scrote

   A character in The Choirboys, by Joseph Wambaugh, invents this term for his personal usage. The man concerned is a Los Angeles policeman and something of a misanthropist. We are told that he wished there was ‘a word as dirty as “nigger” to apply to all mankind’. He rejects ‘asshole’ as being too common, and asks his colleagues for suggestions. Words such as ‘fartsuckers’, ‘slimeballs’, ‘scumbags’, and ‘cum-buckets’ are rejected for various reasons, and then someone suggests ‘Scrotums? This is thought to be ‘Not bad, but too long.’ ‘Scrotes, then.’ ‘That’s it! Scrotes! That’s what all people are: ignorant filthy disgusting ugly worthless scrotes.’ ‘A man’s philosophy expressed in a word.’ comments one of his friends.

   Subsequently in the novel the man uses ‘scrote’ vocatively: ‘I heard that faggy remark, Slate, you scrote!’ It is also taken up by a colleague. ‘I wish Roscoe Rules was here, you lousy scrotes. Roscoe’d fix you.’ Roscoe is the man who needed the word in the first place.

   ‘Scrote’ is not likely to come into general use, most speakers probably feeling that enough abusive terms already exist - and indeed, a wide range of them are displayed in this novel. If a new term were needed, ‘scrote’ has the right kind of unpleasant sound, but is etymologically not very satisfying. To refer to ‘all mankind’ as bags of flesh which contain testicles is hardly biologically accurate or particularly meaningful.