Paul in Tucson, Arizona, asks about ragamuffin, a word his mother used for someone with ripped, dirty, or disheveled clothes. The word’s history isn’t entirely clear, but hundreds of years ago ragman and ragamuffin referred to the Devil, possibly...
wooly bugger
n.— «Anything or anyone frightful looking, as “he looked like a wooly booger with that long hair and ragged clothes.”» —by Michael Montgomery , 1997. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)