Word of the Day for Wednesday, November 30, 2011
churlish \CHUR-lish\, adjective:
1. Boorish or rude.
2. Of a churl; peasantlike.
3. Stingy; mean.
4. Difficult to work or deal with, as soil.
Churlish behavior has been the hallmark of the B.O.'s reign of socialist scourge; for example, he is holding a fund-raiser on the same night and just two blocks from New York City's lighting of the Christmas Tree, thus causing thousands of people to not be able to get to the ceremony because of his security; nice work, you Scrooge!
--Spy Maker, JSA's Blog
And Ethel, though sometimes sharp and malicious and difficult, wasn't churlish or unpunctual or casual at all.-- Ruth Rendell, One Across, Two Down
I call it churlish that you would complain of a little time spent in schooling me when the rewards I've earned you come in thick and fast.-- Karen Miller, A Blight of Mages
Churlish originates in the Old English ceorlisc meaning “peasant, freeman, man without rank.” It had various meanings in early Middle English, including "man of the common people," "a country man," "husbandman," "free peasant." By 1300, it meant "bondman, villain," also "fellow of low birth or rude manners."
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