Oh Those Curmudgeons! Forty years ago, I couldn't even spell curmudgeon, and now I are one, as the old joke goes. I didn't consciously become one of these fellows. And I didn't just wake up one day and find out that I had garnered a reputation as such. It was a gradual process and a one that encompasses the sum of my life experiences. I guess it is a triad of too much thinking, combined with a jaundiced eye toward human behavior, and the need to articulate a response to such. The journey hasn't been all that bad or arduous. My entire being has been positively shaped in many areas. But for all that, my experience with humanity has left me with a tart reaction to the things in life that so many of my fellow human beings complacently accept and embrace. That which is saccharine; unpleasantly and unnaturally sweet.
And, having been blessed/cursed with this skewed perception, I find an unbridled need to vent, or at the very least, comment. I am happy to have this forum to express my viewpoint on the many things in life that interest me, including politics, love, the so-called GLBT "community", religion, education, "the arts", and people who are stupid and/or ignorant and proud of it.
I hope you come back and visit me as often as you need a good dose of reality. I will post when the mood takes me and as events unfurl on the world stage and in my life; upon which I absolutely must expound. We all live in our own reality and truth. As that old curmudgeon Aldous Huxley once said: "You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you mad." Well friends, when something makes me mad or even deserves a well-placed bon mot, you can be sure I will have my say about it.
So what, exactly, is a curmudgeon? Webster defines it this way:
Curmudgeon/ kêr-mê-jên n [origin unknown]1. archaic: A crusty, highly eccentric, contrary, and strongly opinionated old man.
2. modern: Anyone who hates hypocrisy and pretense and has the temerity to say so; anyone with the habit of pointing out unpleasant facts in an engaging and humorous manner.
The origin of the word Curmudgeon is obscure. It is said to have first appeared in the tome, Description of Ireland (1577), suggesting the Emerald Isle as its origin. However, the word doesn't seem to be Gaelic. It possibly comes from the Scottish word for "grumble". In his 1755 dictionary, Samuel Johnson claimed the the word came from French coeur méchant or "evil or spiteful heart". The word "cur" doggedly comes to mind. However, no evidence supporting this conjecture was available at the time and none has since surfaced.
So what, exactly, is a curmudgeon? Webster defines it this way:
Curmudgeon/ kêr-mê-jên n [origin unknown]1. archaic: A crusty, highly eccentric, contrary, and strongly opinionated old man.
2. modern: Anyone who hates hypocrisy and pretense and has the temerity to say so; anyone with the habit of pointing out unpleasant facts in an engaging and humorous manner.
The origin of the word Curmudgeon is obscure. It is said to have first appeared in the tome, Description of Ireland (1577), suggesting the Emerald Isle as its origin. However, the word doesn't seem to be Gaelic. It possibly comes from the Scottish word for "grumble". In his 1755 dictionary, Samuel Johnson claimed the the word came from French coeur méchant or "evil or spiteful heart". The word "cur" doggedly comes to mind. However, no evidence supporting this conjecture was available at the time and none has since surfaced.
Indeed, Curmudgeons are really quite sensitive, but they hide their tenderness behind a crust of misanthropy or distrust of humanity. They may grumble, but they are not evil at heart. Their seeming bitterness is a symptom rather than a disease. They mock pretense and decry hypocrisy out of a healthy sense of outrage. Nature has failed to equip them with a serviceable denial mechanism--they simply refuse to live by that river in Egypt. For the most part, their intelligence serves them well with acute perception and an irascible wit. They won't compromise their standards and can't manage the suspension of disbelief necessary for cheerfulness. They attack mediocrity and fraud wherever they find them and their principle weapon is humor.
Curmudgeons are not incapable of love. Many just decline to participate, and those that do so fall prey to the same foolishness and foibles that afflict all other mortals. Curmudgeons fare no better or worse than their fellow man, they just have a few problems with concepts like "communication" , "intimacy" and being "relationship-oriented" and are likely to view and point out the yang side of love while looking somewhat askance at the yin. And then, vice-versa, because the well-seasoned curmudgeon plays no favorites and takes no prisoners.
The true Curmudgeon may be sarcastic at times, but is seldom cynical. They understand the concept of reality. They just look at it sideways and without the rose-colored glasses. As that old curmudgeonly queer Oscar Wilde once said of cynics, "What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing?". That about sums it up for me. I believe life has value. It just needs to be looked at and remarked upon bareboned and unembellished. At least my existance does, and I intend to shape and live it to my satisfaction and to tell those who are interested enough, what I have to say and think. I hope you will agree or at least be provoked to thought. Ciao!
copyright 2009 Mark Talboom with thanks to Jon Winokur
Curmudgeons are not incapable of love. Many just decline to participate, and those that do so fall prey to the same foolishness and foibles that afflict all other mortals. Curmudgeons fare no better or worse than their fellow man, they just have a few problems with concepts like "communication" , "intimacy" and being "relationship-oriented" and are likely to view and point out the yang side of love while looking somewhat askance at the yin. And then, vice-versa, because the well-seasoned curmudgeon plays no favorites and takes no prisoners.
The true Curmudgeon may be sarcastic at times, but is seldom cynical. They understand the concept of reality. They just look at it sideways and without the rose-colored glasses. As that old curmudgeonly queer Oscar Wilde once said of cynics, "What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing?". That about sums it up for me. I believe life has value. It just needs to be looked at and remarked upon bareboned and unembellished. At least my existance does, and I intend to shape and live it to my satisfaction and to tell those who are interested enough, what I have to say and think. I hope you will agree or at least be provoked to thought. Ciao!
copyright 2009 Mark Talboom with thanks to Jon Winokur
