Insult conventions

while we could say the bep are generally a fairly polite group, occasionally a time comes when they have to dunk on each other mercilessly. however, when this time comes, it is viewed as quite dull to simply insult a person; rude words, dysphemisms, and swears are in many layers of the population used as a form of spacing or emphasis, lending it limited potency to insult somebody. the norms for really insulting somebody, or indeed the measure of success for genuine commentary on your impolite displeasure with somebody, is ambiguity.

the idealized bep insult (as in, accepted by an absolute majority as the basal concept of insulting someone), taken to express genuine frustrations rather than tending towards banter or emphasis, is one not noticed by the recipient. a Proper Insult is one in which the subject does not comprehend, or cannot be certain, that they have been insulted. although because of the uncertainty this can easily create, it's common of to mark your intentions more opaquely at a later time or towards a separate audience.

say for instance you've managed to get an interview with our good sir Elon Musk, and you comment on how he's ”such an entrepreneurial person, rethinking conventional concepts like the cargo train but making it ✧sleek✧ and ✧innovative✧” or sth of the sort. ideally for you, he'll think that that's a compliment, while others present (or even he later on) will realize that you're in fact calling him a rapacious neanderthal trying to deïnvent the wheel. in typical bep eyes this is how to truly insult / degrade somebody. it's also a reason to be very careful with your wording, so people don't think you're being an absolute savage when in fact just saying neutral or nice things about people.

comments that tend towards being overindulgent/exaggerated or suspiciously more detailed than necessary are a common sign someone's trying to not-so-overtly dunk on you while still maintaining plausible deniability. they probably won't deny it if asked, this isn't a schrödinger's douchebag type thing; but then if you do ask, you'll look stupid for having been made so unsure that you ask. and potentially very arrogant if they weren't trying to insult you.

overall this isn't the best mode of communication and prooobably façilitates more for humiliating people in a group than it does for constructive criticism. some people are well aware of this and deem eloquent insults shitty practice, others are oblivious to how it could be toxic, or perhaps think that it is right to base feedback on negative pressure from a group. attitudes vary greatly. the point of describing the ... 'tendency'(?) is more to clarify that this is pmuch ubiquitously recognized among bep as the pinnacle of shitting on people, regardless how you feel about doing that.

& as the example hinted at, it's a trope in media and literature regardless of its prominence in actual day-to-day interactions