Your lazy stepsister. People who never stop mocking you. Someone who has wronged you once, and you want to take it down with a few words. Whoever the target is, effectively mocking people requires not only words of ridicule, but also the right words to get your attention.
Step
Part 1 of 3: Choosing the Right Teasing Style
Step 1. Decide if you want to mock in general or specifically
You can mock in general by wearing an outfit with a derogatory message that is intended specifically for someone, or for specific bad behavior. General ridicule is appropriate if you are angry with the outside world or want to come across as unfriendly. Meanwhile, specific insults are appropriate if you want to mock the person who has wronged you.
- Specific mocking makes it easier for you to focus on the person's bad behavior, not the whole person. This is because the person's bad behavior does provoke you to make fun of him.
- On the other hand, mocking is generally useful when you're fed up with someone because they have so many bad qualities and you don't want to do anything about this person anymore. In a case like this, a classic quip that can cause someone to remember it for a lifetime may be better than a few specific words.
Step 2. Decide if you want to mock directly or indirectly
You can directly mock the victim of your anger, mock him or her in a sarcastic manner, or get the other person to mock the person for you.
- Direct mocking means that you have to be prepared to confront other people, both with the person you are teasing and with their friends, who may come to their aid immediately. You should also be prepared for backlash, whether in the form of further ridicule, threats or acts of violence, or criminal action against your property.
- Teasing with sarcasm means that you use a sentence that sounds sweet and even praises, but is actually used to bring someone down. Examples are calling someone an “onion expert”, which is actually comparing this person to an onion or garlic, or calling someone who brags too much as a “dissociation sufferer”. ("Dissociation" is a psychological term used to describe mental separation from reality. People who suffer from this disorder believe what they are saying is true.) These words are best spoken in a gentle tone to people whose vocabulary is not as large as yours..
- Getting others to mock someone for you can be done by reporting derogatory comments from a third party against the recipient of the ridicule, adding third-party comments to sound mocking, or directing your insults at a third party even though you're actually aiming them at your target. All of these options should be exercised if the third party is someone whose opinion the object of ridicule values, without requiring them to find out if this third party actually said what you reported.
Part 2 of 3: Deciding the Topic of Mockery
Step 1. Pay attention to the cultural background of the person you want to mock
Since the world is so vast, it is possible that you will meet people from different ethnic or cultural backgrounds. Every culture has its harshest insults, which may or may not be the same as yours.
- Animal insults are popular in many cultures, such as “pig”, “dog”, or “dumb as a donkey”.
- Mockery related to the body's excretory functions is also often used, for example, “wetting the bed”, “fart champion”, etc. This type of ridicule is also popular in various countries, such as in Ireland, Taiwan, and Bosnia.
- Other cultures often use sexual insults, such as in China (for example, “Ham sep lo” meaning “muddy man”, which refers to someone who has had sex too often).
- You can also swear someone to get sick. Swearing words such as "Hope you get cancer" will sound cooler than simply "You're dead!", or "Hope your house gets covered in the Pos Kota headlines" will sound harsher than simply "I hope you and your family have an accident". This kind of ridicule is popular in some countries, for example in the Netherlands and in Bosnia.
- Other cultures such as in Japan have a funny insult that reads “Tofu no gift ni atama wo butsuke shinjimae” (“Just hit your head on the tofu and you'll die”). You can use this kind of ridicule for a person with a clumsy reputation or bad luck, especially if he or she happens to be a vegetarian.
- Some cultures are notorious for insulting the weaknesses of others. In Yidi, there are words for arrogant (“barmier”), overeat (“fresser”), cheesy (“karger”), clumsy (“klutz”), loser (“schlemiel”, or always unlucky (“schlimazel”). Or maybe they just like “kvetch” (grunt).
- Sometimes, you can use the manners of a culture to your advantage in mocking. “You” has two meanings in German. The formal “you” is “Sie”, and the casual “du.” In German, it's considered rude to say "du" to someone you don't know well. Calling a foreigner “du Esel” was an extra mockery.
Step 2. Make fun of your target with the things he or she is most sensitive to
You don't have to say his name to insult him. You can insult someone they love or admire, insult that person's accomplishments or skills, mock their behavior, or highlight something that irritates them.
- The person your target loves is usually part of his or her family. One commonly used slur is the “Your mother/ Yo momma” slur, which mocks how fat, lazy, ugly, old, poor or stupid the mother of your target is: “Your mother is so old, that her date at the prom is an ancient human (Yo momma so old, her prom date was a Neanderthal)”. Insults like this became popular in the '90s to the mid-2000s, until MTV once made a show with this theme.
- Skills that are usually the subject of ridicule are driving or cooking skills, for example: “You treat me like a god. All your cooking tastes like offerings or sacrifices." Similarly, ridicule is most effective at mocking behavior that the target is very aware of, or something that annoys you. You can imitate the behavior excessively.
- Making fun of someone's accomplishments can really offend him if he has actually worked hard to get it. Imagine how a writer named S. J. Perelman, after his first book entitled "Dawn Ginsbergh's Revenge" was published. Groucho Marx told him “From the moment I picked up the book until I put it back down, I burst out laughing in disbelief at how bad it was. Maybe one day I'll read it."
Part 3 of 3: The Choice of Words That Stab the Heart
Step 1. Start with an apology if you think the person you are trying to make fun of will misunderstand
Soften your sentence by saying something that sounds like an apology, like "With all due respect" or "I didn't say this to irritate you."
The risk is that your apology may not come across as sincere once you've made fun of it. Then, saying that you don't want to irritate him will only make him angry
Step 2. Start with a non-irritating opening, then do the opposite
With this mocking style, you'll start by saying something that sounds neutral or positive, then turn into something derogatory to the person you're teasing. This style is often used by comedians when appearing in nightclubs.
- Groucho Marx is a master of this type of ridicule (you can google it), with phrases like “I never forget people's faces, but in your case I'll make an exception” and “My nights are usually perfect, but not tonight. this."
- If you decide to use mockery in this style, pause after your opening sentence, before saying the insulting sentence. Except, if your insults are short and direct, such as "I adore your grave."
Step 3. Get rid of the taunts quickly
Sometimes, you are too angry or tired to end your teasing with an apology or a gentle opening. In this case, hurl insults directly at your target.
- Ad hominem ridicule, or ridicule of a person's qualities as a human being, is usually pronounced with a certain title/nickname ("You idiot!"). Also, sometimes you can add obscene phrases or short hints to tell the person to leave (you can set the destination yourself).
- The inability to do something can be ridiculed for example by saying, "Your cooking is not good".
- This style of ridicule is very effective with insulting words, such as the words "hockey puck" spoken by the famous comedian Don Rickles (his taunts are made in an "in-your-face" style. Therefore, he earned the nickname "Merchant of Venom / Poison Merchant").
Tips
- If you are being teased, an effective way to counter them is not to retaliate, but to reverse the taunt. A famous example is the conversation between Winston Churchill and Lady Nancy Astor at a party at Bleinheim Palace in the 1930s. Lady Astor angrily said to Churchill, "Winston, if you were my husband I would poison your tea." Churchill replied "Madam, if I were your husband I would drink the tea."
- If you don't have enough taunts to get back at someone else's taunts against you, an equally effective or even more effective way to get back at them is to keep the person silent for a long time. This can effectively silence your bully or even silence the entire room (if the room is not large). If you want, you can put your hand on your cheek and look suspiciously into your contemptuous eyes, as comedian Jack Benny usually does.
- An example of a place to find good ridicule is on comedy shows, where a famous person is "honored" with sarcasm and then dropped for character and accomplishments. In most cases, this mockery is what most people think of the famous person, and the famous person then usually gets a few minutes at the end of the show to rebut the person who made fun of him.
Warning
- Don't mock others just to be mean. Save the ridicule for people you don't like and who you "ought" to make fun of.
- The less you swear when you're mocking someone, the more effective it will be when you actually use swear words, and you can effectively make fun of someone without apologizing in the first place.
- Above all, avoid the temptation to get physical. Remember what Isaac Asimov said when he played Salvor Hardin in “Foundation”: “Violence is the last refuge of the poor.”
