for: The Insult

An insult (also called putdown) is an expression, statement or behavior that is considered degrading. 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 intelligence or knowledge of the other. This practice is also called flouting.

Whether 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 person insulted. But insults to one person who might not mind the derogatory speech may indirectly insult others. Many states and local municipalities enforce prohibitions 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 jurisprudence of U.S. constitutional law concerning terms of disparagement. However, the fighting words exclusion is construed in an extraordinarily narrow manner, and only insulting speech that is "meaningless" can be suppressed; speech that contains significant literary, artistic, political, or scientific significance cannot be suppressed, even if wantonly and maliciously insulting, demeaning, or even inciting of racial, ethnic, religious, or sexual hatred; there is no "right not to be offended" in the United States. For example, a vocal creationist might be insulted by being called a "troglodyte" for dismissing the Darwinian theory of evolution; however, this is political and scientific speech, and as such, is fully protected by the laws; the same would go for a creationist who calls a Darwinian an "apostate heathen" or such. Insults offered as satire in an artistic venue, such as a novel, a film or a song, are especially considered protected speech, especially in the United States.

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 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 that tend to injure the psyche. In humor, insults may be exchanged in much the way fighters exchange blows in training, to develop a resistance to the pain of mild injuries, or to spar with no real intention of seriously injuring the other.

Behavioral insults

Insults are not limited to words. Behavioral expectations create boundaries that, when crossed, can be the substance of insults. A guest who wears casual clothing to a formal event might offend the host of a party. At times the casual wearing of military garb has been seen or intended as an insult to the uniform. The deliberate adoption of some affectation, mannerism, or clothing may be used as a deliberate insult. Misuse of flags, especially burning a national flag, can be used as an insult (but can also be a political statement).