The Regency period was the period between 1811 and 1820, when King George III of England was deemed unfit to rule and his son, later George IV, was instated as Prince Regent. The era is often expanded to include the years between 1795 and 1837. The period was distinctive for its architecture, literature, fashions, politics, snuffboxes and colorful characters and general excess.
As well as for its language.
I love Regency slang.
Here are some wonderful descriptions of someone who isn’t the brightest candle on the cake:
Bird-witted – inconsiderate, thoughtless
Bottle-headed – devoid of wit
Chaw-bacon – a countryman, or stupid fellow
Chuckle-headed – a stupid person, a blockhead
Clodpole – a stupid fellow, a dolt
Cod’s head – a stupid fellow
Cork-brained – light-headed, foolish
Dunderhead – blockhead, dunce, numbskull
Nickninny – a simpleton
Ninnyhammer – a fool or simpleton
Saphead/sapskull – a simpleton; fool
Simkin – a foolish fellow
Singleton – a very foolish fellow
Pig-widgeon – simpleton, fool
In addition, thanks to the incomparable Georgette Heyer, along these same lines we have:
Addle-cove
Goosecap
Cabbage-head
Bird-wit/Hen-witted
Buffle-head
Caper-witted
Cork-brained
Dunderhead
Feather-headed
Hare-brained
Muttonhead
Nodcock/Niddicock
Paperskull
Peagoose
Shatterbrain
Totty-headed
My personal favorites are ‘knock-in-the-cradle’ and ‘more hair than wit’, which are only bested by ‘his brains are in his ballocks’, found the 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue.
Maggie MacKeever, Novelist 