The Grinch vs. Scrooge: who is the ultimate Christmas curmudgeon?

Left: The Grinch, portrayed by Jim Carrey, in a movie rendition of the classic tale. Right: Ebenezer Scrooge, as seen in an animated version of A Christmas Carol. (Getty/CP)


No holiday season would be complete without the scowling and grumbling of the Christmas curmudgeon. In the spirit of holiday humbugs, the CBC community team is pitting two icons of irritation against each other, and asking you to crown the ultimate seasonal sourpuss.

Charles Dickens's Ebenezer Scrooge (1843):

Ebenezer Scrooge is the classic miser who came to life in Charles Dickens's 1843 novel, A Christmas Carol. The stingy businessman's love of money is almost as potent as his hatred of all things Christmas-related. Dickens describes him as "a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner!"

Scrooge lives alone, and rejects both the offers of affections and pleas for sympathy from everyone around him. It takes three ghosts - the Ghost of Christmas Past, the Ghost of Christmas Present, and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come - to shake up the stubborn old timer's worldview.  

Scrooge's name has become synonymous with holiday disdain, and he comes complete with his own memorable catchphrase: "Bah-humbug!"

•  Dickens on Scrooge:
  "The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shrivelled his cheek, stiffened his gait; made his eyes red, his thin lips blue; and spoke out shrewdly in his grating voice."
• Scrooge on the poor and needy:
  "If they'd rather die they better do it now and decrease the surplus population."

Dr. Seuss' The Grinch (1957):

He's mean, he's green, and his heart is two sizes too small. The cave-dwelling Grinch was introduced to the world in Dr. Seuss' 1957 book, How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

The Grinch not only hates the holidays, but is determined to dampen the spirits of the entire town of Whoville. In the ultimate holiday heist, he dresses up in a Santa suit and slaps antlers on his dog, then descends from his mountaintop to wreak havoc in rhyming couplets.

A song composed for the 1966 animated version of the story says he's "a mean one" that Mr. Grinch. He is best described in three words: Stink! Stank! Stunk!

• Seuss on the Grinch:
  "The Grinch hated Christmas! The whole Christmas season!
  Now, please don't ask why. No one quite knows the reason.
  It could be his head wasn't screwed on just right.
  It could be, perhaps, that his shoes were too tight."
• The Grinch on the citizens of Whoville:
  "PoohPooh to the Whos!" he was grinchishly humming.
  "They're finding out now that no Christmas is coming!
  They're just waking up! I know just what they'll do!
  Their mouths will hang open a minute or two."