16 old-school English words to insult (or compliment) someone without them knowing
- These are perfect for a sneaky conversation when you need to vent your frustrations but don’t want someone (ie. parents or teachers) listening in
- Do you know a froward? Have that friend who is a total lanspresado and NEVER pays for their meal? Here’s how to let them know
How to insult someone, but be sneaky about it.When you’re trying to have a covert conversation with friends, there’s only so much that whispering can do.
We’ve compiled a list of cheeky English words, some of which are so old that they don’t even show up in the Merriam-Webster or Oxford dictionaries any more. That makes them perfect for making a sly remark about someone without drawing too much attention.
Avoid using these words in formal writing, but send this list to your friends for a good laugh at all the colourful vocabulary you could be using.
Cockalorum – a boastful and self-important person
Dandiprat – an unimportant or despicable person
Fainéant (fay-nay-AH) – a lazy and irresponsible person
Froward – someone who is always arguing with and disobeying others
Gnashgab (nash-gab) – someone who complains all the time
Groke – to stare at someone who is eating in hopes that they will share their food. Every family or friend group has someone who does this.
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Lanspresado – someone who conveniently never has any money with them
Mooncalf – a foolish or absent-minded person
Mugwump – a person who is annoyingly neutral or undecided about an important topic
Quidnunc (quid-nunk) – an inquisitive, gossipy person
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Rawgabbit – someone who speaks confidently about something they don’t know anything about. The worst kind of know-it-all is a fake one.
Scaramouch (scar-uh-moosh) – a boastful but cowardly person, featured in a famous lyric from Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody
Slugabed – a lazy person who stays in bed way past the normal time, although this sounds quite nice after a week of exams or heavy assignments
Snollygoster – a person who has intelligence but no morals, which sounds like a lot of the villains we see in movies
Ultracrepidarian – someone who takes every opportunity to share their opinion about things they know nothing about, which seems to describe many people on social media
Bonus: Here’s one more to confuse your friends
It sounds like an insult ... but it’s really a compliment:
Snotor – someone who is wise and clever, not to be confused with “snotter”, which is when someone breathes noisily