JS Tip 455: The Holidays and "Bah! Humbug!"

From the Holiday Workshops: Bah! Humbug!

During the holiday season, we associate “Bah! Humbug!” with Ebenezer Scrooge and Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.

Humbug is more than simple scoffing.

A humbug—first recorded in 1751 (Carol dates to 1843)—is a scheme to take people’s money. A grift. A swindle. A hoax.  

Scrooge’s argument against Christmas is that it has become a hoax to take people’s money.

Black Friday.

Small-business Saturday.

Cyber Monday.

Naah. Couldn’t be. Could it? 

Some Background

Carol was written and published in 1843. That year, Christmas Eve fell on a Sunday, and Christmas was the next day, Monday. So it is with this year.

So Sunday night, think of Scrooge walking to his small apartment and seeing the face of Jacob Marley in his door-knocker. And the story begins.

Merry Christmas. Happy Hanukkah. Happy Kwanzaa. Happy Solstice. Happy Holidays.

May you be happy and warm.

We appreciate you.