] The combined form arsehole is first attested from 1500 in its literal use to refer to the anus. The metaphorical use of the word to refer to the worst place in a region (e.g., "the arsehole of the world"), is first attested in print in 1865; the use to refer to a contemptible person is first attested in 1933.[2]
So much for etymology, but what of assholes themselves? Well, it’s impossible simply to go through life without encountering them. They’re part of the natural order, like carpenter ants, box jellyfish and stinging nettles.
I’m not going to attempt an operational definition of asshole here. In fact, this article wanders all over the place, like a drunken conventioneer looking for his hotel room.
Where was I? Oh yes. Famous assholes from the past have included Roman emperor Caligula, Chief Inquisitor Torquemada, New York lawyer Roy Cohn, US General George Patton (a five-star asshole), and leaders Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Mao Tse-Tung, et.al . These ssholes have plenty of famous living counterparts, but many are highly litigious and best left unmentioned until they pop their clogs.
There isn’t much point in making a list here anyways; you surely have one of your own. We’re talking about an infinitely renewable resource. As in the situation with “peak oil,” which was a big scare about ten to fifteen years ago, it seems unlikely we’ll ever reach a state of “peak asshole.”
I believe the past three years has been a global ‘coming out’ party for assholes, but I won’t get into that here.
There are the minor assholes found working in office cubicles, who delight in games of one-upmanship, and the major assholes who are without any conscience whatsoever and who prey on other human beings. The asshole spectrum is wide, so when you meet one of these little shafts of sunshine it can be difficult to tell if you’re dealing with the infrared rays of neurosis or the gamma rays of psychopathology.
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