bah humbug
Festive spirit rejection
Bah humbug is an exclamation of contempt for sentimentality or festive cheer, forever associated with Ebenezer Scrooge in Dickens's *A Christmas Carol*.
Someone who says bah humbug dismisses holiday spirit as nonsense or fraud.
The phrase now signals grumpy rejection of celebration, often used self-mockingly: I know it's bah humbug of me, but I hate office Christmas parties.
Miserly, stingy person
- curmudgeonIll-tempered, stubborn person
- grumpyIrritable in temperament
- cynicismDistrust of human sincerity
- grouchinessIll-tempered state
killjoy · sourpuss · wet blanket · party pooper · grinch · spoilsport · misanthrope · crotchety
Hebrew name, commemorative stone
- VictorianOf a prim era
- DickensSurname of Victorian novelist
- ghostApparition of the dead
- miserStingy wealth hoarder
Marley · redemption · London · Tiny Tim · workhouse · counting house · nightcap · bedchamber
Exaggerated promotional fanfare
- commercialismProfit-driven value system
- sentimentalityExcessive tender emotion
- traditionCustom passed through generations
- obligationRequired task or commitment
expectation · consumerism · materialism · superficiality · insincerity · phoniness · skeptic · doubter
scrooge
Miserly, stingy person
- curmudgeonIll-tempered, stubborn person
- grumpyIrritable in temperament
- cynicismDistrust of human sincerity
grouchiness · killjoy · sourpuss · wet blanket · party pooper · grinch · spoilsport · misanthrope · crotchety · cantankerous
Ebenezer
Hebrew name, commemorative stone
miser · Marley · redemption · London · Tiny Tim · workhouse · counting house · nightcap · bedchamber · farthing
hype
Exaggerated promotional fanfare
- commercialismProfit-driven value system
- sentimentalityExcessive tender emotion
- traditionCustom passed through generations
obligation · expectation · consumerism · materialism · superficiality · insincerity · phoniness · skeptic · doubter · naysayer
- A Christmas CarolEbenezer Scrooge, Scrooge, Tiny Tim, Bob Cratchit, Jacob Marley
- DickensCharles Dickens, Dickens, Oliver Twist, Great Expectations, A Christmas Carol
- seasonal greetingsmerry Christmas, season's greetings, happy Hanukkah, happy Kwanzaa, best wishes
bah humbugChristmas cheer
Festive holiday joy
holiday spirit · season's greetings · tis the season · ho ho ho · Christmas spirit
bah humbugjoy
Intense positive emotion
cheerfulness · merriment · delight · enthusiasm · warmth
bah humbuggenerosity
Readiness to give freely
benevolence · charity · goodwill · open-heartedness · magnanimity