Scroogesque

English

Etymology

From Scrooge +‎ -esque.

Adjective

Scroogesque (comparative more Scroogesque, superlative most Scroogesque)

1. Resembling or characteristic of Ebenezer Scrooge; bad-tempered, selfish and miserly.

   Synonyms: Scroogelike, Scroogey, Scroogian

   • 1981 May 21, William Thorsell, “Life’s a ball, a Fund-thing”, in Edmonton Journal, page A4:

     The Tories have been positively Scroogesque with our accumulated billions.

   • 1986, Studs Terkel, Chicago, Pantheon Books, →ISBN, page 2:

     To me, growing increasingly Scroogesque, each day is a Winterreise, without the snow, the linden tree, the cold (though a chute or two is pneumonia-drafty) or the weather-vane.

   • 1987 December 24, “Santa Claus”, quotee, “The Santa Interview”, in The Age, 134th year, number 41,364, page 1:

     I mean three years ago in this very supplement of your newspaper some fool actually wrote an article called ‘How to Ruin Your Child’s Christmas’. That kind of stuff gets back to me and it hurts. I mean, we can do without that sort of Scroogesque rubbish.

   • 1988 December 23, Henry Mitchell, “‘Rotten’ gifts for gardeners grow cheer”, in The Daily Sentinel, volume 97, number 23, Grand Junction, Colo., page 1C:

     Many gardeners are lukewarm toward poinsettias. The main trouble with them is they stay in bloom till March, but I suppose it’s Scroogesque to complain of a pot plant that behaves so well.

   • 1989, New Socialist, page 56:

     The great guru X Moore, former lead singer of Trotskyist skinhead band The Redskins, took a less Scroogesque view. He claimed that Xmas is but a foretaste of the coming socialist millennium […]

   • 1995 January 19, “An Open Letter to the Community from Willie Preston, Mayor Pro Tem”, in Lincoln News Messenger, volume 104, number 16, Lincoln, Calif., page 3:

     To the Scroogesque reference to a Christmas party which I attended, along with City staff, I must clear up the events that actually took place.

   • 1996 December 10, Dolores Tropiano, “Putting Heart in the Holidays: Generous deeds bring out true meaning of the season”, in The Arizona Republic, 107th year, number 206, Phoenix, Ariz., page C1:

     Gardner suggests the perfect gift for the person in your life who has it all — nothing! It’s not as Scroogesque as it sounds. She recommends giving a gift from her Global Gift Guide instead. Such gifts might include clothing and shelter for a homeless child in Vietnam for $35 a month or dental exams for children in Cambodia.

   • 1998 October 29, Mike Stanger, “Happy event hurt by image of bikers as bad guys”, in The Vancouver Sun, page A18:

     I’ve owned and ridden a motorcycle for three years, and on Sunday morning I took part in the 20th annual Vancouver Toy Run for the third time. It is a great event that provides a little bit of joy not only for the participants, but also for the thousands of Lower Mainland children who are recipients of the donated toys. I’m saddened by Burnaby’s Scroogesque attitude to the Toy Run, as are many others (‘Families disadvantaged’ by disappointing run, Oct. 26).

   • 1998 November 22, The Observer, page 44:

     Of course, I love giving gifts, because I’m a loving and giving sorta girl. But not that loving and giving, because I’ll only do it on my terms, which unfortunately also means that I don’t like giving gifts when you’re meant to give them. So I am rubbish at birthdays and only slightly better at Christmas (and then only because I like expensive, glitzily-themed wrapping concepts). The problem is, I worry so extraordinarily about getting it right that, forever teetering on the brink of extravagant impulse buys and Scroogesque denial, I sometimes don’t get it at all rather than get it remotely wrong.

   • 1998 December 24, Clay McFerrin, “What’s in the value of a gift?”, in The Charleston Sun-Sentinel, volume 75, number 52, Charleston, Miss., page 4:

     What is it about each passing Christmas that causes the next to seem so appealing? Maybe it’s the fact that the next is a full year away! That may seem Scroogesque, but there is a bit of truth in it for a lot of adults.

   • 2001, Stephen Brown, Marketing – the Retro Revolution, SAGE Publications, →ISBN, page 96:

     Buying shoes without shoe boxes bespeaks cheapness of Scroogesque proportions.

   • 2003, Anthony Fowles, John Dryden: A Critical Study, Greenwich Exchange, page 92:

     The lines, in short, suggest themselves as a Scroogesque anti-echo of verse written at the century’s start: / My meat shall all come in, in Indian shells, / Dishes of agat set in gold, and studded / With emeralds, sapphires, hyacinths and rubies.

   • 2003 December 15, Paul Andrews, “Christmas Clicking”, in U.S. News & World Report, page 42:

     Although overall holiday-sales forecasts range from Panglossian to Scroogesque, analysts agree that online shopping is booming.

   • 2008 December 24, David Fee, quotee, The Independent, number 6,925, page 26:

     Perhaps I’m being a little Scroogesque to inform Susie “No Mates” Rushton about all the beautiful Christmas cards that have been dropping heavily into our hallway, courtesy of our friendly postman.

   • 2014, Stephen Scala, Curly Dish Pig Tales, Balboa Press, Hay House, →ISBN, page 123:

     Truth is for me I didn't know whether it was managerial incompetence or planned Scroogesque mismanagement. Always being such a tight arse to this extreme is bad management in the restaurant game.