Sometime people who are insulted will turn around and wear the insult like a badge of honor --perhaps even forgetting that an insult was intended in the first place.

For example, there is apparently considerable disagreement over the origins of the phrase "devil dog" - but according to Marine Corps lore it was a term of praise that described the tenacity and ferocity of the Marines. It is not hard to imagine, however, that the German who first uttered the phrase (if that is what happened) did not really intend praise when called the Marines dogs from hell.