Scrooge was right?

“Bah! Humbug!”

The miser Ebenezer Scrooge spits those words at his nephew in rejecting a party invitation in Charles Dickens’ novella “A Christmas Carol.”

We say them ourselves, invoking Scrooge. Yet he wasn’t first to say “Humbug!” A-n-n-n-d, given the word’s original meaning, Scrooge was right!

Dickens published “A Christmas Carol” in 1843. Note the year. “Humbug,” the word, was at least 100 years old even then, etymologists say.

And its meaning differed from our understanding. We say “humbug” to express displeasure or grumpiness. In Dickens’ time, speakers used it to call out willful deceptions and lies.

Example: “Assertions of election fraud are humbug.”

So, with “Bah! Humbug!” Scrooge wasn’t simply throwing crotchety sewage on holiday cheer. He was calling the festivities themselves a hoax.

And aren’t they, sometimes? As when we warm to expressions of peace on earth, good will to all – while speaking, acting hatefully. Or exalt shopping rather than, like the manger babe all grown up, serving the needy.

Dickens transforms Scrooge into a kind and generous man. If only he could for us all.

Bah!

Humbug!