scallawag, you damned

   This is applied to Rhett Butler in Gone With The Wind, by Margaret Mitchell. The word is also spelt ‘scalawag’ in the USA. The normal British spelling is ‘scallywag’, and in modern times the word is applied to a child with the meaning ‘rascal’. In the nineteenth century it had the stronger meaning of ‘scoundrel’, or in Trade Union circles, a loafer, a man who would not work.

   The word also had a special meaning after the American Civil War, referring to a white Southerner who willingly accepted the reforms proposed by the Republicans. It was this accusation that was levelled at Rhett Butler.