clever

   Occasionally used on its own as a term of address, and likely to be sarcastic. An example occurs in Daughters of Mulberry, by Roger Longrigg. There is another in Lord of the Flies, by William Golding. While the first of these is almost an intimacy, the latter is clearly meant to be insulting. So, too, is the nonce-name form ‘Mr Clever’ which occurs in Brothers in Law, by Henry Cecil. British children have a number of terms for other children who show signs of being too clever by half. Apart from the favourite ‘clever dick’, a child is likely to be called: cleverguts, cleverpot, cleversides, cleversticks, or know-all.