full image - Repost: Using a nickname for people you dislike makes you sound childish and unintelligent. (from Reddit.com, Using a nickname for people you dislike makes you sound childish and unintelligent.)
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There's been a huge uptick in people using nicknames, usually with alliteration or rhyming, to refer to people they disagree with, hate, or dislike. I think this is yet another thing we can "thank" Donald Trump for from his campaign and presidency. During his campaign and speeches, he would refer to his political opponents with crude, childish names to demean them. Some examples include: Crooked Joe Biden, Crooked Hillary, Lyin' Ted, Nervous Nancy, Crazy Bernie, Little Marco... you get the point. Here's a Wikipedia article keeping track if you don't mind losing some braincells.It now seems that a large swath of people on cable news networks, Reddit, Twitter, probably Facebook (I don't use it), etc. are all using these childish nicknames to refer to others. Rather than articulating their thoughts and feelings by calling someone a piece of shit, corrupt, a liar, or another descriptor, they default to a nickname to show their disdain. This, for lack of a better word, is very cringeworthy to me. It indicates the person is not very smart, emotional, overly partisan or some combination of the three. Things a lot would describe Donald Trump of being.Some of the new ones I see being used across Reddit in particular: Elmo, Space Karen, Apartheid Clyde, Phony Stark, Cheeto Mussolini, Chairman Cheeto, Adolf Shitler, Don the Con, Moscow Mitch, etc.I know the Internet in general isn't exactly a gold mine of civil discourse, but it seems after Trump was elected, this type of banter has been more commonplace and annoying to me.
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