Definition:
A verbal slanging match: a ritualized form of invective in which insults are exchanged. See also:
Etymology:
From the Old English, "argue"Examples and Observations:
- "Although the language is often gross, even grotesque and astonishingly scatological, there is also a certain element of play. . . . [Flyting] is the verbal equivalent of virtuoso sword-play. . . ."
"[In the farce] Gammer Gurton's Needle (acted 1566) . . . we find the new idioms of what the devil, how a murrain [plague], go to, Fie shitten knave and out upon thee, the pox, bawdy bitch, that dirty bastard, the whoreson dolt, for God's sake, thou shitten knave and that dirty shitten lout. The violent altercations between Grandma Gurton and Dame Chat show the closest affiliations to flyting:Gammer
(G. Hughes, Swearing: A Social History of Foul Language, Oaths and Profanity in English. Blackwell, 1991)
Thou wert as good as kiss my tail,
Thou slut, thou cut, thou rakes, thou jakes,
[You whore, you jade, you bawd, you shit-house]
will not shame make thee hide thee?
Chat
Thou skald, thou bald, thou rotten, thou glutton,
[You scold, you hairless thing, you rubbish, you pig]
I will no longer chide thee
But I will teach thee to keep home." - "The tradition of ritualized swearing, very much like flyting, continues in a number of places in the modern world. It is perhaps most notable in black American communities, where it is called 'sounding' or 'signifying' or 'playing the dozens.' Variations of this kind of flyting provide social distinctions between in-group and out-group members. But they also act as lyrical cornerstones for much of the anthemic rap (particularly gangsta rap) that defines gang neighbourhoods . . ..
"This style . . . is also found in urban Aboriginal English in Australia."
(Ruth Wajnryb, Language Most Foul. Allen & Unwin, 2005)
