Asshats

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A foolish or obnoxious person, often behaving in a rude or ignorant manner; someone demonstrating a lack of common sense or decency; an individual whose actions annoy others due to egotism or foolishness
2. A person displaying stupidity or immaturity, frequently aggravating those around them; an individual who acts self-importantly while being clueless; a term used to describe someone irritating due to their behavior
3. Someone characterized by obnoxious behavior that irritates others; a person lacking awareness of their own foolishness while being unpleasant; a colloquial term for those who exhibit extreme ignorance or arrogance

Etymology: "Asshats" is simply the plural of "asshat," a noun meaning foolish and rude people. The base word is a compound of "ass" and "hat," and the image behind it is a joke about wearing the backside as headgear. It draws on the slang phrase "have one's head up one's ass," which describes someone who is clueless or bumbling, so the hat is a playful stand-in for that blockheaded condition. The compound works by literal absurdity: picture a person whose head has been swapped with their rear end, so that the posterior sits on top like a hat. The insult then extends from the physical image to the mental one, applying to people who are clueless or bumbling and fail to grasp what is going on around them. The plural form simply groups such people together.

Synonyms: fools, idiots