Friday, November 02, 2007

Yeah huh! It IS a word!

I find as a parent my vocabulary is sometimes limited by what I am willing to have my children hear. Therefore when I find words that are expressive and satisfying and yet not likely to get either myself or my children in trouble I am pleased.
For several years one such word has been,
asshat.
Recently Mr. Logo was debating whether or not asshat is a real word.
I submit to you all that it really, really is, and here is some evidence to support my claim.

Definitions found on
Urban dictionary
1. ass-hat
A general term for someone who carries out actions with such stupidity that they might as well wear their ass as a hat.

2. ass-hat
One whose head is so far up their rear end it could pass for a hat; used to describe a person who is stubborn, cruel, or otherwise unpleasant to be around.

4. ass-hat
Someone so incredibly stupid and/or ignorant that everything above their waist is useless; i.e. a hat for their ass.

According the online fount of all reliable knowledge, wikipedia...



Arsehat is a slightly trendier and less severe variation of arsehole, graphically describing someone who has his “head up his own arse” (i.e., not knowing what’s going on): one is wearing one’s arse for a hat. A more modern usage of arsehat describes a person doing something stupid, and can apply to anyone: “The boss is up to arsehattery because he broke the computer even though he knew he was doing the wrong thing.” This meaning was popularized by Something Awful character Jeff K. The word is popular in many online communities, serving as a more palatable version of its antecedent. According to Google’s Usenet statistics, the word only saw a token appearance every day or two starting in July 1999, but following a slow rise in 2002, it entered popular usage in May 2003. As it continued to grow in popularity, arsehat began to be used by online gamers, in first person shooter and massively multiplayer role playing games. It was a commonplace word on servers where vulgar language was not allowed.

An entry in the Mother Tongue Annoyances weblog from March of last year discussed the origins of the word, and sited a much OLDER conversation thread in an archive which had someone questioning it's definition in 2003.

Ok, so, I'm just saying, it's a word, ok, it IS. So there!

P.S.

For those of you who are still popping in on my little blog, I'm very glad to see you and I am reading your comments even though I'm not replying to them much. For those of you who have the details on the current sitch, thanks so much for your prayers and good thoughts and for those of you who keep showing up here even though I'm more absent than present in the blogworld, thank you!

I heart you all!

8 comments:

lime said...

hey, we heart you too and we know your absence isn;'t arsehattery on your part.

snowelf said...

The first time I ever heard this word was when one of my teachers used it in class. I could NOT stop laughing!! It's second only to fucktard.

Take care,
--snow

Jocelyn said...

I don't know what all is going on with you, but best wishes, my dear asshat.

You're missed.

cathy said...

prayers and such from a similarly estranged blogging friend. I forgive you if you forgive me too.

keep on keeping on :)

Jacob said...

So then, is Nerdbucket a word?

G said...

You know I never use that word, but it could be considered into the lexicon of the Lampshade Household. Child friendly.

Mike Minzes said...

Problem is I know way to many ass-hats. love this post!

minijonb said...

i love a good neologism like asshat. a new word can convey so much more than the old words could.