"dickhead" in the news

[Jonathan Lighter]

Not "prick"?

The usual distinction is that a "dick" is often a dork, but a "prick" is
always dispicable.

A "dickhead," however, is generally an idiot.

JL


On Sun, Jun 15, 2014 at 4:59 PM, Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at gmail.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "dickhead" in the news
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Sun, Jun 15, 2014 at 4:40 PM, Wilson Gray wrote:
> >
> > On Sun, Jun 15, 2014 at 3:54 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:
> >
> > > how can we tell it was 'dickhead' and not 'asshole'?
> >
> > How can we tell that it was "dickhead" and not "dick"? Does "dickhead"
> > provide the words or the music or both?
> >
> > _Khui_ is the word for "dick" in the relevant sense. But my very limited
> > experience is that Russiam GI-equivalents say things like "ia ne khuia ne
> > slyshu" = "I don't hear dick," "khui tebe v zhopu!" = "a dick for thee
> into
> > thine arse!" (= "fuck you!"?) and others equally irrelevant.
>
> Looks like it's хуйло (khuilo/huylo). So just "dick," I guess.
>
>
> http://www.buzzfeed.com/maxseddon/top-ukrainian-diplomat-calls-putin-a-dickhead
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Putin_huylo!
> https://ru.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D1%85%D1%83%D0%B9%D0%BB%D0%BE
>
> --bgz
>
> --
> Ben Zimmer
> http://benzimmer.com/
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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