What's in a name?

 By definition a curmudgeon is a grumpy, bad tempered, mean old man or old woman.  You've got to admit it's a very descriptive word, just by the sound of it.  It contains a grrrr sound and the word mud.  When I was a little girl my friends and I used to love roller skating up and down the side walk in front of our houses.  We were probably noisy what with the steel wheels and our childish excitement but we were kids after all.  However, our unfriendly neighborhood curmudgeon (of course I didn't know the word then but he definitely was  one) would stand on his front porch yelling at us, holding his garden hose and spraying us as we skated by.  We didn't mind getting wet but we suspected it was a plot to rust our skates.  Today, I must admit, I let a little bit of my inner curmudgeon come out.  I wasn't picking on little children but I was, hopefully tactfully, scolding fellow members of my Bible study group.  Over the last many weeks I had become more and more frustrated over the amount of time wasted (my perception) in casual chat until our hour and a half sessions, originally set up with one half hour for sharing joys and concerns and an hour for the actual Bible study, had shifted to an hour or more of chat and minimal time for the class.  I made a brief, pleasant, non-accusatory statement in which I expressed my increasing frustration, ask if we could please go back to our original schedule and also be sure everyone had a chance to share during the first half hour before anyone took a second turn.  When I finished my plea there was total silence, then three of the eight people said they agreed with me.  Since no one spoke against it. our leader kept us right on schedule today.  But I did notice that the most talkative person in our group, who tends at times to drone on and on, hardly said anything.  She probably was  offended but I don't think I care.  Wow, I may be a real curmudgeon after all.