Chrysti The Wordsmith: Wicked Words

Greetings and welcome to Christie the wordsmith. Have you ever been called a shrine haunt a hick a curmudgeon Klotz brat or tart. Let's look at the word shrine haunt in this list of barbed epithets German for pig dog showing Holland was once considered a grave insult brat a word meaning nasty child derives from an older English word meaning rags or diaper. All these insults and hundreds more are scrutinized thoroughly in a dictionary with a prodigious title. Wicked words. A treasury of curses insults put downs and other formerly unprintable terms from Anglo-Saxon times to the present writer Hugh Ross and dedicated countless hours to the compilation of this nefarious Treasury plumbing the depth and breadth of such terms as dweeb space cadet beetle brained Shnook and even quaint Shakespearean insults such as CAD knave bawd and slattern. Hugh Rawson's dictionary wicked words spares no wicked word with entries that cannot be mentioned here but all are examined in scholarly detail with

citations from the Oxford English Dictionary and illustrative quotations from Mark Twain. Mario Puzo and Rudyard Kipling. If you're curious about the insults you've heard old and have been pelted with over the years. Pick up a copy of wicked words by Hugh Ross and to find the title. Go to the bibliography page of my website wordsmith radio dot org. Good day were lovers. CHRISTIE The wordsmith is sponsored by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Zoot enterprises. A high tech firm in Bozeman Montana offering challenging careers and innovative solutions for the financial services industry. Zoot web dot com.