View source for Trash talk

{{short description|Form of boast or insult commonly heard in competitive situations}}
{{Redirect2|Trash Talk|shit talk|the hardcore punk band|Trash Talk (band)|other uses of "shit talk"|Shit Talk (disambiguation){{!}}Shit Talk}}
{{More citations needed|date=December 2009}}
[[File:Punk and Bryan.jpg|thumb|[[CM Punk]] in professional wrestling engaging in trash talk ]]
'''Trash talk''' is a form of spoken [[insult]] usually found in [[Sport|sports events]], although it is not exclusive to sports or similarly characterized events.<ref>{{Cite web|title=TRASH-TALK {{!}} meaning in the Cambridge English Dictionary|url=https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/trash-talk|access-date=2020-08-23|website=dictionary.cambridge.org|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/trash_talk|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161006054412/https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/trash_talk|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 6, 2016|title=trash talk - Definition of trash talk in English by Oxford Dictionaries|website=Oxford Dictionaries - English}}</ref> It is often used to [[intimidate]] the opposition and/or make them less confident in their ability to win, but it can also be used in a [[Humour|humorous]] spirit. Trash-talk is often characterized by the use of [[hyperbole]] or figurative language, such as "Your team can't run! You run like honey on ice!" [[Pun]]s and other wordplay are commonly used.

Trash-talk has become a debatable term, especially in North American sports, with the greatest trash talkers being acknowledged for both their trash-talking skills as well as their athletic and mental abilities.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1952241-the-25-biggest-trash-talkers-in-sports-history|title=The 25 Biggest Trash-Talkers in Sports History|last=Dimengo|first=Nick|website=Bleacher Report|language=en|access-date=2019-03-31}}</ref> For example, [[Larry Bird]] is regarded as a prolific trash talker and was known for his athletic ability backing up his trash talk.

== Usage ==
In sports, trash talk most commonly comes in the form of insults to an opposing player's playing ability or physical appearance which is ethically not acceptable.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last1=Kniffin|first1=Kevin M.|last2=Palacio|first2=Dylan|date=2018-09-01|title=Trash-Talking and Trolling |journal=Human Nature|language=en|volume=29|issue=3|pages=353–369|doi=10.1007/s12110-018-9317-3|issn=1936-4776|pmc=6132831|pmid=29804220}}</ref> The intended effects of trash talk are to create rivalry between the players and increase the psychological pressure of opposing players to perform well or to stop the trash-talker from performing well.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|date=2018-01-01|title=Trash-talking: Competitive incivility motivates rivalry, performance, and unethical behavior|journal=Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes|language=en|volume=144|pages=125–144|doi=10.1016/j.obhdp.2017.06.002|issn=0749-5978|doi-access=free|last1=Yip |first1=Jeremy A. |last2=Schweitzer |first2=Maurice E. |last3=Nurmohamed |first3=Samir }}</ref> Trash talk was most famously used by [[heavyweight]] [[boxing]] champion [[Muhammad Ali]] in the 1960s and 70s. 

In 1963, Ali even released a popular full-length record album consisting largely of trash-talk poetry. It was entitled ''[[I Am the Greatest (Cassius Clay album)|I Am the Greatest!]]'', a phrase that became his signature line. Since then, it has become common for boxers, [[Wrestling|wrestlers]], and many other sports competitors to use trash talk.<ref>{{cite news |last=Jackson |first=Derrick Z. |date=February 2, 2010 |title=The kings of trash talk |url=https://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2010/02/02/the_kings_of_trash_talk/ |access-date=March 17, 2016 |work=[[The Boston Globe]]}}</ref> However, in amateur sports ranks, trash-talking is generally frowned upon as [[unsportsmanlike conduct]] (especially in youth leagues). Former [[Ultimate Fighting Championship|UFC]] [[Featherweight (MMA)|Featherweight]] and [[Lightweight (MMA)|Lightweight]] Champion [[Conor McGregor]] is an example of a prominent trash-talker; he is considered to be the greatest trash-talker in [[Mixed martial arts|MMA]] history.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Arts |first=Way of Martial |date=2021-08-15 |title=11 Best Trash Talkers In The UFC Of All Time [Ranked!] |url=https://wayofmartialarts.com/ufc-trash-talkers/ |access-date=2022-01-31 |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Citation |title=The 10 Greatest Trash Talkers in MMA History | date=27 December 2020 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnS2EsSO8lY |access-date=2022-01-31 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite web |date=2020-03-02 |title=TOP 10 Trash Talkers in the UFC |url=https://mmasurge.com/top-10-trash-talkers-in-the-ufc/ |access-date=2022-01-31 |website=MMA SURGE |language=en-US}}</ref> Former UFC fighter [[Chael Sonnen]] is also considered by many to be one of the greatest trash-talkers MMA has ever had.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /><ref name=":4" /> Although the practice of trying to distract opponents with verbal abuse is common to virtually all sports, other sports sometimes have their terminology for verbal abuse: for example, [[cricket]] calls it [[sledging (cricket)|sledging]] and in ice hockey, it is called chirping.

The quality of performance of players under the pressure of trash talk is debated, but one study found that participants who were subject to a trash talk message exerted more effort in completing their task and perceived their opponent with more incivility and rivalry when compared to participants who were subject to a neutral, irrelevant, or no message at all.<ref name=":1" />

While trash-talking frequently focuses on sporting attributes such as physical ability and athleticism, there is also significant trash-talking off-topic including opponent's sexual behavior and relationships. [[Zinedine Zidane]] infamously head-butted [[Marco Materazzi]] during the [[2006 FIFA World Cup Final|2006 World Cup Final]] after Materazzi had leveled a puerile insult about Zidane’s sister during a verbal exchange a few moments prior.<ref>Meade, Samuel. [https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/materazzi-zidane-headbutt-worldcup-final-29678757.amp "Marco Materazzi finally reveals taunt which led to infamous Zinedine Zidane headbutt"] ''The Mirror''. 11 April 2023.</ref> Trash-talk is more prevalent in contact sports than non-contact sports, and it is also more prevalent between male competitors than female competitors.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Kniffin |first1=Kevin |last2=Palacio |first2=Dylan |date=September 2018 |title=Trash-Talking and Trolling |journal=Human Nature |volume=29 |issue=3 |pages=353–369 |doi=10.1007/s12110-018-9317-3|pmid=29804220 |pmc=6132831 }}</ref>

==Types==
===Smack talk===
{{Wiktionary|smack talk}}
'''Smack talk''' is a [[slang]] term seen in chat channels in [[chat room]], [[blog]], and [[massively multiplayer online game]] (MMOG) conversations.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Smack Talk |url=https://www.oed.com/dictionary/smack-talk_n |website=Oxford English Dictionary}}</ref> The term came about in the early 1990s. It generally refers to the use of threatening or intentionally inflammatory language. Smack talk can also be used with [[bullying]], whether that be [[face-to-face interaction]], or [[cyber-bullying]].

Smack talk is also a [[slang]] term used in [[sport]]s. It refers to inflammatory comments made by a person or team in order to insult, anger, annoy or be boisterous toward their opponents.<ref>{{Cite web|title=SMACK TALK {{!}} meaning in the Cambridge English Dictionary|url=https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/smack-talk|access-date=2020-08-23|website=dictionary.cambridge.org|language=en}}</ref> Although it began as a term used by sports fans and athletes, it has spread to all areas of culture where competition takes place. In the [[United States of America|United States]], it is synonymous with "trash talk".

The social interaction within MMOGs has been observed to be quite active and often leads to long-term social relationships.<ref>''Social interactions in massively multiplayer online role-playing gamers'', CyberPsychology and Behavior, Volume 10, pp. 575-583, H. Cole and Griffiths, MD., 2007</ref> MMOG groups, such as "teams", "guilds" or "corporations", are composed of groups of people who often initially have no other social contact or interactions with each other.<ref>''Study: Want to Make a Friend for Life? Play an MMORPG'', James Brightman, August 15, 2007</ref> As a result, their conversations contain a subtext of the discovery of language skills, social values, and intentions. One of the first indicators of these is the use or offense taken by the usage of smack talk. To set a social context or to comply with MMOG [[end user license agreement]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/legal/eula.html|title=Blizzard Entertainment:Blizzard Legal Documentation|website=www.worldofwarcraft.com}}</ref> restrictions, MMOG groups may establish bylaws, traditions, or rules (formal or informal) that either permit, discourage, or prohibit the use of smack talk in their conversations and postings.

===Talking shit===
{{Wiktionary|talking shit}}
'''Talking shit''' is a term and type of trash-talk that refers to various types of derogatory language aimed at an individual or any type of entity, such as a group or organisation.<ref name="Betches 2013 p. 23">{{cite book | last=Betches | first=T. | title=Nice Is Just a Place in France: How to Win at Basically Everything | publisher=Gallery Books | year=2013 | isbn=978-1-4516-8777-4 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bGNvO_xptOsC&pg=PT23 | access-date=September 29, 2016 | pages=pt23–24}}</ref> Talking shit can be used as a tactic in fighting or brawling, used to draw attention to the matter among onlookers.<ref name="Ferrell Hayward Morrison Presdee 2004">{{cite book | last1=Ferrell | first1=J. | last2=Hayward | first2=K. | last3=Morrison | first3=W. | last4=Presdee | first4=M. | title=Cultural Criminology Unleashed | publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] | year=2004 | isbn=978-1-135-30984-8 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MuOOAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA237 | access-date=September 29, 2016 | pages=237–238}}</ref> This is a term that has been coined more recently and is used in reference when someone talks negatively about another person, concept, organisation, or entity. This may or may not include spreading false ideas. The same term can also be used to describe something spoken which is not true, uninteresting or irrelevant.  It may be a contraction of "[[Bullshit|talking bullshit]]". Talking shit has also shown to motivate the opponent. In a 2017 article Maurice Schweitzer{{who?|reason=Unclear why this author warrants such an extensive quotation|date=May 2025}} wrote:

{{quote|
When people have to exert effort within a competition, some people engage in trash-talking, such as "You're a loser. That dollar is mine or I’m going to beat you like a rented mule." When people are the targets of these kind of messages, what we find is that they become much more motivated. They increase their effort and the performance goes up. Indeed, one key finding of our work is that targets of trash-talking become very motivated.

We ran some other studies to show that sometimes they become even so motivated they're likely to engage in unethical behavior to win. So, what people care about is outperforming this person who's trash-talking them. They're willing to both expend constructive effort but also engage in unethical behavior to make sure they outperform their competitor.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Schweitzer |first=Maurice |date=July 5, 2017 |title=How Trash-talking Affects Performance |url=https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/trash-talking/}}</ref>}}

It is not to be confused with [[shitposting]], which is when someone posts "content [[Aggression|aggressively]], [[Irony|ironically]], and [[Internet troll|trollishly]] poor quality"<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.dailydot.com/unclick/simpsons-shitposting-memes-macedonian-clickbait-takeover/|title=How spammers nearly destroyed the biggest 'Simpsons' meme page|last=|first=|date=2016-08-24|website=[[The Daily Dot]]|publisher=|access-date=}}</ref> to an [[Internet forum|online forum]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/what-is-shitposting-donald-trump-us-election-2016-palmer-luckey-a7326111.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220526/https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/what-is-shitposting-donald-trump-us-election-2016-palmer-luckey-a7326111.html |archive-date=2022-05-26 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |first=Andrew |last=Griffin |title=Shitposting: What is the bizarre online behaviour that could win Donald Trump the election?|date=2016-09-23|website=[[The Independent]]|language=en-GB|access-date=25 May 2025}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.dailydot.com/layer8/trumpese-the-donald-glossary-donald-trump/|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230506223951/https://www.dailydot.com/debug/trump-centipede-btfo-cuckold/|archive-date=2023-05-06|title=BTFO: How to speak like a fanatical Donald Trump supporter|last=O'Neill|first=Patrick Howell |date=2016-05-02|website=[[The Daily Dot]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://mic.com/articles/152690/leslie-jones-hack-the-alt-rights-racist-celebration-of-jones-abject-humiliation|title=Leslie Jones hack: Inside the alt-right's racist celebration of Jones' humiliation|last=Fleishman|first=Cooper|date=25 August 2016|website=[[Mic (media company)|Mic]]|access-date=25 May 2025}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.cherwell.org/2016/04/05/purges-and-politics-in-cyberspace/|title=Purges and politics in cyberspace|last=Walker|first=Alex|date=2016-04-05|website=[[Cherwell (newspaper)|Cherwell]]|publisher=|access-date=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.geek.com/news/shitpostbot-5000-proves-internet-memes-will-outlive-humans-1660503/|title=Shitpostbot 5000 proves internet memes will outlive humans|last=|first=|date=|website=[[Geek.com]]|publisher=|access-date=|archive-date=2018-06-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180614050418/https://www.geek.com/news/shitpostbot-5000-proves-internet-memes-will-outlive-humans-1660503/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.papermag.com/multimedia-artist-manuel-arturo-abreu-on-shitposting-and-the-infinite--1986552460.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210804193700/http://www.papermag.com/multimedia-artist-manuel-arturo-abreu-on-shitposting-and-the-infinite--1986552460.html|archive-date=2021-08-04|title=Multimedia Artist manuel arturo abreu on Shitposting and the Infinite Scroll|date=2016-08-25|website=[[Paper (magazine)|Paper]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://techcrunch.com/2016/09/23/papa-whats-a-shitpost/|title=Papa, what's a shitpost?|last=Biggs|first=John|date=2016-09-23|website=[[TechCrunch]]|publisher=|access-date=}}</ref>{{overcitation|date=May 2025}}

== Morality ==
The ethics of using trash talk as a strategy is debated. In sports, trash talking is often seen as unsportsmanlike, as throwing insults at opposing players goes beyond the limits and conventions of the game. Some argue, on the other hand, that trash-talking can be used as a valid strategy to increase tension in opponents and thus benefit from opponents' poor performance since any action not explicitly banned in the rules is permitted.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Dixon|first=Nicholas|date=2012-01-19|title=Trash Talking as Irrelevant to Athletic Excellence: Response to Summers|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00948705.2008.9714729|journal=Journal of the Philosophy of Sport|volume=35 |pages=90–96 |language=en|doi=10.1080/00948705.2008.9714729|s2cid=145498126 |issn=0094-8705|url-access=subscription}}</ref>  According to a research project conducted by Marcus Fennel, a graduate student at the University of Idaho, trash talk decreases sportsmanship and instead promotes gamesmanship. Fennel describes gamesmanship as "the anti-ethical version of sportsmanship".<ref>{{Cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=Fennell |first=Marcus |date=December 2018 |title=Trash Talk in Sport: A Descriptive and Philosophical Assessment of the Intentionality of Trash Talk in Sport |url=https://verso.uidaho.edu/esploro/outputs/doctoral/Trash-talk-in-sport-A-descriptive/996638347901851 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240625230457/https://verso.uidaho.edu/esploro/outputs/doctoral/Trash-talk-in-sport-A-descriptive/996638347901851|access-date=2025-03-25 |publisher=University of Idaho |archive-date=25 June 2024 |language=en}}</ref> Trash talking has the ability to diminish a player's motivation, which in turn could cause them to lose a love for their sport. In a study on how words affect the brain, it was discovered that negative words have the greatest effect on the [[prefrontal cortex]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-01-28 |title=Can Words Change the Brain? |url=https://psychcentral.com/blog/words-can-change-your-brain#effects-on-the-brain |access-date=2025-03-26 |website=Psych Central |language=en}}</ref> This region of the brain is in charge of the function of motivation; therefore, if it is constantly being fed negative triggers, an athlete's ability to maintain positive motivation is greatly diminished. The deliberate use of words to diminish an athlete's self-confidence is an act of immorality and adds great credibility to the debate on why trash talking should be limited.

==In popular culture==
Given the rapid increase in the popularity of the phrase, its appearance in popular media and culture is extensive. One of the earliest references can be found in [[Dobie Gray]]'s hit song from 1965, "[[The 'In' Crowd]]", in which the third verse describes members "spendin' cash, talkin' trash" as part of the depiction of a desirable group membership. Uses have become ubiquitous, particularly as part of the birth of [[hip-hop culture]] and rap music. References are now likely too numerous to manage a list here in Wikipedia, although there are some notable examples of its unique uses.

==See also==
{{div col}}
* [[Umpire abuse|Referee and umpire abuse]]
* [[The dozens]]
* [[Fighting words]]
* [[Flaming (Internet)]]
* [[Flyting]]
* [[Hip hop music]]
* [[Profanity]]
* [[Sledging (cricket)]]
* [[Wolf-whistling]]
* [[Antilocution]]
{{div col end}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{Supporter Culture}}

[[Category:Humour]]
[[Category:Pejorative terms]]
[[Category:Sports culture]]
[[Category:Mixed martial arts culture]]
[[Category:Speech]]