And while more than 1000 terms have been deemed to be unparliamentary over the last 30 years of parliament in the ACT,  2018 may go down as one of the most polite years on record for the Legislative Assembly.

Just 14 phrases were referred to the Speaker to adjudicate on, including three utterances of the word "crap", one of "muppet" and one jibe of being a "nasty piece of work".

Hansard is rife with politicians accusing their opponents being liars, hypocrites, or grubby, corrupt and cowardly.

However, put-downs on the floor aren't always so predictable.

In the words of the most legendary sledger ever produced by an Australian parliament, Paul Keating, some zingers are more akin to being flogged with warm lettuce, while others leave you feeling like a little desiccated coconut under pressure.

We've put together a list of the best burns, based on decades of Hansard's catalogues of the ACT's politicians at their most unparliamentary - so you too can taunt someone like you're a representative of the Australian people.

Former Labor minister John Hargreaves did this when he called Liberal politician Vicki Dunne a "blind, bitter and twisted woman" in 2003.

The Speaker labelled Mr Hargreaves' slur as unparliamentary and asked him to withdraw. Mr Hargreaves said he was "happy to withdraw that I said that she was bitter and twisted, Mr Speaker, and I do so with absolute and complete contrition".

However the imputation that Mrs Dunne was "blind" still remains hanging, 15 years later.

The Liberals give as good as they get, though, when it comes to barraging their opponents with insults.

In 1995, Tony De Domenico said to Wayne Berry: "You political thug. You political Stalinist thug. You are a thug, Wayne."

Mr Berry asked the Speaker to force Mr De Domenico to withdraw the imputation he was a thug.

Mr De Domenico hit back, accusing Mr Berry of being "happy" with being called a Stalinist.

"I will leave 'Stalinist' and I will withdraw 'thug', if that upsets the precious little Mr Berry," Mr De Domenico said.

Calling someone a "windbag" is hardly befitting the dignity of the chamber.

So why not try to give your insult a dignified title, as former opposition leader Brendan Smyth did when he called Chief Minister Jon Stanhope "chief windbag" in 2004.

While John Hargreaves' retort of "sanctimonious windbag" against Gary Humphries had to be withdrawn after objection from the Speaker back in 2000, the Speaker mulled over "chief windbag" for a while before forcing Mr Smyth to withdraw the unparliamentary language.

Of course, Mr Smyth himself has been the target of insults with honorifics. While still a Labor minister, current Speaker Joy Burch labelled Mr Smyth "Mr Negativity".

Mr Stanhope also bestowed the title of "Mr Slimeball from Tuggeranong" on Mr Smyth, and while he was forced to withdraw, he told the Assembly it did "not change my opinion of the member at all, and he knows it".

Andrew Barr also once described Vicki Dunne as "Ms Verbal Diarrhoea", although he generously offered to withdraw the term if Mrs Dunne had taken offence.

As former Labor politicians Jon Stanhope, Simon Corbell, Wayne Berry and Bill Wood did when they coined the phase "Gary-ed" in reference to Liberal member Gary Humphries.

One of the earliest utterances we can find was when Mr Berry claimed he had been "Gary-ed" in reference to a debate over bursars to nurses and firefighters in October 1999.

In December that year Mr Stanhope solemnly informed the chamber: "We have been Gary-ed, Mr Speaker" (Mr Corbell cried "Here, here! We have been Gary-ed" in solidarity).

Other variations of the term include, "unfairly Gary-ed", "severely Gary-ed". and "an air of Gary about this matter".

Even Bill Stefaniak was accused of Gary-ing someone, and his name is not even Gary.

So what is it to be Gary-ed?

To "establish, through false argument, distortion or misrepresentation, and then proceed to attack that supposed position, which, of course, is a long way from the real position," Mr Wood explained to the Assembly in 2001.

Today we'd call that a straw-man argument, which I'm pleased to inform you still features prominently in contemporary ACT Legislative Assembly debates.

As John Hargreaves did when he referred to the opposition as "balaclava-wearing sons and daughters of Peter Reith" in 2010.

The obscure reference is to former Howard government minister Peter Reith, who as workplace relations minister has been forever associated with images of the balaclavas and rottweilers of the 1998 waterfront dispute.

The jibe caused Liberal politician Jeremy Hanson to ask Mr Hargreaves if he was sober (a reference to his drink driving arrest in 2006). Pulled up by the Speaker, Mr Hanson said he was not "reflecting on the member's integrity, only his sobriety".

As independent Michael Moore did when he was pinged for saying Labor member Terry Connolly's nose was "growing longer and longer".

When asked to withdraw, Mr Moore came back with an accusation Mr Connolly's nose was "itchy", which again raised protests from Labor.

The exasperated Speaker then asked Mr Moore not to refer to Mr Connolly's nose in any way.

"Madam Speaker, can I seek clarification? Are you telling me that a member cannot use the term 'itchy nose'? Are you saying that 'itchy nose' is unparliamentary?" Mr Moore said.

"Today, Mr Moore, I am. Please withdraw that," she replied.

In 1990, when former chief minister Trevor Kaine got in trouble for describing those opposite as "political cream puffs from cloud-cuckoo-land", he earned a thanks from Labor's Ellnor Grassby by instead referring to her as a "powder puff".

References to Craig Duby as "dingo Duby" back in 1990 were decried by the ACT's first chief minister Rosemary Follett as a "slur on dingoes".

The offending parliamentarian Paul Whalan offered to withdraw the perceived slight on the native animal, and instead referred to Mr Duby as "dog-day Duby".

Andrew Barr was also rebuked by the Speaker in 2008 when he made a statement to "shut the monkeys opposite up".

He was warned to refer to members of the Opposition by their titles, to which he replied: "Sorry, Mr Speaker. I withdraw the insult to monkeys".