Okay, I've got a story taking place in Scotland at the ass-end of the 16th century and at one point a schoolmaster calls a pupil "smartass". It's been brought to my attention that "smartass" is not a word that was used back then, and that it would help root the piece in it's time period by using period accurate language. While I agree, there are a few things I can't change for the sake of rhythm, cadence, or simply because a character is not from that time. That means "smartass" does need to change. I'm still looking around as well, but I figure some human help is far more valuable. Google, as much as it would like to, doesn't understand human language. There's a certain snap to a retort like that, and the word itself accurately and efficiently conveys a message. You're all writers, you get the idea. Right, so the short version of that is: What do you call a smartass in the 16th century? For extra context, here's the offending section: Graeme quickly considered his options. If he hadn’t been seen talking to Pádraig during recess, he might have tried lying his way out of this, but now it seemed smarter to present the school master with the mildest version of the truth. “I didnae force it doon his throat. I just… questioned his ability tae do so.” “Smartass.” One thing John tried to imprint on his students was to question everything, for if one does not ask questions, one never learns. He looked at Pádraig, all wobbly behind his desk. “Is that so, lad?”
Robbie Burns uses skellum - scoundrel. NGram viewer suggests it's a bit later than your time period but "ya wee skellum" sounds pretty good and whilst some people might get all purist about it, the vast majority won't
Skellum. I like that. Purists be damned. The story is gonna come with a warning to not trust a fiction writer's recounting of history, and it's about cows falling love. My readers will probably not be the kind who put historical accuracy right in the bullseye. ;o) That's too many... words? They look like words, but I'm willing to accept your cat stepped on the keyboard. ;o)
I'm taking some liberties out of necessity, but I had it explained to me. Parish schools, apparently. Led by the church. They weren't quite what we expect of schools today, but all I needed was a place for the teacher to whip a kid into doing something to progress the story. Hm, yeah. You're not the first to say that. I still need to change that to "break". Which I'm also not sure they had, but I figure at one point kids will get hungry, right? Kids eat, don't they? Lemme check with my girlfriend on that. As a Dutchman I'm gonna have to say no. Too Dutch, and having tried them on once, I'm not inclined to say they were clever either. ;o)
