Are serious insults illegal?

Why, maybe she was the ugliest woman they ever saw. You must have had a sheltered upbringing if you think that requires a court appearance OP.

If there were a law for this type of behaviour, what would the definitions of serious and insult be?

An insult is subjective: some people could call me fat, others would say I’m in shape. How I perceive either comment dictates whether it’s an insult or not.

Whether or not it’s serious is also subjective: telling someone their T-shirt is shite could be minor as it constitutes only part of their wardrobe telling them their clothes are shite covers more items of clothing, is it a more serious insult?

Interesting topic.

For me, if you’re going around intentionally insulting people, you’re an asshole and you should be more concerned with getting a smack than the legality of it.

I’d hate to see a world where I say something that inadvertently insults someone and there’s some legal situation over it.

It should never be illegal to tell someone what you think of them, good or bad.

I play my cards fairly close to my chest, but I reserve the right to tell someone they’re an asshole. I’ll fight for that right.

"What is defamation?

To take a case for defamation, you must show that the statement you are complaining about was ‘published’ to at least one other person. The ‘one other person’ cannot only be the person who is taking the complaint.

‘Published’ includes any type of communication, for example:

• Conversation with another person
• Comments made on social media
• Newspaper articles
• Blog posts
• Speeches

The ‘defamatory statement’ must also be something that a reasonable person would think injures your reputation.

The person or organisation that made the statement can defend their actions as described below.

Defences to defamation

The Defamation Act 2009 sets out defences and privileges against a legal action for defamation.

The statement is true

A statement is not defamatory if it is true or substantially true. The onus of proving that the statement is true rests on the person defending the action (the person who made the statement).

Even if the statement is untrue, it is only defamatory if it damages the reputation of the person making the complaint."

As usual it comes down to finding a Reasonable Person to agree with you.

They wouldn't hear compliments either.

You could say that "you are 3 standard deviations below the mean on the normalised pulchritude scale". If the object of your insult makes an intelligent response you could follow up by noting the greater importance of intellect.

I've seen some shocking examples of defamation in a particular section on the boards forum and all by the same poster who seems to be immune from mod action. Wouldn't be at all surprised to see one of his victims take action some day.

You most certainly have led a sheltered life if you think that is an insult requiring a court appearance. Maybe you should have posted in the be nice forum.

Have you a link to that thread?

An ounce of breeding is worth a ton of feeding.

If it's only verbal, and it would go to court for whatever reason, ( a bored judge ) than it'll be hard to prove, it would be one word against the other. Reliable witnesses would probably not be around in such a setting.

One good answer to a serious verbal insult is, to say, that I've been called a lot worse by a lot better people than yourself. And if that's not enough, the next answer would be, that we all live under the same sky, but don't have the same horizon.

:-)

They’re comparable on the basis that the OP asked the question has anyone ever been in Court over something like what they describe in the opening post. They have, plenty, and generally on the basis that their behaviour constitutes a public order offence. Simeon was just the most recent example I could think of.

6. —(1) It shall be an offence for any person in a public place to use or engage in any threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour with intent to provoke a breach of the peace or being reckless as to whether a breach of the peace may be occasioned.

https://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1994/act/2/enacted/en/print.html

It’s really not, it’s exactly the same in terms of the offence, particularly if a person is reckless as to whether a breach of the peace may be occasioned - nothing has to occur, just the possibility of a breach of the peace as may be deduced by the Court is sufficient to find a person guilty of the offence.

You need to keep on looking, your into 2008 now. Where does calling someone ugly figure in any of the links you have posted.

"When Gardai approached Nugent he was very aggressive and abusive. Garda McGrath said there were a lot of people including young children in the area."

Take a journey on a late night bus in Dublin or the Luas. If you think what the OP stated was worthy of being brought to court wasting the time of the Gardai and Judicial system well then this country is rightly fcuked. Disengaging.

Yawn....

It’s a short thread, but I don’t recall saying that calling someone the ugliest person they’ve ever seen was a criminal offence. I do remember giving examples of people convicted of public order offences though for insulting or threatening behaviour in a public place.

They probably are but who gives a fcuk. A lot of people on here with thin skin.