Literary notes about Scamp (AI summary)
In literature, the term "scamp" is used to evoke a colorful mix of mischief and moral ambiguity. Writers often employ it to describe characters who are simultaneously endearing and troublesome—a youthful trickster with a propensity for cunning antics [1, 2]. At times, the label carries a humorous, even affectionate tone, as when a character's impish behavior is seen as charming despite its rebellious nature [3, 4]. Conversely, some authors use "scamp" more pejoratively to denote disreputable or wayward individuals whose behavior borders on the contemptible [5, 6]. Whether highlighting a roguish charm or a touch of dereliction, the word contributes to a vivid portrait of characters who mix irreverence with a spark of unconventional vitality [7, 8].
- To think, here I’ve been, night after night, a— you just get well once, you young scamp, and I lay I’ll tan the Old Harry out o’ both o’ ye!”
— from Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain - He had taken his nephew with him, a young scamp about fourteen years old, who used to go to the village and run errands for the old man.
— from Complete Original Short Stories of Guy De Maupassant by Guy de Maupassant - Even Negrillon, who pretended to have burnt his leg that he might rest from work—he only laughed, and said Negrillon was a great scamp.
— from The Awakening, and Selected Short Stories by Kate Chopin - “If you stir, little scamp,” said he, “beware!”
— from Le Petit Chose (Histoire d'un Enfant) by Alphonse Daudet - I may be an impostor, an idle scamp, a man with a bad character, for all that they know to the contrary…
— from Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy - “No, you've contracted for the job and turned out a scamp.
— from The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - He was stung every sixty seconds with the thought that the scamp O’Brien might be signalling to Margaret somehow; he did not attempt to imagine how.
— from The innocence of Father Brown by G. K. Chesterton - “You scamp!” shouted the furious pedestrian.
— from Les Misérables by Victor Hugo
