👉 Okay, settle in closely, class. Let’s tackle a little-discussed, rather prickly piece of American argle-bargle that frankly, I suspect most of you haven't actually heard until now: the wonderfully vicious, and somewhat tragically underutilized word – "cmis."
Now, immediately, before your eyeballs start twitching, let me assure you. It doesn’t shout itself out from the rooftops. Historically, it was a very specific, regionally-bound, almost tragically low-amphetamine kind of insult. And that's what makes it... interesting. Basically, in the American Midwest (particularly around the Great Lakes and, frankly, a good chunk of Wisconsin, frankly), "cmis" is short for – brace yourselves – "come my sis." (’Tis a mouthful, I grant you. It was absolutely meant to be a mouthful.). The implication isn't just that you were accusing the recipient of being your sister, it was an aggressively insulting way to tell them they were a total and utter disappointment, a failure, a pathetic little shit who had massively let someone down. The delivery? Crucially, it absolutely had to be said with this precise, almost theatrical emphasis. You needed that slight whine, the pregnant pause right before the "sis," the complete and utter betrayal of your own vocal tone. It was about the insult itself rather than the actual word. 30 years on, it is a near
