sod, you

sod, you
   ‘Sod’ is a taboo word in British English, but commonly occurs as a vocative. Those who use it know that they are expressing contempt for the person addressed, but are probably unaware that ‘sod’ is a short form of ‘sodomist’. The use of ‘bugger’ as a general term of contempt is comparable. ‘Silly sod’ is especially frequent in low colloquial speech, presumably because of the alliteration.
   ‘You old sod’ occurs in Girl with Green Eyes, by Edna O’Brien, but is in that instance an insulting intimacy. ‘You clumsy sod’ occurs in Henry’s War, by Jeremy Brooks, but is said without too much rancour by one man to another. ‘You young sod’ is insulting in A Kind of Loving, by Stan Barstow, as is ‘you stupid old sod’ in Lucky Jim, by Kingsley Amis.
   ‘You cheeky sod’ is insulting in Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, by Alan Sillitoe, but the same novel has examples of ‘you sod’ and ‘you daft sod’ used in a reasonably friendly way between men. ‘Get up, you lazy sod’ is also said in a friendly way by one man to another in Like Any Other Man, by Patrick Boyle.

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

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