Literary notes about cad (AI summary)
The term "cad" in literature is often deployed as a pejorative epithet for a man whose behavior is regarded as socially or morally unscrupulous, yet it can also carry hints of irony or even reluctant self-awareness. Its use ranges from outright condemnation—as when a character is called out for dishonorable conduct [1, 2]—to a more nuanced, sometimes self-deprecating admission of faults [3, 4]. On occasion, the label carries an air of historical linguistic depth, connecting its modern connotations to roots in Old German and Celtic traditions [5], while in narrative dialogue, it can function as both a witty retort and a commentary on social expectations [6, 7, 8].
- It was not that the money had been made in commerce; he was neither a snob nor a cad.
— from The Mountain Girl by Payne Erskine - He behaves like a cad himself, and just look at him, please.
— from Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - "'All right,' he said, offering me his hand; 'I dare say I was a cad to say what I did of your flag, but you needn't have hit me quite so hard.
— from Bessie's Fortune: A Novel by Mary Jane Holmes - I wanted to tell you every minute, and yet I couldn’t be such a cad.
— from Mrs. Dot: A Farce by W. Somerset (William Somerset) Maugham - This prefix is the Old German had , hat , hath , signifying war, the [Pg 14] corresponding word to which is in Celtic cad or cat .
— from Surnames as a Science by Robert Ferguson - How do you know that she is not really in love with that—that rich cad—the man she eloped with?”
— from The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - “Once a cad, always a cad,” droned Miss Bartlett.
— from A Room with a View by E. M. Forster - “Blake’s a little cad, but Egstrom’s all right.”
— from Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad
