bah humbug

English

WOTD – 9 June 2017

Etymology

Ebenezer Scrooge encountering the ghost of Jacob Marley, an illustration by John Leech from the first edition of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol (1843)

From bah (“interjection expressing contempt, disgust, or bad temper”) + humbug (“balderdash!, nonsense!, rubbish!”). The words were originally spoken by the miser Ebenezer Scrooge in the novella A Christmas Carol (1843) by English author Charles Dickens (1812–1870).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /bɑː ˈhʌmbʌɡ/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌbɑ ˈhʌmˌbʌɡ/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: bah hum‧bug

Interjection

bah humbug

1. (humorous) Expressing cynicism, disillusionment or distrustfulness; and specifically a dislike of Christmas and its celebrations and festivities.
   • 1848 January 22, “Important Official Documents”, in The John-Donkey, volume I, number IV, New York, N.Y.: Published and supplied by George Dexter, Burgess, Stringer & Co., W. H. Graham, R. G. Berford & Co. [et al.], →OCLC, page 126, column 2:

     Honor!—bah! humbug! Patriotism!—pshaw! / Are we to be bamboozled by such guys?

   • 1976, Susan George, “Food Aid? … Or Weapon?”, in How the Other Half Dies: The Real Reasons for World Hunger, Harmondsworth, London; New York, N.Y.: Penguin Books, →ISBN; reprinted Totowa, N.J.: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 1989, →ISBN, page 164:

     Only a modern Scrooge could say, "Bah, Humbug," where helping people to get enough to eat is concerned. Well, we are not going to argue that food aid has never filled an empty stomach or saved a dying child—but we will contend, in the case of the United States at least, that it has done so only inadvertently.

   • 2012, C. Matthew McMahon, Therese B. McMahon, “Scrooge Had It Right, but for the Wrong Reasons”, in Bah Humbug: How Christians Should Think about the Christmas Holiday, Coconut Creek, Fla.: Puritan Publications, →ISBN, pages 5–6:

     [O]nce you understand why Bah Humbug is a good term, you will see that it is going to become packed with a biblical position that could warrant every Christian to mindfully say "Bah Humbug" about the Christmas Holiday, and know what it is they are meaning. Bah Humbug is going to work succinctly.

Verb

bah humbug (third-person singular simple present bah humbugs, present participle bah humbugging, simple past and past participle bah humbugged)

1. To utter the words "bah humbug"; to dismiss with the words, or sentiment, of the interjection.
   • 1961 December 20, The Christian Century, Chicago, page 1515, column 2:

     This can be bah-humbugged or it can be accepted with a child’s quick joy. Who has the right to celebrate, to adore God for his sake, to muse around a manger, to light the candles and give the gifts and sing the songs?

   • 2005, Paul Carter, Don't Tell Mum I Work on the Rigs, Crows Nest: Allen and Unwin, page 127:

     Once my gear was packed I was eager to go, and get away from Sydney before Christmas found me bah-humbugging my way through a bottle of scotch.