Has anyone ever called you a drate-poke? Has anyone ever pointed in your general direction, saying, “Be off with you, you fopdoddle!” ??
Have you ever had to endure the hurt of being called a saddle-goose?
If you have escaped these misfortunes, then count yourself lucky. In medieval England, nasty insults of this kind were bandied about like they were going out of style, and you could hardly walk to the mill and back without hearing them. Alas, in those days, it was not uncommon for one to hear the epithet “smell-feast” used to refer to an unwelcome guest.
It was not uncommon either for smell-feasts to retort to such accusations by calling their hosts “yaldsons” and even the dreaded “gillie-wet-foot”.
The historical records tell us that Henry VIII once executed one of his wives for calling him a “snoutband.”
Luckily, we live in more civilized times, and these sorts of terms are largely forgotten.
See the link
http://mentalfloss.com/article/61819/42-old-english-insults
Photo: Wikipedia
CEU Medieval Radio 