reprobate, you

reprobate, you
   ‘Reprobate’ is far too literary and archaic a word to be used frequently in ordinary speech. One can imagine its being used humorously between educated speakers, in contexts where the accusation of moral depravity would not be taken too seriously.
   In Kes, by Barry Hines, it is used with a certain grim humour by a headmaster to boys who have broken the school rules and are about to be punished. There is a hint in context that the expression is part of the speaker’s idiolect, a favourite phrase which almost serves to identify him: ‘He left the door open, and a moment later issued his usual invitation to enter: “Come in, you reprobates!”’ The force of ‘reprobate’, which in the sixteenth century could mean one rejected by God, has considerably weakened since then.

A dictionary of epithets and terms of address . . 2015.

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