Peter Moore: Gashgabs, fugdels and fingles, discuss

I’m hoping that my articles do not make me a bit of a gnashgab. As I sit at my laptop, perhaps I’m a fugdel. Do you need an Exxpergefactor.  Am I a bit fingle? A gnashgab is someone who complains all the time, a fugdel is someone who gives the impression that they are working when they are doing nothing, an exxpergefactor is something that wakes you up and fingle is devious. There are hundreds of amazing old English words which have fallen out of use. It’s a shame.
My photo does not make me neanimorphic, but I am good at spuddle. Neanimorphic means to look younger than your actual age and spuddle means to look busy but achieve nothing. I am sure many of you could accuse a work colleague of being a spuddle. 
The Vagrancy Act of 1824 ruled that any man caught flashing would be “deemed a rogue and a vagabond”. Initially I thought that this seems a bit lenient. Telling sexual offenders “Sir, you are a rogue and a vagabond” did not seem especially harsh but then a historian explained to me that being labelled a rogue and a vagabond was the eighteen-century equivalent of a modern-day caution.  It had significant ramifications although they did not have computers for a DBS check.
There are even some words which I thought were normal and have used since childhood which are now disappearing. Many of these are insults. One of fifteen insults which are dying out is “plonker”, meaning that future generations may not understand “Only fools and horses.” Generation Z, born between 1997 and 2011, may call a woman a “Karen” as someone who believes they are entitled, but they would not call anyone as “Berk”, “Nitwit” or “Pillock”. 60% of them had never even heard the word “berk.” 
20% said they would be offended if called a pillock or plonker so I would have spent half my life being offended. It does depend on how it is said. If I make a dreadful pun and a member of my family said “you’re such a plonker” I would not be offended. They would probably be right. 
Over half of generation Z had not heard the expression “blighter”, “cad” or “scallywag” which means they may not understand P G Woodhouse. But I also never use these expressions seriously. I can imagine these words being used by Boris Johnson but if I called any of my friends a blighter or a cad I would not be taken seriously. 
Some insults which were widely used in the past have, quite rightly, been dropped. A common school playground insult was “You’re so gay”. Now we all understand and accept gay people as just a variation of normal it is easy to see why this is genuinely offensive. 
Where all generations agree is that it is a British trait to use insults as terms of endearment to friends and family. It shows that we do not take each other too seriously. Being able to laugh at yourself is a vital way to stay sane. I cannot imagine anyone laughing and saying to Putin or President Xi in Russian or Chinese “you’re such a berk”. If they did they would only say it once. 
Language changes. None of us speak in the same way as Chaucer, Shakespeare or even Dickens. Watching old movies from the 1940s the language and pronunciation is very different from today. In fifty years' time, generation Z will wonder why the next generation doesn’t use “Karen” but has different insults. From my generation, there is one major advantage. I can call a young person a berk and it is likely that they would not realise that it is an insult.