With season 6 of Young Sheldon coming this fall, many viewers are rewatching old episodes of The Big Bang Theory to keep themselves entertained. In both shows, Sheldon is a genius who always has a quick-witted remark ready. He's often unintentionally funny, but more often than not is intentionally rude.
His character relies on his intellect to one-up those he's deemed dumber than him (which in his eyes is everyone) and results in him insulting those around him. Perhaps at the beginning of The Big Bang Theory, this was funny, but as time went on, he left viewers wishing he would ease up on those who care about him the most since it did get annoying.
Sheldon Insulting Leonard's Intelligence
"It must be humbling to suck on so many different levels."
While playing a game of 3D chess, Leonard keeps losing to Sheldon. Sheldon recommends playing Candy Land as it's more Leonard's speed and says this quote.
Despite it coming off as a playful jibe, viewers know that Sheldon is not one for jokes or even delivering one without his catchphrase, "Bazinga!" It's no secret how Sheldon feels about Leonard's intellect and never misses a chance to remind Leonard, Howard, Raj, and even Penny just how low-brow he believes they are, even if they make as many remarkable achievements as he did.
Sheldon Shows Himself To Be Ignorant
"If you don't mind, I'd like to stop listening to you and start talking."
Despite Amy Farrah Fowler being agreeable to Sheldon telling her to stop talking, in reality, it shows how he’s not the perfect boyfriend he believes himself to be. Instead, Sheldon wants to talk about his own personal drama, even though Amy was talking about her work.
He’s essentially telling her he couldn't care less about what she’s talking about and would instead like to only focus on his own life (essentially telling her that he couldn't care less about the goings-on in her life). Sheldon should be the most supportive of Amy, and yet, here he is cutting her down.
Sheldon Insults Leonard's Physical Appearance
“You see, Amy, success at a bar is based on classic male attributes, such as height, strength, attractiveness, the ability to hold one's liquor and throw darts, separately or together. Leonard has none of these attributes, right, Leonard?”
Sheldon never misses an opportunity to put Leonard down. At this moment, Leonard is already down, worried about finding a girlfriend again. Amy is attempting to give him tips while Sheldon reaffirms what Leonard is already thinking in that he may never be good enough for a girlfriend.
Instead of making Leonard feel better in this situation, Sheldon makes things 100 times worse. Sheldon is incapable of making others feel better, especially in the earlier seasons and it's truly shocking how much patience Leonard has for Sheldon (and that they remained friends for as long as they did).
Sheldon Whining About The Fact That People Aren't Intelligent As Him
"One cries because one is sad. I cry because others are stupid and that makes me sad."
When Sheldon is attempting to teach Penny Physics, she bursts out crying, saying she can't do it because she is stupid. In Sheldon's way of comforting her, he says this line.
Sheldon is unable to understand that Physics may be a hard concept for many people to learn, and isn't especially good at teaching it either. He may not have been directly calling Penny stupid, but it's heavily implied. It's also apparent throughout the show that he believes he's the smartest person in any room he's in, meaning he believes everyone around him to be stupid.
Telling Howard His Job Has No Purpose
“I never said that you’re not good at what you do. It’s just that what you do is not worth doing.”
Sheldon actually thought this was a compliment to Howard when the engineer had asked Sheldon for a compliment relating to his job and why he always ripped on him.
Even the studio audience knew Sheldon had gone too far with this one. He essentially invalidated all of Howard’s work simply because Sheldon didn’t think it was a worthwhile job. He somehow still received a “thank you” from Howard.
Insulting Strangers About Their Profession
Sheldon: “Good morning, your honor. Doctor Sheldon Cooper appearing pro se. That means I am representing myself.”
Judge: “I know what it means. I went to law school.”
Sheldon: “And yet you wound up in traffic court.”
No matter what the context, this is so incredibly insulting. Should traffic court judges not go to law school? How else could a traffic court judge get this job if they had not already gone to law school?
This is once again another example of Sheldon believing that (almost) everyone is beneath him and not deserving of his time, no matter the circumstances. He further insults him by telling the judge he is at the top of his profession while the judge "presides over the kiddie table of yours." Because Sheldon didn't get what he wanted, he essentially bullies the judge into giving him what he wanted simply because of his intellect.
Comparing Penny's Intelligence To That Of A Gorilla
“Interesting. I suppose if someone could teach sign language to Koko the gorilla, I could teach you some rudimentary physics.”
In yet another scathing remark, Sheldon agrees to teach Penny physics because he realizes that it could be a challenge, much like teaching a gorilla sign language.
Even Penny acknowledges that it’s insulting but goes on to say that she could be like Koko, to which Sheldon replies that even she isn’t smarter than a gorilla and couldn’t possibly have the comprehension that KoKo has unless it revolves around shoes. Penny has to be one of the most patient people on this show to put up with Sheldon the way that she does because not a lot of people would have kept hold of their temper.
Insulting Penny's Daily Life
"Hello Penny. I realize you are currently at the mercy of your primitive biological urges. But, as you have an entire lifetime of poor decisions ahead of you, may I interrupt this one?"
After Penny and Leonard have spent 3 months apart, they are excited to see each other. But because Sheldon had a question for Leonard, he was relentless in interrupting them. For whatever reason, he felt the need to throw in her “poor decision-making,” even though he wanted to come into her apartment.
Once again, Sheldon is given a pass for his offensive behavior. He felt like because his question to Leonard about their work in the field was so important, he had to put Penny down in the process.
With All Due Respect
Sheldon: “I can't believe he fired me.”
Leonard: “Well, you did call him a glorified high school science teacher whose last successful experiment was lighting his own farts.”
Sheldon: “In my defense, I prefaced that by saying with all due respect.”
In season 1, Sheldon is introduced to his new boss who is the head of the Physics Department where Sheldon, Leonard, Raj, and Howard all work. When meeting his new boss Sheldon can’t help but introduce himself as a “real, actual scientist.”
Sheldon doesn’t believe his new boss is a great scientist, even though his boss holds a Ph.D. and is the head of his department, not to mention his boss. Sheldon couldn’t help but insult him simply because he doesn’t like his work. It’s another example of Sheldon's elitist attitude.
Insulting Penny's Accomplishments
Penny: “I really don’t see what the big deal is.”
Sheldon: “Of course you don't. You have never excelled at anything.”
This entire exchange between Sheldon, Leonard, Penny, and Howard is one insult after another thrown by Sheldon. He’s upset because a 15-year-old is supposedly smarter than him and while the gang is trying to cheer him up, he throws dagger after dagger at his only friends. He at one point said to Howard, "oh God, now even you're smarter than me."
Penny aptly asks how Sheldon ever got friends and at that moment the audience is probably wondering that same question. For the sake of the show, Sheldon is funny, but in reality, he probably would be left with no one if he continually verbally abused his friends.