wise guy

   Used with varying degrees of aggression to someone who is ostentatiously revealing his knowledge, especially if the person addressed has corrected something said by the speaker.

   Like the older ‘wiseacre’, ‘wise guy’ can be converted into a nonce name. ‘But you haven’t answered me, Mr Educated Wise Guy,’ says a father to his son in Portnoy’s Complaint, by Philip Roth. ‘Wise guy’ itself is decidedly unfriendly when it occurs in Len Deighton’s Funeral in Berlin. The Middle Man, by David Chandler, has: “‘Wiseguy.” Grizzard hissed contemptuously.’ In Waterfront, by Budd Schulberg, occurs: ‘Listen, we’d like t’talk t’ya a minute.’ ‘Ye’re talking to us right now, ain’tcha?’ ‘Wise guy.’