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Asshole or arsehole (outside of North America) is a slang term referring to the anus. The word is mainly used as a profanity towards someone the speaker does not like or to express deep contempt for someone whose behavior is hurtful, self-centered or particularly abrasive. Usually, the person to whom this term is directed is a male. It may also sometimes be used to describe people who are viewed as "stupid" or "useless."
This word or its literal translation is found in colloquial speech in a number of cultures (in both English and other languages). This is due to the fact that it describes an organ of elimination that is considered a taboo region (belonging to the intimate parts) of the body in many societies.
The English word ass (meaning donkey, derived from the same root as its zoological name Equus asinus) may also be used as a term of contempt, referring to a silly or stupid person. In North America, the words arse and ass have become synonymous; however in the rest of the world, ass still only refers to the donkey, rather than the arse (buttocks). It is worth noting that some varieties of English drop the letter "R", leading to practically identical pronunciations of ass and arse.
Until the early 1990s, the word was considered one of a number of words that could not be uttered on commercial television in the United States. Comedian Andrew Dice Clay caused a major shock when he uttered the word during a televised awards show in the 1980s. By 1994, however, the word had become less vulgar, and was often featured in dialogue on the long-running television series NYPD Blue; it has yet to become anything close to commonplace on network TV, however. It is important to note that while the word ass has found a place on broadcast television, asshole is not used, probably due to its more vulgar connotation.
In 1993, actor Denis Leary enjoyed some success with a comedic song called "Asshole" which opened his stage play No Cure For Cancer and was featured in a music video . It topped the Triple J Hottest 100, 1993 in Australia and subsequently reached #2 on the charts in that country in 1994. Alternative rock artist Beck has written and recorded a song called "Asshole," one of his most acclaimed compositions. The British ska-punk band Snuff also have a song named "Arsehole." In 2004, the song "Asshole" by the band Jim's Big Ego was used as the soundtrack to a popular internet filmstrip about the Bush administration.
Asshat is a slightly more trendy and less severe variation of asshole, graphically describing someone who has his "head up his ass" (i.e., not knowing what's going on), or a variation of "butthead". In the former sense, it is suggested that one is wearing one's ass for a hat, or alternately, a hat for one's ass (Some people view it as that from the waist up, you are a hat for your own ass.). A more modern usage of asshat describes a person doing something stupid, and can apply to anyone: "The boss is up to asshattery because he broke the computer even though he knew he was doing the wrong thing." This meaning was popularized by Something Awful character Jeff K.
The word is popular in many online communities, serving as a more palatable version of its antecedent. According to Google's Usenet statistics, the word only saw a token appearance every day or two starting in July, 1999, but following a slow rise in 2002, it entered popular usage in May, 2003.
As it continued to grow in popularity, asshat began to be used by online gamers, in first person shooter and massive multiplayer role playing games. It was a commonplace word on servers where vulgar language was not allowed.
The insult "assclown" is used in a similar fashion, although it is not as common. "Assclown" has become well known among fans of the WWE due to wrestler Chris Jericho using it during his promos, especially his "Highlight Reel"; the term was also famously used in the film Office Space to describe singer-songwriter Michael Bolton.
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