Asshole describes a way of behaving. An asshole can still be a good person. You can be friends with an asshole. He’s just also a jerk.
There are other insults which imply something is fundamentally wrong with the core of that person.
They don’t really mean anything, but I think “f—head” and “f—face” are worse than “asshole.”
Asshole is incredibly mild. I agree that the worst offenders are epithets that have an underlying dig in them… anything racist / anti-Semitic / homophobic. Also, I’m female and the word cunt no longer bothers me. It’s actually a pretty amusing word when you think about it in the British context. Same goes for loser. I participate on some entertainment message boards and it’s always thrown around with jealous, hater and pathetic. It always gets a laugh out of me, as the insulter apparently has no imagination. It’s used a lot by 14 year old girls. 
I’ve found that if you really want to get on someone’s last nerve, condescending and mocking is better. Call them “dumpling” and watch the spittle fly.
The Swear Box from the movie Hot Fuzz
Calling a woman a cunt isn’t as bad as saying she’s just a cunt.
We’re everywhere. We control world finance, the media, and auto-correct.
I think it was Louis CK who had a bit about how saying “the n-word” is a horrible cowardly thing to say because now you just made me say “nigger” in my head. Which is true.
I’ll be totally honest here. I am aroused when women use this word in an erotic manner. I’m not sure why; it’s just a word, but it makes my heart skip a beat.
Also none of the black people I know even have any qualms about saying it, like to quote or mock someone else, and they wouldn’t be offended if I said it, and laugh at me if I say “the n-word”. But I still don’t want to. I’m normally a pretty foulmouthed lady but I don’t like to say that, the p-word, the c-word, or the other c-word.
Point taken. Little fuckers.
Depends on the individual I think, there’s no universals. The whole idea of “pressing one’s buttons” revolves around finding out which insults elicit the strongest responses.
In my opinion:
People who think they are smart hate “stupid.”
Sluts hate to be called “cunts.”
Black people hate when non-blacks use the n-word.
Stupid people hate to be called “poor.”
Bigots hate to be called “racists.”
Children and teens hate to be called “childish” or “immature.”
In general, the more truth the insult has, the more insulting it is.
You can call an asian guy the “n-word” all day, it won’t affect them. You can call a non-racist “racist” as much as you want. Mother Theresa doesn’t care if you call her “asshole,” etc. etc.
Sometimes a person just hates the whole concept whether or not it applies to them. I find it very offensive to be called a ho even though I’m not what most people would consider a ho.
Racial and ethnic insults are the strongest insults in the US. I don’t know about other english speaking nations. Cunt is probably second after those. Then motherfucker, faggot, etc. After that comes things like asshole. Asshole is pretty lightweight.
I don’t believe they affect asians and whites as strongly as other groups. Although I do agree you are correct, it seems to me that the black response to black ethnic insults by non-blacks is so extreme as to make the average seem higher.
“Yo mama was a Swede” doesn’t seem like such a big deal to me.
Now I understand why Germans get annoyed, bothered, bugged or offended when they are called Nazis!
Hey calm down! I am joking 
As this thread is about insults in English-speaking countries, as an American, most whites I know that claim German ancestry would probably laugh it off.
Although an amazing number of people get insulted by this even thoughthey aren’t German.
As an afterthought though, by my post, people who are racist against non-whites and Jews would be insulted.
Kind of an aside:
Whenever I meet a Jew-Hater, I say, “Hey, I’ve decided to convert to Judaism…You do realize Judaism is a religion, not a race, right?”
I had somebody call me a little cocksucker once.
I said Oh Please, I hate to disappoint you but I never waste my time on the little ones.
Left his dumb ass speechless.
Most of you have it wrong. The correct answer is a group of swear words put together. For instance one of you responded “motherfucker”. That poster cheated by trying to slip two words as if they are one. Another person posted “Fucking Faggot”. That person is on the right track. And for full impact the insult needs to be personalized to the circumstances and who you are targeting. Calling prostitutes a word like “Whore!” really does not have the impact, calling a respectable women a whore is much more powerful. I’m a taxi driver, I cuss people out more often than the average person. If you want to stun your target with a powerful insult you need to make it as personal as you can. Stop being lazy, you cannot just use one word on every target, powerful insulting requires some work on your part.
Actually, it’s both.