scholar

cliché Someone (usually a male, due to the gender implication of "gentleman") who is admirable or of high esteem. Although used sincerely as a compliment, it is generally bombastic and lighthearted in nature. Thank you for helping me move into the new house, you are truly a gentleman and a scholar.

Someone (usually a male, due to the gender implication of "gentleman") who is admirable or of high esteem. Although used sincerely as a compliment, it is generally bombastic and lighthearted in nature. Thank you for helping me move into the new house, you are truly a scholar and a gentleman.

Well behaved and well educated. This term dates from the days when only well-born boys and men (or those who entered a religious order) received any education at all. Its earliest appearance in print was in George Peele’s Merrie Conceited Jests of 1607 (“He goes directly to the Mayor, tels him he was a Scholler and a Gentleman”). It probably was close to being a cliché by the time Robert Burns used it jokingly in his The Twa Dogs (1786): “His locked, letter’d braw brass collar shew’d him the gentleman an’ scholar.”

A complimentary term for a person, especially one who has done you a favor. Back in the era when courteous behavior and academic achievement were prized far more highly than they are today, acknowledging a kindness, such as holding the door or relinquishing a place on line so that someone else could get a taxi, would be met with a smile, a nod, and the phrase, “You are a scholar and a gentleman.”