Ask HN: Preferred word to describe “Unnecessarily complainsome grumpy person”? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Preferred word to describe “Unnecessarily complainsome grumpy person”?

24 pointsxeonmc45 comments

I started reading HN fairly recently, the posters here struck me as having a different distribution of recurring (non-technical) vocabulary that is quite different from other platforms.

I think that besides the obvious age distribution factor, the spectrum of social scenarios more frequently encountered by the HN demographic probably also contributes to certain common situations or stereotypes promoting/stimulating the use of more apt descriptions for them, whereas for those who less frequently encounter them there would be no occasion to dig out a dictionary word from memory to describe it.

For example, there seems to be a particular adjective that sees pretty frequent usage, used to label “cranky jaded programmer being unnecessarily complain-some or dismissive of new ideas”, which I only learned because of repeated occurrence on HN, but the actual word seems to escape me. I remember that it seems to be not too dictionary-obscure of a word, just that there seems to fewer occasions that calls for it in other online conversations.

What is the first word that comes to your mind when describing such a person?

From wikipedia:

Torvalds sarcastically quipped about the name git (which means "unpleasant person" in British English slang): "I'm an egotistical bastard, and I name all my projects after myself. First 'Linux', now 'git'."

He should have chosen 'Freax', it's a much better name

A kvetch. If you need a word for something/someone annoying, unreasonable, unpleasant, lazy, cantankerous or absurd, Yiddish is here for you.

In German, "Quatsch" means nonsense.

I thought of the same word, Quatsch. The Yiddish word probably shares the same roots.

I always thought it is related to "quetschen" (squeezing). A kvetsh is somebody who is being squeezed and winces or squeaks (and incidentally, to squeak=quietschen).

Oh, you’re absolutely right. Oxford dictionary says:

> 1960s: from Yiddish kvetsh (noun), kvetshn (verb), from Middle High German quetschen, literally ‘crush’.

I always learned kvetch to mean a complainer (or the act of complaining itself). I don't think this carries with it the implication that the person is unpleasant, much less lazy or absurd.

Yiddish has some of the best words for describing people and their mannerisms, some of which have been fully adopted by English, like klutz and (a little less common) chutzpah.

TIL Yiddish has a word that accurately describes a majority of HN users

I'm also fond of "[obdurate|inveterate] pedant"

Curmudgeon, Naysayer, Grouch

> Curmudgeon

That's it. Thanks.

Not an adjective though.

curmudgeonly?

That's a fancy way of saying "realist."

Just be aware that, at least in British English, whilst "curmudgeon" can be used in an exclusively negative sense, it can also carry some "cuddlier" overtones and be used as something of a term of endearment.

> Curmudgeon

How sexist! Curmudgeon / termagant.

I asked ChatGPT. Response: A person who unnecessarily complains and is grumpy might be described as a "grouch," "crank," "curmudgeon," or "grump." These words suggest someone who is habitually irritable and unhappy, and tends to complain or find fault with things unnecessarily.

The act of always complaining or otherwise being difficult is often called being cantankerous, though there isn't a direct noun for that.

There are a few words that might fit what you are looking for, of which I think the best is “curmudgeon”, and for lexical flexibility you can act curmudgeonly or be curmudgeonous. I'm not sure that curmudgeonous is a “real” word, spellcheckers refuse it and I rarely if ever see it elsewhere, but I like it as it essentially means the same as cantankerous but with less of a sharp edge - the difference between just naturally being difficult (curmudgeonous) and actively trying to be difficult (cantankerous).

Both are often associated with older people more than younger, though in the fast moving world of tech you don't have to be very old to appear to have ancient views!

you're such a cantanker!

old fart, pessimistic, realistic, comfort zone

slightly related: I like the definition of "programmer" at urban dictionary:

A person who is paid to professionally scream at a computer.

Programmer: "AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-oh, it works."

> A person who is paid to professionally scream at a computer.

Sounds like that was probably written by somebody who used to work either with me, or with one or two of my former colleagues.

Cantankerous. It's basically my nickname.

In Dutch I would say 'zeurkous' (literally translated 'whiny stocking') meaning something like 'grouch'

Miesepeter, if you like to borrow from german

Somebody once called me irksome which I rather took as a compliment and I think is great for this definition.

ornery (comparative ornerier, superlative orneriest) (Appalachia) Cantankerous, stubborn, disagreeable.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ornery

curmudgeon

I'm a crochety old grumpy greybeard, now get off my lawn! ;-)

Nerfbait, if Nerf guns are allowed at the office.

Honestly, just call me by my name ffs...

Experienced

Goblin

These days it's been superseded by the idea of "going full goblin" or "goblin mode"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goblin_mode

Crochety might also work.

Hey, that's me!

investor

Cynic

Grinch

A Grump

Whinger.

grouch

disagreeable

intelligent ;)

Reply on news.ycombinator.com