Whenever a lunatic who worships some imaginary demon from the desert goes on a shooting or bombing rampage – and often enough when there are two such whackos working together – the media refers to him as a “lone wolf.” I find this annoying for the simple fact that wolves are reasonably respectable critters, and associating a lone wolf with a Surt worshipper working by himself is a grave insult to our canine friends. I just can’t bring myself to compare some dork with a pipe bomb with Fenris.
So… what else we got? When a lone nut undergoes Spontaneous Jihad Syndrome, what can we refer to him as that gets the idea across, doesn’t insult wolves, doesn’t connote any sort of dignity and, preferably, is not an expletive? “Lone Nut” does the job, but sounds pretty “meh” to my ears. “Lone Lamprey?” Naw. “Lone Maggot?” Yech. “Lone Loonie?” “Lone Whackadoodle?” “Lone Scumbag?”