Taunt Terms: Euro

Abstract

Ever since Horace coined sesquipedalia to mock the over-long words used by pretentious poets, terms meant to taunt have popped up often in the lexicon. A will to disparage can inspire neologisms that are vigorous and clear without being self-conscious. Bureaucracy is based on a French expression created to ridicule government employees who work at “bureaux” (desks). Impressionist was meant to mock members of a school of Parisian painters. Other Gallic terms whose origins were pejorative include silhouette, and guillotine. British neologisms coined to disparage include suffragette, big bang, meritocracy, and lumpectomy. Creating words to insult is a risky business, however. Those who coin a derisive term to give someone’s knuckles a smart rap commonly find that word being taken seriously. As part of the process linguists call “semantic shift,” such coinages lose their derogatory flavor.