Seriously, am I going to have to be doing one of these etymology threads every time the Crunchyroll translator for "Don't Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro" uses a word they don't like? Sigh...that being said, let's address Hayase Nagatoro using the word "scrub" as an insult. 1/6

The use of the term "scrub" as an unflattering reference to a person dates back to at least 1589. Back then, it described "a (physically) small, insignificant, or contemptible individual" and was used in that sense by William Shakespeare in "The Merchant of Venice". Twice. 2/6

By 1892 - nearly 130 years ago! - it had already acquired its modern meaning of someone who sucks at playing games. No, video games didn't exist in the 19th century, but sports certainly did, and it was used to refer to second-rate athletes or amateur or b-level teams. 3/6

The arrival of the 20th century didn't change this. In fact, in the NBA, the insult evolved from the action of cleaning (scrub) to the instrument of cleaning (bucket). Even TLC jumped on the bandwagon and used it to describe losers or undesirable in their song "No Scrubs". 4/6

The term arrived on the Internet no later than 2003, when it was mentioned by a user named KHD in an Urban Dictionary entry dated August 12, 2003. By then, it had already been linked to poor player performance in video games and this meaning was cemented by 2008 or so. 5/6

So, in short, "scrub" is a tried and true insult for a loser or someone who absolutely sucks at doing something and is a perfectly fine translation in this situation. If you want to be pissed off about something in the subtitles, I'd suggest being mad about the one below. 6/6