By Barbara McAlister
Word of the Day: Curmudgeon
A curmudgeon is a cantankerous, surly, ill-tempered person. The origin of the word isn’t clear, but it’s a word that even sounds cranky. It’s thought it may have come from the French coeur méchant, meaning evil hear.
Many dictionaries include the qualifiers “frequently old” or “male,” which is insulting, blatant sexism and ageism. Being a curmudgeon is a state of mind, not gender or age-based, even though W.C. Fields is probably one of the most well-known curmudgeons. So much so, that Fields’ birthday on Jan. 29 is celebrated as national Curmudgeons Day.
It was self-professed curmudgeon W.C. Fields who made such memorable curmudgeonly statements as “Start every day off with a smile and get it over with,” “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Then quit. There’s no point in being a damn fool about it.” and “You can fool some of the people some of the time — and that’s enough to make a decent living.” Fields fittingly died in 1946 on Christmas Day, a day he claimed to dislike above all others.
To celebrate national Curmudgeons Day regardless of your age or gender, yell at someone to keep off your lawn, whine about modern technology, new fashions, or the current state of popular music or write a petty complaint letter to the local newspaper. Bonus on the last one — you can also grumble about the cost of postage.
