Since I am a writer, language captivates me, especially in the way it relates to a culture. With three teen aged sons living at home I get to hear a lot of the slang they encounter. I never cease to be fascinated by the terms that come up, and how often I haven’t a clue what they are referring to. Since every era has its own unique slang, I thought it would be interesting to share some Regency era slang from time to time. Since it is April Fool’s Day, I thought you might be interested in calling out a fool in a Regency appropriate way.
Francis Grose, author of Dictionary of he Vulgar Tongue
A Fool
- Addle Pate
- Ben.
- Buzzard
- Chaw Bacon. A countryman. A stupid fellow.
- Clod Pate
- Clunch
- Cod’s Head
- Dummie: A wooden man. A fool.
- Gudgeon. One easily imposed on. from the fish of that name, which is easily taken.
- Gull. A simple credulous fellow, easily cheated.
- Ignoramus.
- Jack Adams.
- Jacob
- Jolter Head: A large head; metaphorically a stupid fellow.
- Loggerhead
- Lout: A clumsy stupid fellow.
- Mud
- Nick Ninny, Nickumpoop, or Nincumpoop, Ninny, or Ninnyhammer
- Nickin, Nikey, or Nizey. A soft simple fellow: also, a diminutive of Isaac.
- Nocky Boy
- Noddy
- Nokes
- Paper-scull
- Pig-widgeon
- Ralph Spooner
- Sapscull
- Shallow Pate
- Simkin
- Simon: Sixpence. Simple Simon; a natural, a silly fellow;
- Simpleton: Abbreviation of simple Tony or Anthony, a foolish fellow.
- Tom Coney
- Tony
To Describe a Fool Plainly
- Beetle-headed
- Benish
- Bird-witted: Inconsiderate, thoughtless, easily imposed on.
- Buffle-headed: Confused, stupid.
- Cakey
- Chuckle-headed
- Clumpish
- Cork-brained
- Fat Headed.
- Leatherheaded
- Mutton-headed
- Sammy
- Sappy
- Squirish
- Windy
To Describe a Fool more colorfully
- A poor honey: a harmless, foolish, good-natured fellow.
- A hubble-bubble fellow: a man of confused ideas, or one thick of speech, whose words sound like water bubbling out of a bottle
- He is no burner of navigable rivers: he is no man of extraordinary abilities; or, rather, he is but a simple fellow.
- He is a young chub, or a mere chub: a foolish fellow, easily imposed on: an allusion to a fish of that name, easily taken.
- His garret, or upper story is empty, or unfurnished: He has no brains, he is a fool
- He is like a rope-dancer’s pole, lead at both ends: a saying of a stupid sluggish fellow.
- Pudding-headed Fellow: A stupid fellow, one whose brains are all in confusion.
- He was rocked in a stone kitchen: his brains having been disordered by the jumbling of his cradle.
- Sleeveless Errand: A fool’s errand, in search of what it is impossible to find.
Quoted from: Grose, Captain (Francis). (2004) Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, 1811 ed. Ikon Classics
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I enjoyed this and recognized a few. I already knew 10 on the first list and 2 on the second. It’s fun to learn about language differences as well as cultural ones. Thank you so very much for this fun and informative posts as well as the links. I’ll check them out later.
Author
I find myself totally geeking-out on this stuff. LOL
Fun! Jane Austen called herself “a poor Honey” in a letter to her niece Caroline written on 26th March 1817.
Author
I hadn’t realized that! Thanks for sharing that lovely tidbit.
That was fun! There were some I knew and have used…nincumpoop and ignoramus!
Author
I was surprised by how many of those are still in use today. My sister routinely calls people chuckle-heads.
“His garret, or upper story is empty, or unfurnished” kind of like the modern “his elevator doesn’t reach the top floor”. Love it. I’m a word nerd so I love these kinds of posts! Thanks for sharing.
That’s also like “Lights on but nobody is home”!
Author
Funny how we take the same idea and keep it going with the current technology.
Author
Glad you enjoy them too!
Thanks Maria grace!
It is always a good day when one can increase ones vocabulary with much needed words! These are much more colorful than the one I normally use ( I’ll let you guess the word)
Fun to read for sure!
Author
I rather like ‘He was rocked in a stone kitchen’ and ‘he is no burner of navigable rivers’ myself. Thanks Carol.
Have always liked gudgeon, widgeon, noddy and clunch.
I like it when the heroine affectionately uses these terms in speaking to younger brothers.
Author
That does feel pretty appropriate, doesn’t it? Siblings are siblings, no matter what century they’re in.
noticed that Pig-widgeon is on there, which was what Ginny named Ron’s owl in the harry potter books… I’m guessing that Rowling did that deliberately…since the owl is a bit excitable and had been said to be “not reliable”?
Author
I hadn’t noticed that! Good point though. I’m pretty sure it was deliberate, something that fitting rarely is accidental. Thanks for pointing it out! I love little tidbits like that.
I found the terms Ben and Benish interesting as my son’s name is Ben. 🙂 Do they have specific meanings or just generally mean fool?
Author
All I found was the general meaning of fool/foolish. But remember that was street slang. Ben/Benjamin was a fairly common name of the era.
He thoroughly enjoyed learning about these words…huge smile and that twinkle in the eye that he always gets when he finds something amusing. 🙂
I recognised some words that are used in novels that I read such as nincompoop, simpleton, etc. I’m so glad that you are sharing these words with us, Maria.
I couldn’t resist commenting. Exceptionally well written!
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