I have loved reading historical fiction since the early 1980’s, so when I began writing my stories, they’ve all taken place in the nineteenth century. I’ve often needed to hunt for words that are appropriate for the time period in which my book is taking place. Over time, I made a list for easy reference and decided to share it with you.
These are gentle insults used in the 1800’s:
Late 1700’s – These would already have been in use in the early 1800’s
- codger – an elderly man, especially one who is old-fashioned or eccentric
- coot – a foolish or eccentric person, typically an old man
- cuss – an annoying or stubborn person or animal
- deadbeat – an idle, feckless, or disreputable person
- fogey – typically an old person considered old-fashioned or conservative in attitude or tastes
- gauche – unsophisticated and lacking in grace
- goodie two-shoes – an ostentatiously virtuous or well-behaved person
- hellion – a rowdy, mischievous, or troublemaking person, especially a child
- killjoy – a person who spoils others’ enjoyment through resentful or overly sober behavior
- lowlife (as an adjective 1795, as a noun 1915) – people or activities characterized as being disreputable and often criminal
- muddle-headed – mentally disorganized or confused
- noodle head – simpleton
- rip – worthless person or horse
- stupe – blockhead
- tabby – old maid
- tufthunter – gold-digger
Early 1800’s
- backhanded – indirect; ambiguous or insincere
- blighter – a person who is regarded with contempt, irritation, or pity
- fatheaded – a stupid person
- flapdoodle – a foolish man
- fly-by-night – unreliable or untrustworthy, especially in business or financial matters
- foozler – a bumbler or clumsy person
- gibface – an ugly person
- gump – a foolish or dull-witted person
- hard-shell or hard-shelled – uncompromising
- hornswaggler – a cheat or fraud
- imbecile – stupid
- joskin – a bumpkin
- know-nothing – an ignorant person
- pigeon-livered – cowardly
- ragabrash – disorganized or grubby person
- saphead – a person who lacks good judgment. fool, buffoon
- whooperup – a second-rate singer who produces noise, not music
- yokel – an uneducated and unsophisticated person from the countryside
1850’s
- mama’s boy – a boy or man who is excessively influenced by or attached to his mother
- scalawag – a person who behaves badly in an amusingly mischievous, not harmful way, a rascal
- slowpoke – a person who acts or moves slowly
- tenderfoot – newcomer or novice, especially a person unaccustomed to hardships of pioneer life
- windbag – a person who talks at length but says little of value
- chowderhead – stupid or batter-brained
- cad – a man who behaves dishonorably, especially toward a woman
- do-nothing – idle or lacking ambition
- featherhead – a silly or absentminded person (also featherbrain)
If you write nineteenth-century fiction, you’re going to need to keep this list handy.
