A recent survey commissioned by the UKTV channel Drama and which was participated by 2,000 adults has revealed the top 10 literary put-downs and Margaret Mitchell, the author of Gone With The Wind, is in the top spot.
The majority of the participants voted for Rhett Butler’s phrase “My dear, I don’t give a damn’’ — which was altered in the film to the more famous “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.”
Oscar Wilde landed the second spot with the line written for Lady Bracknell in The Importance Of Being Earnest: “To lose one parent, Mr Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.’’
Meanwhile, Shakespeare landed eight place with: “The tartness of his face sours ripe grapes’’, spoken by Menenius in Coriolanus.
Adrian Wills, the general manager of the UKTV Channel Drama said: '’These authors had such an incredible ear for dialogue they would put most modern-day script writers to shame. It’s clear that a great put-down is as memorable as a budding romance or a tragic ending when it comes to enduring literature.’’
Literature's acid tongue: The top 10 greatest insults in writing are...
1. "My dear, I don't give a damn." - Gone With The Wind, Margaret Mitchell - (Character: Rhett Butler)
2. "To lose one parent may be regarded as a misfortune, Mr Worthing, to lose both looks like carelessness" - The Importance Of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde - (Character: Lady Bracknell)
3. "May your genitals sprout wings and fly away." - Small Gods, Terry Pratchett - (Character: Om - the tortoise)
4. "If you will forgive me for being personal, I do not like your face." - Murder On The Orient Express, Agatha Christie - (Character: Hercule Poirot)
5. "She is tolerable; but not handsome enough to tempt me" - Pride And Prejudice, Jane Austen - (Character: Mr Darcy)
6. "You are the last man in the world I could ever be prevailed upon to marry." - Pride And Prejudice, Jane Austen - (Character: Elizabeth Bennett)
7. "If looks could kill, you'd soon find out that yours couldn't." - After Claude, Iris Owens - (Character: Harriet)
8. "The tartness of his face sours ripe grapes." - Coriolanus, William Shakespeare - (Character: Menenius)
9. "The simplicity of your character makes you exquisitely incomprehensible to me." - The Importance Of being Earnest, Oscar Wilde - (Character: Gwendolen)
10. "I misjudged you... You're not a moron. You're only a case of arrested development." - The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway - (Character: Harvey Stone)