I was watching something on the telly when a character said something about a jackass and then commenting about it maybe being a wiseass.
Naturally, I was curious as to this potential word confusion jackass vs wiseass.
A jackass is both a stupid person and an animal.
A wiseass is strictly a person, who thinks they’re being clever.
Word Confusions . . .
. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.
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| Jackass | Wiseass |
|---|---|
 |
 — |
| Part of Grammar: | |
| Noun
Plural: jackasses |
Adjective; Noun
Plural: wiseasses |
| Noun: [Derogatory] A foolish or stupid person
A male ass or donkey [Obsolete; Australia; Bird] Laughing kookaburra [US, slang, uncountable] A kind of bootleg liquor |
Adjective: [Derogatory] Irritatingly clever or smug
Noun: [Vulgar slang] A smart aleck |
| Examples: | |
| Noun: He was an overpaid jackass. Some jackass spilled his drink on my shoes. He met a farmer riding a jackass. “A predator of a wide variety of small animals, the jackass typically waits, perched on a branch until it sees an animal on the ground and then flies down and pounces on its prey” (Laughing). “There were some big stills hidden up in the hills of Sonoma, some producing five hundred gallons of Jackass [spirits made from spring water and sugar]” (Mendelson). |
Adjective: She always has these wise-ass one-liners. There’s always some wiseass kid at the back of the room. “The fans loved his wiseass pantomime” (Rubin). Noun: “A husband and a father and a heart attack survivor who is now 52, he’s got more on his mind than being a wiseass” (Smith). “Wiseass in the backseat: ‘Hey, they could have given us a bushel of changes, but instead we got a peck!'” (On). |
| Derivatives: | |
| Adjective: jackassy, more jackassy, most jackassy Noun: jackassery, jackassism |
Noun: wise-ass |
| History of the Word: | |
| The earliest known use of the word jackass was in 1727 by John Arbuthnot, a physician and satirist.
By the 1820s, it was commonly used to describe a stupid person. Today, jackass is used to refer to both a male donkey and a person who is stupid or foolish. |
The first known use of wiseass was circa 1971. |
C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!
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Resources for Jackass versus Wiseass
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Apple Dictionary.com
Dictionary.com: wiseass
The Free Dictionary: jackass
“Jackass.” Wiktionary. 27 Sept 2024. Accessed 13 Nov 2024. <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/jackass>. Article.
“Laughing Kookaburra.” Wikipedia. 27 Oct 2024. Accessed 13 Nov 2024. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laughing_kookaburra>. Article.
Mendelson, Richard and Margrit Biever Mondavi. From Demon to Darling: A Legal History of Wine in America. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2009, p. 82.
“On the Air.” IFR. Courtesy of The Free Dictionary. 1 Sept 2012. Accessed 13 Nov 2024. <https://www.thefreelibrary.com/On+the+air.-a0302115989>. Article.
Rubin, Max. “The Mascot Whisperer.” The New York Times. 6 Aug 2021. Last updated 8 Apr 2022. Accessed 13 Nov 2024. <https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/06/magazine/mascots-gritty-phillie-phanatic.html>. Article.
Smith, Kevin. “‘Clerks III’ Review: From the Heart.” The New York Times. 8 Sept 2022. Accessed 13 Nov 2024. <https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/08/movies/clerks-iii-review.html>. Article.
Pinterest Photo Credits
The Famous Jackass “New York City” Preparing for Another Two Years’ Journey is an illustration in Harper’s Weekly, 1861, under the Public Domain Mark 1.0 license, via Picryl.
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