These words are used to describe a brisk, unworried, self-assured person or the way in which he acts. Jaunty , which at its most positive refers to a lively, dashing urbanity, sometimes suggests a studied nonchalance – an attempt, often contrived or even forced, to be suave or sophisticated which results in a kind of aggressive good humour: struggling to look jaunty and interesting in his yachting outfit; the jaunty way he approached to ask her for a dance. Chipper refers more to a sprightly self-satisfaction that exudes good humour and health; the word would refer to the good health of maturity rather than that of youth: Ageing roués who still manage to look spruce and chipper are the despair of the moralist.

Debonair is more like jaunty in suggesting a reckless ease of manner that is filled with carefree good spirits: the typically debonair French lover. The word has taken on an overtone that implies worldly sophistication, as well: the eager and callow youth who for all this posturing is still naïve, still far from being debonair . Insouciant translates literally from the French to mean without care; it also suggests gaiety of manner and sophistication: the insouciant young bohemians who travel from one party to another without a thought for tomorrow.