Curmudgeon - a crusty, ill-tempered old man (not necessarily, but usually, the latter); archaic meaning of "miser" (from Webster's New Collegiate). I have been trying to find the correct derivation of this word, to no avail. Some dictionaries say it is an old-English word (AHD), others say the etymology is unknown (Webster's New Collegiate), and still others say it is French from "coeur mechant", meaning "evil heart". However, some texts say that curmudgeon really doesn't mean "evil". Comments?The World Wide Words site tells an interesting story about the word.
I have considered myself a curmudgeon since the age of four, but, like Rodney Dangerfield, I didn't get no respect at that age; rather, I was just considered a very odd, grumpy little boy.
My sense of the word is that it's someone who has a strong moral sense, and expresses outrage by either withdrawing form the niceties of false-faced society, or satirizing it. Thus, such people as Mike Royko, Mark Twain, Dorothy Parker, and G.B. Shaw qualify.
Asa, you were most gracious to reply to this post since you yourself had already posted a thread about the word "cumudgeon". I am sorry--I missed it in wordplay. Since Asa asked in his thread about specific "curmudgeons" and I am asking about the word itself, perhaps we can make these 2 threads work? Or--wordcrafter, can we somehow combine the 2 threads?
Now you're just a very odd, grumpy big boy? ********************************************* Yep! Next time you're in Portland, drop in and I'll buy you a beer and tell you all about it!
