What's in a nickname? And is it hate speech to insult the Orange Pumpkin Cheeto Satan?
It's also Talk Like a Pirate Day, and we have a complete guide to buccaneerian expressions you can use to impress your friends and annoy your frenemies
Does calling someone by a nasty nickname constitute hate speech?
And what does that mean, anyway?
According to the never-wrong internet, hate speech is defined as:
Any form of communication that attacks, uses pejorative or discriminatory language, or incites hatred against a person or group based on their identity
Just to be clear, hateful speech, per se, is not illegal in the United States despite what former Florida Attorney General and now Trump’s head of the Justice Department Pam Bondi said the other day.
(It should be noted that Bondi walked back those remarks after she got slammed by both the right and the left, but, you know, some bells can’t be un-rung.)
This all came to mind this morning when my wife pointed out the latest insulting nickname our Dear Leader has been given on social media:
“The Orange Trouser Stain”
Go online and you’ll find an entire glossary of insults directed at the oldest man ever to take the oath of office as commander-and-chief, including “DonOLD.”
Mona Lazar, writing on Medium, has compiled more than a hundred. Suspended late-night host Jimmy Kimmel has a few, too. Among the more entertaining:
Cheeto Satan
Don Whoreleone
Our Fondling Father
Commander-in-Thief
Tangerine Toddler
Count Flatula
Stable McGenius
Fattyshack
El Jefe de Covfefe
Emperor Trumpatine
Which may seem rude, but it bears recalling that—not to be childish or anything—but Trump started it.
He famously creates uncomplimentary nicknames for people he dislikes. I’m no psychologist, but I imagine this demonizing of his rivals is his way of bucking himself up; it helps compensate for his small hands or something.
Among Trump’s insults catalogued on Wikipedia:
Crazy Hillary
Sloppy Chris Christie
Shadey James Comey
Lyin’ Kamala
Cocaine Mitch
Governor Newscum
Shifty Schiff
Pocahontas (for Elizabeth Warren)
Little Rocket Man (for Kim Jong Un)
Kooky Tucker Carlson
Really, it’s all so disrespectful, and it is a shame that our political discourse has deteriorated like this. But before Bondi starts rounding up likely suspects, she should bear in mind that at the top of any list will be Pumpkin McPornhumper.
Got a favorite nickname? You can share it here:
Trump’s Approval Ratings in Toilet
The Washington Post reported this morning new poll results showing most Americans disapprove of how Donald Trump is doing his job. You can read the full story here:
Here’s a snapshot of the results:
Talk Like a Pirate Day
As promised earlier this week, here are a few expressions you can throw around today to impress your friends and annoy your frenemies, tips I also share in my Essential News column in Florida Weekly. (And for fans of my Strange Files series of novels, yes, this is the famous Mona, the mannequin who guards Alexander Strange’s converted fishing trawler and the star of my latest novel, Strange Timing, which won Book of the Year in the annual Royal Palm Literary Awards and a copy of which resides in the governor’s library.)
Ahoy! “Greetings, and prepare to be robbed.”
Avast ye! “Pay attention. I’m trying to rob you.”
Shiver me timbers! “I’m shocked. Shocked, I tell you, that you’re surprised I want to rob you. I am a pirate, you know.”
Dead men tell no tales. “So, hand over your purse and consider yourself lucky I don’t run you through. I’m late for the pub.”
Arrrgh! “What? You’re a pirate, too? Just my rotten luck.”
Coming tomorrow: What color holster to wear?
Miss Mingo answers the questions we’re all dying to ask. In her next column, she addresses the pressing fashion issue: Should the color of a woman’s shoulder holster match her Jimmy Choos? How will styles change in the wake of Florida’s new open-carry rules? Miss Mingo tells all this Saturday.
J.C. Bruce, journalist and author, is the founder of Tropic Press. He holds dual citizenship in the United States of America and his native Florida. Forward this email to your friends. They will love you for it.
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i like tangerine twitler and mango mussolini because they’re so on the nose.
Babyhands McGrifter, Tangerine Terror