It is a general-purpose insult term for anyone the speaker dislikes without specific reference to their sexual behaviour. The word sod, a noun or verb (to 'sod off') used as an insult, is derived from sodomite. These laws in the United States have been challenged and have sometimes been found unconstitutional or been replaced with different legislation. Laws prohibiting sodomy were seen frequently in past Jewish, Christian, and Islamic civilizations, but the term has little modern usage outside Africa, Asia, and the United States.
In current usage, the term is particularly used in law. Then the angels strike the Sodomites blind, 'so that they wearied themselves to find the door' (Genesis 19:4–11, KJV). Lot protests that the 'messengers' are his guests and offers the Sodomites his virgin daughters instead, but then they threaten to 'do worse' with Lot than they would with his guests. The men of Sodom surround Lot's house and demand that he bring the messengers out so that they may 'know' them (the expression includes sexual connotations).
Two angels are invited by Lot to take refuge with his family for the night.
Genesis (chapters 18–20) tells how God wished to destroy the 'sinful' cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. The term is derived from the Ecclesiastical Latin peccatum Sodomiticum or 'sin of Sodom', which in turn comes from the Ancient Greek word Σόδομα (Sódoma).
