Words of the day: pants, bumptious, and berk

The words of the day are pants, bumptious, and berk:

pants.  Shortened < pantaloons, plural of pantaloon n.

orig. U.S. 

4. Brit. slang. Rubbish; nonsense. Freq. in pile (also load) of pants .The use of the noun in this sense is often difficult to distinguish from a predicative adjectival use. (OED)

bumptious.  A humorous formation, suggested perhaps by bump n.¹ or bump v.¹, and words in -tious, like fractious. (Not in Craig 1847, nor in any earlier Dict.)

Offensively self-conceited; self-assertive. (colloq. and undignified.) (OED)

berk.  Abbrev. of Berkeley (or Berkshire) Hunt, rhyming slang for [an obscenity].

slang.

A fool. (OED)

"The Times (also Murdoch-owned) published a profile of Bryant titled 'BLAIR’S ATTACK POODLE SAYS PANTS TO THE LOT OF YOU,' which included a blind quote calling Bryant a 'bumptious little berk.'"

 - Lauren Collins, "Early birds", 25 July 2011 The New Yorker


Firstly, I'm not convinced that the use of the word pants here is quite the same as in the dictionary.  Secondly, given berk's etymology, I wonder if it doesn't have a bit more bite and mysogyny to it than merely "fool".