Let me introduce you to one of the most powerful phrases in the English language. It is “with all due respect.” This phrase allows you to hurl the vilest of insults without the one being insulted necessarily taking as much offense as the insult warrants.
You can tell someone “I'd like to call you an idiot but idiots would take offense” and at the very least you would cause offense. More likely, the idiot would have his bodyguards beat you up and shoot you. On the other hand, if you preface the insult with the phrase “with all due respect” you could even come across as being frank. Of course, if your name is Frank, you could also come across as someone with candor.
These four simple words let you appear deferential without being a hypocrite. You show respect but only that which is due the person you are insulting. That may also be an insult in itself as you are implying that little if any respect at all is due.
By averting or reducing the prospect of bodily harm or even death, one could then be more creative one's insults. For example, you could say, “With all due respect, you are nothing but eleven pounds of lying, thieving, cheating, contemptible, shit in a ten-pound sack.”
Or maybe not.
You can tell someone “I'd like to call you an idiot but idiots would take offense” and at the very least you would cause offense. More likely, the idiot would have his bodyguards beat you up and shoot you. On the other hand, if you preface the insult with the phrase “with all due respect” you could even come across as being frank. Of course, if your name is Frank, you could also come across as someone with candor.
These four simple words let you appear deferential without being a hypocrite. You show respect but only that which is due the person you are insulting. That may also be an insult in itself as you are implying that little if any respect at all is due.
By averting or reducing the prospect of bodily harm or even death, one could then be more creative one's insults. For example, you could say, “With all due respect, you are nothing but eleven pounds of lying, thieving, cheating, contemptible, shit in a ten-pound sack.”
Or maybe not.
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