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Created page with 'File:lighterstill.jpgright|frame ==Origin== Middle French or Latin; Middle French insulter, from Latin insultare, [[literally...'
[[File:lighterstill.jpg]][[File:Particle-Physics-Insult_1881-l.jpg|right|frame]]
==Origin==
Middle French or [[Latin]]; Middle French insulter, from Latin insultare, [[literally]], to spring upon, from in- + saltare to leap
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/16th_century 1540
==Definitions==
*!: To [[manifest]] arrogant or [[Scorn|scornful]] delight by [[speech]] or [[behavior]]; to exult proudly or contemptuously; to boast, brag, vaunt, [[glory]], triumph, esp. in an insolent or scornful way.
*2: To assail with offensively dishonouring or [[contempt]]uous [[speech]] or [[action]]; to treat with scornful [[abuse]] or [[offensive]] disrespect; to offer indignity to; to affront, outrage.
*3: To make an [[attack]] or [[assault]]
==Description==
An '''insult''' (also called a putdown or called a snap) is an [[expression]], [[statement]] (or sometimes [[behavior]]) which is considered degrading and [[offensive]]. Insults may be [[intentional]] or [[accidental]]. An example of the latter is a well-intended simple [[explanation]], which in [[fact]] is superfluous, but is given due to underestimating the [[intelligence]] or [[knowledge]] of the [[other]].
Whether or not [[speech]] or [[behavior]] is insulting in [[practice]], and sometimes by the terms of local [[assault]] statutes, is often a product of the [[subjective]] sense of the insulted party. However, insults to one [[person]] who might not mind such derogatory [[speech]] may indirectly insult others. Many states and local municipalities enforce [[prohibition]]s against rude, [[offensive]] or insulting [[speech]], leaving [[citizens]], law enforcement officers and [[courts]] to decide what is and what is not an insult. The [[concept]] of fighting [[words]] as a form of [[prohibited]] [[speech]] has developed in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurisprudence jurisprudence] of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaplinsky_v._New_Hampshire U.S. constitutional law] concerning terms of disparagement. However, the fighting [[words]] exclusion is construed in an extraordinarily narrow [[manner]], and only the type of insulting speech which is deemed "meaningless" can be suppressed. [[Speech]] containing significant [[literary]], artistic, [[political]], or [[scientific]] significance cannot be suppressed (a test known to attorneys and law students by the [[Memory|mnemonic]] device "slaps"), even if it is wantonly and maliciously insulting, demeaning, or even inciting of racial, [[ethnic]], [[religious]] or [[sexual]] [[hatred]].
The role of insults in the [[social]] sense may be better [[understood]] by an [[appreciation]] of how the term is used in a medical setting. Though a [[popular]] idiom refers to "adding insult to [[injury]]", in a medical [[context]], they are one and the same: physicians [[examine]] injuries resulting from an insult to flesh and bones, caused by various traumatic [[events]]. In [[speech]] and in [[social]] settings, insults are [[words]] which tend to injure or damage the [[psyche]]. In [[humor]], insults may be exchanged in much the same way as fighters exchange blows in [[training]], to [[develop]] a [[resistance]] to the [[pain]] of mild injuries, or to spar with no real [[intention]] of causing any serious injury.
==Perceptions of insults==
[[Sociologists]] suggest that insults are often an indicator of flawed [[reasoning]] about the [[character]] or [[motivation]] of others. Though insults are common, and often used in jest, a fundamental axiom of [[sociology]] recognizes that derogatory [[forms]] of [[speech]] make erroneous attributions about the [[motivation]] of a [[person]]. [[Scholars]] [[classify]] the erroneous [[assumptions]] as the fundamental attribution error.
Situations also exist in which a [[person]] erroneously believes he or she has been insulted. For example, terms such as "Asian", "incorrect", "drunk", or "full-cheeked" are often [[interpreted]] as derogatory, when in [[fact]] they may be neutral descriptive terms or factual [[statements]], which, at worst, would be simply inaccurate or incorrect rather than insulting. This [[phenomenon]] often occurs in [[individuals]] who [[suffer]] [[self]]-[[victimization]] or hypersensitivity.
[[Category: Psychology]]
[[Category: Sociology]]
==Origin==
Middle French or [[Latin]]; Middle French insulter, from Latin insultare, [[literally]], to spring upon, from in- + saltare to leap
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/16th_century 1540
==Definitions==
*!: To [[manifest]] arrogant or [[Scorn|scornful]] delight by [[speech]] or [[behavior]]; to exult proudly or contemptuously; to boast, brag, vaunt, [[glory]], triumph, esp. in an insolent or scornful way.
*2: To assail with offensively dishonouring or [[contempt]]uous [[speech]] or [[action]]; to treat with scornful [[abuse]] or [[offensive]] disrespect; to offer indignity to; to affront, outrage.
*3: To make an [[attack]] or [[assault]]
==Description==
An '''insult''' (also called a putdown or called a snap) is an [[expression]], [[statement]] (or sometimes [[behavior]]) which is considered degrading and [[offensive]]. Insults may be [[intentional]] or [[accidental]]. An example of the latter is a well-intended simple [[explanation]], which in [[fact]] is superfluous, but is given due to underestimating the [[intelligence]] or [[knowledge]] of the [[other]].
Whether or not [[speech]] or [[behavior]] is insulting in [[practice]], and sometimes by the terms of local [[assault]] statutes, is often a product of the [[subjective]] sense of the insulted party. However, insults to one [[person]] who might not mind such derogatory [[speech]] may indirectly insult others. Many states and local municipalities enforce [[prohibition]]s against rude, [[offensive]] or insulting [[speech]], leaving [[citizens]], law enforcement officers and [[courts]] to decide what is and what is not an insult. The [[concept]] of fighting [[words]] as a form of [[prohibited]] [[speech]] has developed in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurisprudence jurisprudence] of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaplinsky_v._New_Hampshire U.S. constitutional law] concerning terms of disparagement. However, the fighting [[words]] exclusion is construed in an extraordinarily narrow [[manner]], and only the type of insulting speech which is deemed "meaningless" can be suppressed. [[Speech]] containing significant [[literary]], artistic, [[political]], or [[scientific]] significance cannot be suppressed (a test known to attorneys and law students by the [[Memory|mnemonic]] device "slaps"), even if it is wantonly and maliciously insulting, demeaning, or even inciting of racial, [[ethnic]], [[religious]] or [[sexual]] [[hatred]].
The role of insults in the [[social]] sense may be better [[understood]] by an [[appreciation]] of how the term is used in a medical setting. Though a [[popular]] idiom refers to "adding insult to [[injury]]", in a medical [[context]], they are one and the same: physicians [[examine]] injuries resulting from an insult to flesh and bones, caused by various traumatic [[events]]. In [[speech]] and in [[social]] settings, insults are [[words]] which tend to injure or damage the [[psyche]]. In [[humor]], insults may be exchanged in much the same way as fighters exchange blows in [[training]], to [[develop]] a [[resistance]] to the [[pain]] of mild injuries, or to spar with no real [[intention]] of causing any serious injury.
==Perceptions of insults==
[[Sociologists]] suggest that insults are often an indicator of flawed [[reasoning]] about the [[character]] or [[motivation]] of others. Though insults are common, and often used in jest, a fundamental axiom of [[sociology]] recognizes that derogatory [[forms]] of [[speech]] make erroneous attributions about the [[motivation]] of a [[person]]. [[Scholars]] [[classify]] the erroneous [[assumptions]] as the fundamental attribution error.
Situations also exist in which a [[person]] erroneously believes he or she has been insulted. For example, terms such as "Asian", "incorrect", "drunk", or "full-cheeked" are often [[interpreted]] as derogatory, when in [[fact]] they may be neutral descriptive terms or factual [[statements]], which, at worst, would be simply inaccurate or incorrect rather than insulting. This [[phenomenon]] often occurs in [[individuals]] who [[suffer]] [[self]]-[[victimization]] or hypersensitivity.
[[Category: Psychology]]
[[Category: Sociology]]