Arnold Zwicky's Blog

Television report. From The Mysteries of Laura, S1 E20 (5/7/15), “The Mystery of the Crooked Clubber”:

So, he’s not our killer, he’s not on the getaway squad, he’s just some jackhole throwing himself off skyscrapers in midtown.

The item jackhole was new to me, but instantly recognizable as derogatory slang, doubtless a portmanteau involving derogatory (and strongly taboo) asshole and either derogatory (and mildly taboo) jackoff or merely derogatory jackass. Neither jackhole nor the alternative avoidance term jerkhole is in either of the compendious slang dictionaries (Lighter and Green), but in this case, Urban Dictionary provides real gold for jackhole:

(by ke6isf 11/26/03) Portmanteau of “Jackass” and “Asshole”. Originated as a name by radio personalities Kevin and Bean (from KROQ-FM in Los Angeles) as a way of calling somebody a nasty name without actually breaking FCC edicts against foul language.

How to call someone an asshole without uttering the word.

Bonus: From Wikipedia:

Jackhole Productions, also credited as “Jackhole Industries,” is an American production company started by Jimmy Kimmel, Daniel Kellison and Adam Carolla. It has produced several comedy shows on television. Jackhole Productions has worked on several projects with production company DiGa. The company’s name is an amalgam of Carolla and Kellison’s company Jackhouse, and Kimmel’s company Cashhole.

Well, yes, Jackhouse + Cashhole, but no doubt the offensive possibilities of Jackhole didn’t entirely escape Kimmel and his collaborators.

Addendum, later in the day, another jackhole from The Mysteries of Laura. S2 E5 (10/21/15), “The Mystery of the Watery Grave”:

Whose side are you on? Your jackhole boss, or two women whose lives he took?

This entry was posted on September 28, 2016 at 6:48 am and is filed under Portmanteaus, Slang, Taboo language and slurs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.