The deliberate use of language to demean or degrade another individual in a social situation requires intentionality, i.e., a speaker’s desire and belief to do so as well as the speaker’s skill and awareness of the malicious meaning conveyed by another person. The response to the verbal behavior of impoliteness can produce various emotional states, e.g., anger, aggression, embarrassment, fear, nervousness, sadness, shame, and suffering to name but a few common human reactions. This paper will provide a discussion of basic concepts related to impoliteness acts such as speech act, pragmatics, intentionality, non-verbal communication, (im)politeness, emotion, and cross-cultural impoliteness. Impolite behavior may, whether intentional or inadvertent, inflict abiding emotional harm on an individual.