Curmudgeon, Cantankerous & Grouch

curmudgeon







Y

D



–noun 

a bad-tempered, difficult, cantankerous (愛唱反調的) person.  



—Synonyms 

grouch (好抱怨的人), 

crank (古怪而暴躁的人), bear, sourpuss, 

crosspatch. (脾氣壞,愛抱怨之人)



grouch

–verb (used without object) 

1. to be sulky or morose; show discontent; complain, esp. in an irritable way. 



–noun 

2. a sulky, complaining, or morose person.

3. a sulky, irritable, or morose mood. 



Synonyms:

2. grumbler, spoilsport, crab, killjoy.





　

Indeed, Water Drops never leaves Leopold's apartment—it jumps ahead six months from the first scene to the spectacle of Leopold and Franz's domestic life. 



Franz [grooms] himself in preparation for Leopold's return from the business world, scurrying to greet him in cutely suspendered short-shorts. 



But Leopold, an insurance salesman, is an insufferable grouch and petty tyrant. He browbeats the seemingly compliant Franz (who then exacts revenge by blasting the stereo). 



This crabby non-idyll is further complicated when their respective former girlfriends arrive. Taking a leaf from Leopold, who's away on business, Franz orders around his lovelorn Anna (Ludivine Sagnier) while posing questions like "What is happiness?" 



groom

–verb (used with object) 

5. to tend carefully as to person and dress; make neat or tidy.

6. to clean, brush, and otherwise tend (a horse, dog, etc.). 



7. to prepare for a position, election, etc.: The mayor is being groomed for the presidency.  



8. (of an animal) to tend (itself or another) by removing dirt, parasites, or specks of other matter from the fur, skin, feathers, etc.: often performed as a social act. 





brogue 

rogue 

schmuck 

skunk 

rascal

Latter's characterization, restrained and chilling at first, unfortunately becomes too broad, almost that of a jolly [rascal], effect being to flaw the dramatic impact at times.



grumpy 

curmudgeon 

cantankerous 

grouch

But Leopold, an insurance salesman, is an insufferable [grouch] and petty tyrant.



bumpkin 

rustic 

yokel

boor

They snickered and whispered and made [boors] of themselves.

churl

He was a churl in his [affections].  

isn't it [churlish] to ask why they didn't take less time to do what everyone can do? 



obtuse

crass

the crass methods of [political] hucksters.

The sheer [crassness] of some of the scenarios -- 

This is one film that could [benefit], dramatically, from the gutsy decision to become [crasser] and more graphic



cad 

callow Nubile

twerp

nudnik



knave

Our Lady of Humanitarian Narcissism here [endures] another dreadful fate: losing her child to a mob of [knaves]

miscreant

not the immoral miscreant and lawbreaker his detractors [color] him to be.

Schmuck









　

Curmudgeonly, cantankerous, cigar-chomping Hellboy is a cross between a '40s noir detective and a burning fireplace, but he's also cool enough to make "Hellboy II: The Golden Army" the hipster's hit of the summer. Yes, Catholic imagery has always [run] rampant through helmer Guillermo del Toro's movies, 



including "Pan's Labyrinth," which he made in between the two "Hellboy" [entries], but he's really an evangelist of fanboy excess: Given the right push by Universal, he'll be making fantasy-horror acolytes out of the heretofore unconverted. 



heretofore

–adverb 

before this time; until now: [Heretofore], doctors have tried low fat diets to reduce the cholesterol in the blood.





　

And at first close encounter, he's an alcohol-soaked curmudgeon with a bum's wardrobe and a really bad attitude. Even those he saves wish he would go be a hero somewhere else.