rogue

   This appears to have been insulting when applied to a man, and an endearment when applied to a woman in former times, especially in the seventeenth century.

   When the word is used in modern times it is often describing someone whose behaviour merits strong disapproval, but whose charm makes reproof difficult.

   The basic meaning of ‘rogue’ in Shakespearean times was ‘beggar’ or ‘vagabond’, and since it was taken for granted that such men were dishonest, the word took on that meaning as well. Girls who were ‘rogues’ were merely mischievous, in a pleasant, flirtatious way. The Oxford English Dictionary notes that ‘rogue’ was applied with especial frequency to servants.

   This was no doubt because male servants were considered automatically to be rascals, while female servants, if they were young, were there to be flirted with.

   ‘Rogue’ occurs vocatively throughout the Shakespeare plays, used alone, as ‘you rogue’, or in a vocative expression such as ‘you mouldy rogue’ (to a man), ‘you sweet little rogue’ (to a woman). In modern times it occurs only rarely, but there is a friendly use of ‘you little rogue’ to a woman in Casanova’s Chinese Restaurant, by Anthony Powell, and friendly use of ‘you old rogue’ by one man to another in World So Wide, by Sinclair Lewis.