to call someone a maggot
- idiom
- Offensive
:
llamar a alguien gusano
- She regrets having called her colleague a maggot during their argument.
Examples
-
No manager should ever call someone a maggot at work or anywhere else.
-
In a fit of anger, he called Tom a maggot and stormed out of the room.
-
Don't call her a maggot!
-
Why would you call someone a maggot?
-
In a moment of frustration, he called someone a maggot, insulting their lack of effort.
-
During the heated discussion, she called her opponent a maggot, expressing her disdain for his attitude.
-
It's unacceptable to call someone a maggot just because you disagree with their views.
Synonyms
To insult someone by saying they are a fool
Antonyms
How Insulting
Surface Forms
Morphology
This is a straightforward compositional use of the pattern 'call someone a X' where the overall meaning is to name someone with the noun 'maggot'. If a learner knows 'call' and the literal sense of 'maggot' (an unpleasant larva), they can predict the derogatory/insulting implication, so the meaning is immediately derivable from the parts.
Etymology
Call someone a maggot comes from the image of a maggot, a small white worm that eats dead meat and people find disgusting. So when someone is called a maggot, the speaker uses that dirty image to say the person is 'worthless' or 'lazy'.