Literary notes about grouch (AI summary)
In literature the term "grouch" functions both as a label for a consistently ill-tempered character and as a metaphor for a pervasive state of discontent. Writers may use it to evoke an inner irritability, as when a character is said to harbor "a grouch on the inside" [1], or to capture the light-hearted ribbing among acquaintances, as in the teasing call of "you old grouch" [2] or the wry remark about harboring a grouch [3]. At times it even becomes emblematic of social commentary—linking a curmudgeonly disposition with larger thematic conflicts, where a grouch might be as much an attitude as it is a personal trait [4][5][6].
- A man with a grouch on the inside and a voice on the outside.
— from The Silly Syclopedia A Terrible Thing in the Form of a Literary Torpedo which is Launched for Hilarious Purposes Only Inaccurate in Every Particular Containing Copious Etymological Derivations and Other Useless Things by George V. (George Vere) Hobart - "Cheer up, you old grouch," chaffed Billy.
— from Army Boys in the French Trenches; Or, Hand to Hand Fighting with the Enemy by Homer Randall - Moreover, he had a grouch at Mr. Phelps himself.
— from Young Wallingford by George Randolph Chester - The everlasting grouch is the man whose mind is running in a rut.
— from Retail Shoe Salesmanship by Frank Butterworth - “What is it?” “It’s usual on shipboard, when one party gets a grouch on against another, to meet according to rules and fight it out.”
— from The Battleship Boys at Sea; Or, Two Apprentices in Uncle Sam's Navy by Frank Gee Patchin - “I mean, sometimes it's a good thing for an old grouch like me to go off and get it out of his system.”
— from Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis
