What are some harsh sounding invectives that are not vulgar?

Good question. It seems to me that American popular/media insults have been usually boring and vulgar for a long time. Verbal creativity in general is a bit lacking and would be unexpected in a short sudden insult.

Here are some speculative hypotheses, but I really don’t know:

I think perhaps calling Americans stupid also doesn’t hold as much weight due to the cultural . . . skepticism towards intelligence and learning.

Possibly also for other expressions of disapproval, perhaps due to all the circular shaming, bad adult moralizing, and general disagreement on many values.

And/or thinking ill of others is actually pretty common and expected – our politics have devolved to many people thinking “the other party” is nearly sub-human, and having to live with that. So maybe calling someone “deplorable” has little weight because we expect lots of people think we’re immoral and/or deplorable and/or fools, just by being not agreeing with them on politics.

So we seem stuck on the vulgarities, branching out a bit recently with some newish combination-insults such as fucktard and fuckwit.

I’m not sure exactly what you’re looking for, but there are a few, if not in common modern use:
Scum[bag]. Filth. Knave. Coward. Heartless. Nincompoop. Greedbag. Fink. Slimeball. Disgusting. Jerk. Clod. Snot. Mouth-breather. Sociopath.

The grandmother of a friend of mine used to shout, “You rotten gazebo” at people she didn’t like. Perhaps that would be of use.

When looking for effective invective in English, one can do no better than the Bard himself, William Shakespeare. Here are just a few of his:

“lump of foul deformity”
“light of brain”
“mountain of mad flesh”
“bolting-hutch of beastliness”
“canker-blossom”
“O gull, o dolt, as ignorant as dirt”
“You rampallian! You fustilarian!”

Mental midget

Twelve story hotel with a ten story elevator

@Tropical_Willie Oh, that opens up a whole genre of insults:

About three bricks shy of a load
One sandwich short of a picnic
The lights are on but nobody’s home

And so on…...

And that brings to mind something I heard a while ago:

Having him around is like two good men gone.

I have heard “shoot a pickle” recently, as a substitute for “shit”

When I was in eighth grade, I called people That Bolshevik” or “You dumb Bolshevik” (before I had any idea what a Bolshevik was). I would also call people and things I didn’t like ‘gauche’.

When I would build model railroad scenes I would apply graffiti— the word “Fitch” looked pretty obscene spraypainted on ghetto walls and railroad boxcars.

But nothing beats “You Rotten Gazebo” cited by Janbb (above)—attributed to a grandmother,.

He’s one sick twist.

Calling someone trash or pedophile here are fighting words.

@KNOWITALL I would think calling someone a pedophile anywhere would be fighting words.

I think knowitall is referring to someone who bashed me for calling someone trash in my question I posted.

The way this person saw it (the person who responded to me) calling someone ‘trash’ is judgemental.

Maybe II just say what they do that makes them trash, in my opinion. (e.g. I should have said that they walk around holding their sagging pants up by grabbing their penis, and shouting F*** THIS!) and calling women ho’s and bitches. That’s the kind of person I was actually describing in my question.

To be polite, what I did in my question was opt to describe the person(s) in milder and less offensive but also less honest terms and simply referred to them as ‘trash’—and got bashed.

Ironically, I viewed the profile page of the person who bashed me for calling these people ‘trash’ It contained an offensive article listing Christians and Republicans with nutjob conspiracy theorists, strereotypical depictions (illustrations) of trailer trash, believers in aliens and ghosts and everything wrong with America—

I think people should stop being judgemental and quit depicting people as ‘trash’ for voting or believing differently as far as their spiritual beliefs go—and reserve the word as a euphanism for perverted, violent, threatening, disruptive and disrespectful behavior, as I did.

@yellow This is not a Rep or theist friendly site. It needs a disclaimer ha! A few years ago we christians had a PM support group it was so nasty.

@Yellowdog, is that really how you read that article? (Probably beside the point… the characterization just surprised me, is all.)

Hmm, I still wonder why the english language has a scarcity of invectives that are not vulgar or prejudiced.

@Maneko, do you have any examples of non-vulgar invectives from other languages? (Or at least any that you can explain?) I’m curious now to know what English is seemingly missing! :)

Okay. Let’s take the word ‘bewakoof’ It means ‘foolish person’ in hindi. Say ‘BEWAKOOF!’ loudly. Now say ‘You are a fool!’. See the difference?
The person you’re saying it to will feel silly and stupid. It helps in reprimanding people.
Another word is ‘badtameez’ It means ‘mannerless’.
Observe the phonemes of the word. They are contrasting. It has the intensity of a swear word.
Now take “You are deplorable.” It is very polite-sounding.
I found some good invectives, but it is not the meaning I want.

It sounds like you are looking for English invectives that are onomatopoeia as well?

How about “dullard”? “Nincompoop”? “Fibberty-gibbet? “Fussbudget”? “Butterfingers”?

Yes, I am looking for words that are onomatopoeia as well. I was searching for that word!
Those words are interesting but I am looking for something less silly.
I was looking for a word with meaning “someone who has no values” or “basely” and found a word “degenerate”
It seemed like a better word until someone said it was prejudiced

^^ I don’t think that’s prejudiced.

Some people say this term is offensive and fascist

@Soubresaut I mentioned some examples. Did you read?

Hi @Maneko! Yes, sorry I read them, I just hadn’t gotten a response together. GA, by the way. Thank you! Those were wonderful examples! :)

Hi @Soubresaut, did you find any answers?

@Maneko, do you mean do I have any ideas to add? The other posts already came up with more ideas than I had, sorry. But thanks again for sharing examples from another language, though!

@Soubresaut, oh I thought when you said you hadn’t gotten a response together, that you were making one. I was hoping someone would make a post for a word meaning ‘someone who has no values’... so I was waiting. But its okay!