Trash talking has been the subject of considerable social commentary and criticism in the past few years. Media constructions of the phenomenon claim that it has filtered down from the world of professional sport and now influences the conduct of young athletes. We use an empirical study of high-school basketball players to show that in order to be more fully understood, trash talking needs to be connected with `insult talk', which preceded the former. We document the factors that help insult talk flourish at Hardwick High and argue that trash talking is a more complex phenomenon than is usually presented in media portrayals.
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