#2: Scalawag

Definition:

a mischievous and often morally corrupt person

Examples:

"The captain of Company L refused to recognize us; said we were deserters, and traitors, and scalawags; and when he drew rations for Company L from the commissary, he wouldn't give us any." – Jack London, The Road, 1907

"When times are good, the public generally prefers a scalawag. Clinton was the perfect president for the '90s boom years. Warren Harding would have been a great fit with the boom of the '20s. He drank. He played cards. He snuck out of the White House to go to girlie shows." – Bill Bonner, The Market Oracle, December 20, 2011

About the Word:

Also spelled scallywag, this term may originally have referred to an animal of very little value. After the Civil War, scalawag came to describe a white Southerner acting in support of reconstruction governments, often in pursuit of private gain; it was used to insult Rhett Butler in Gone With the Wind.

The origin of scalawag is unknown, but one theory suggests there's a link to the Scottish scoloc, a first-born son given to the Church to educate.