"rowdyish actions of a rowdy"

One of my books from today was written by a Jesuit, and was very Victorian. At one point in the book, to teach a lesson about the Evils of Cheap Literature, a professor at the school reads a chapter about a prank. Most of the boys laugh, but then they are corrected: "you have been laughing at the rowdyish actions of a rowdy." I love this phrase because it sounds like something I'd make up when I'm just talking at random!