cub, you young

   An expression which might be used by an irate elderly gentleman to a young man. ‘Cub’ in this context means more than just ‘young person’. There was a widespread belief in the Middle Ages that bear cubs were born in a shapeless mass, and that they had to be licked into shape. Sadistic adults have sometimes interpreted this ‘licking into shape’ to mean that severe discipline and punishment must be part of a child’s education. Shakespeare, as so often, appears to have been one of the first writers to transfer ‘cub’ to a human being. In Twelfth Night (5:i) the Duke addresses Viola, whom he thinks is a young man, as ‘O thou dissembling cub!’