Curmudgeon

Image by Prawny from Pixabay

This month’s word is inspired by a quotation by Scott of the Antarctic, who described Captain Oates, a member of his ill-fated expedition as, ‘a delightfully humorous cheery old pessimist.’ Would that make a passable definition of a curmudgeon? I find the word wonderful to say and challenging to spell.

And which of us doesn’t know (or live with) a curmudgeon? On the whole, the British are a curmudgeonly lot – we love a good grumble. The word is first cited in English in 1568 where a translator of Gregory of Nazianus calls someone ‘a bolde curmogine chuffe,’ which I find charming.

The dictionary definition is ‘a churlish, miserly fellow, a mean man.’ It brings to mind both Dickens’ Ebenezer Scrooge and George Elliot’s Silas Marner. My ‘feel’ for  ‘curmudgeons’ is naively affectionate, perhaps because these 2 literary curmudgeons are redeemed and changed by their encounters with others. I can’t help hoping that within every curmudgeon, a wary but kind-hearted soul is waiting to emerge.

And who knows, if Captain Scott had listened to his ‘cheery old pessimist,’ perhaps they both would have lived to tell the tale?

Finally the answer to last month’s riddle:

What plural becomes a singular when you add an ‘s’?

Answer – Princess.

Did anyone guess it? Or find an alternative that works? If so, do share in the comments below.