Naïve

"oh, BTW, YOUR NASAL VOICE IS MORE GRATING THAN THE WORD "NAIVE", and METAL NAILS ON THE CHALKBOARD. But "Naive" is even WORSE than NAILS."

- Chris on the dreaded word



Naïve is both one of Chris's most-used insults, and his least favorite word. According to the Merriam-Webster English dictionary, the word "naïve" means "deficient in worldly wisdom or informed judgment; especially: credulous"; Chris, however, defines it in the July 10th Messages as merely "questioning one's intelligence", showing that he only understands the most overly simplified definition of the word. By the time of the Jackie e-mails, he had apparently corrected his definition outwardly, but unless he really cares about his non-existent experience, he probably still believes it simply means "stupid". In the Wallflower E-mails, he finally uses the correct definition, confirming that "naïve" is really just an unacceptable jab at his unwarranted self-importance. He also refers to it as "the cruelest of words". He often pairs it with "retard", "slow-in-the-mind", or one of his many other CWC-ism insults.

However, as shown in the Father Call, Chris has no idea what the definition of naïve is, believing it to mean "unintelligent" instead of gullible like most people.

Chris has called others (largely trolls) "naïve" on many occasions. During the Liquid Saga, he remarked that the name Ian Brandon Anderson sounds "about as bad as the word naïve to me now". It has never occurred to Chris that assuming that other people find the word "naïve" as offensive as he does is, well, naïve.

The origins of Chris's disdain for this word likely come from occasions when it has been used against him in attempts to give him constructive criticism, such as the Vivian Gee E-mails. He seems to have twisted its original, relatively polite meaning into the worst insult he can muster. When Kacey's father called him naïve during the Father Call, Chris became enraged, almost to the point of threatening physical violence--of course, he quickly backed down once he was reminded that he was giving threats to an ex-Marine.

Ironically, back in the comics, he's accurately used it to describe himself in a non-condescending way, being "naive about dating during young adult years", suggesting that he once understood its definition properly. He seems to get seriously offended when other people call him that, but has used it several times to describe himself in the past tense.

Chris himself appears to be seriously naïve, a so-called naïf, especially in his attitudes to Honest Content and posting his personal details everywhere he can.