- Pissant
A pissant, also seen as piss-ant and piss ant, is one or the other of two specific types of
ant . The word can also refer to an inconsequential, irrelevant, or worthless person, especially one who is irritating or contemptible out of proportion to his or her significance. Its origin is with "pismire", a 14th-century word for ant. [http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19990331] [http://thenightwriterblog.powerblogs.com/posts/1152500340.shtml]The original "pissant" is any of a certain group of large ant species, commonly called "wood ants," that make [http://vinsonlab.tamu.edu/former/john/formica.htm mounded nests] in British and European forests. The name "pissant" arises from the urine-like odor produced by their nesting material—pine straw and pine needles—and the
formic acid that constitutes their venom. [http://www.takeourword.com/Issue102.html#Spotlight] "Formica rufa " is one such ant, but there are others with similar characteristics.In the United States, the word pissant can refer to any small ant that infests a home. [http://www.pestproducts.com/pissant.htm]
As an insult
This word is also used for people who only think of themselves, cocky.Fact|date=March 2008
The word "pissant" is used as an insult in the
United States . In conversations with his advisors during theVietnam War , U.S. presidentLyndon B. Johnson often referred toVietnam as "that damn piss-ant little country." [http://www.vva.org/TheVeteran/2001_01/rendezvous.htm] [http://www.johnkennethgalbraith.com/index.php?page=press&display=32&from=0] The word is used by lesser public figures as well: a Virginia politician once silenced a heckler by saying "I'm a big dog on a big hunt and I don't have time for a piss-ant on a melon stalk." [http://www.law.uoregon.edu/faculty/gepps/docs/unclebilly.html]External links
* [http://www.bhikku.net/2005/01/08.html 17th century drawing of a "pismire"/pissant]
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