Curmudgeons Day

What the day is

Curmudgeons Day is observed on January 29, the birthday of W. C. Fields, born in 1880, whose screen persona supplied the template.

Origin and background

Curmudgeon is an old word of genuinely unknown origin, recorded from the sixteenth century, and lexicographers have never traced it convincingly. One early dictionary suggested it came from a French phrase, an explanation now regarded as an invention that got copied for two centuries.

The character it names is distinctive and not simply unpleasant. A curmudgeon is ill-tempered about things that arguably deserve it, and the affection the word carries comes from that discrimination. Fields built a career on it: irritable, sharp, contemptuous of sentiment, and reliably on the side of the person being patronized. The comic form requires the grumbling to be aimed upward or at absurdity, which is why the curmudgeon is likeable and the bully is not.

Research on ageing offers a relevant correction to the stereotype that this is what people become. Large studies consistently find that, on average, people report improving rather than worsening emotional wellbeing through later adulthood, with negative emotion declining and emotional regulation getting better. The grumpy old man is a comic archetype rather than a developmental stage.

There is also a defensible case for the disposition. Complaint is how problems get named, and organizations that treat all dissent as negativity tend to discover their failures late. The person who says plainly that something is not working is doing unpopular and necessary work, provided they are right.

How to take part

• Complain about something that genuinely warrants it, precisely and to the right person.
• Watch a W. C. Fields film and notice who he actually targets.
• Distinguish the two habits: grumbling upward is a service, grumbling downward is not.
• Thank the colleague who always says the awkward thing in meetings.
• Let an older relative be unimpressed by something without correcting them.