Shitgibbon, explained

As many of you may or may not know, I have started a new tumblr page to mock our new Precedent: shitgibbonfiles.tumblr.com.

It is not as wildly popular as my other political tumblr page: kimjungfun.tumblr.com.

Seems people are more amused by the North Korean man/child/despot than our new man/child/despot, but I'm confident that over time that will change.

And even if it doesn't, it's not going to stop me.

My rage and sense of disbelief that we, well not we but some of you, elected this toupee-sporting 10th grade dropout to the highest office in the land requires some copious amounts of catharsis.

Copious.

Contrary to what incoming Press Secretary Spicer claims, "we need to stop mocking him." Listen Sean, any douchebag that consciously chooses to sit in a gold-fringed chair deserves a healthy dose of daily derision. And I'm happy to take on the task.

But today I want to turn my attention away from the Shitgibbon-Elect to the word itself.

It should come as no surprise that I like saying the word. Go ahead, give it a shot. Shitgibbon rolls off the tongue in a very pleasing manner. Why? I wondered that myself and decided to do a little etymological research.

It turns out to have something to do with assonance -- how appropriate.

Assonance -- in poetry, the repetition of of the sound of a vowel or dipthong in a non-rhyming stressed syllables near enough to each other for the echo to be discernible.

I have no idea what that means. But, shitgibbon.

I also discovered the author of the phrase is of Scottish descent, as am I. And can be attributed to the Scottish practice of flinging of good, complex, overblown insults. Moreover, this is a remnant of an ancient tradition of Flyting.

Flyting is the predecessor to today's modern day Rap Battles. It's the ritual poetic exchange of insults that was practiced between the 5th century and the 16th century.

Rich, do you have any examples? Indeed I do.

I will no longer keep it secret:
It was with thy sister
thous hadst such a son
hardly worse than thyself.

It's safe to say that it's not that big a leap from incest jokes to "Yo Mamma" jokes.

Here's an example of flyting from the one and only William Shakespeare:

Ajax: Thou bitch-wolf's son, canst thou not hear? Feel then.
Thersites: The plague of Greece upon thee, thou mongrel beef-witted lord!

I like the way that sounds, however, again, I have no idea what The Bard is talking about.

But, shitgibbon.