Curmudgeon

created by Webster 1913

(person) by Gorgonzola (6 hr) (print) ? (I like it!) Sun Oct 15 2000 at 21:13:00

Boy, has the meaning of this word changed!

Nowadays, "curmudgeon" is used exclusively to mean an opinionated old fart who is angry that young people don't value the things he/she does. A curmudgeon usually has a grim, pessimistic vision of the future and his fellow man.

Famous historical curmudgeons:

Hesiod
Socrates
Jonathan Swift
Richard Francis Burton
H. L. Mencken

The most famous curmudgeon today is probably Andy Rooney.

(definition) by Webster 1913 (print) Tue Dec 21 1999 at 22:51:40

Cur*mudg"eon (k?r-m?j"?n), n. [OE. cornmudgin, where -mudgin is prob. from OF. muchier, mucier, F. musser to hide; of uncertain origin; cf. OE. muchares skulking thieves, E. miche, micher.]

An avaricious, grasping fellow; a miser; a niggard; a churl.

A gray-headed curmudgeon of a negro. W. Irving.

printable version
chaos

Fifty works of English Literature we could do without	Andy Rooney	Why can't Starbucks sell "small," "medium," and "large" drinks?	The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters
like minded curmudgeons	Niggard	Nigger	Jonathan Swift
Dorothy Parker	Kid A in Alphabet Land	You call that philosophy?	colitas
Pilgrimage to the 88 Sacred Places of Shikoku	A Precious, mouldering pleasure 't is	The Gioconda of the Twilight Noon	Lydia Smith
A Momentary Lapse of Reason	Griffin	Myspace	The Apprentice
Pappy Slappy	Arturo Fuente	Hesiod	The Portable Curmudgeon

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