The curmudgeon can point out that there have been false dawns before.
Germany's great literary curmudgeon, who has at least one acknowledged masterpiece to his credit—"The Tin Drum" (1959), a brilliantly imaginative satire on the popular appeal of Nazism was on everybody's list of famous writers who hadn't yet won a Nobel.
So it is striking that Mr Silver and Mr Zauzmer both strongly favour Tommy Lee Jones (a curmudgeon in "Lincoln") over Robert de Niro (an obsessive in "Silver Linings Playbook") as the likely winner in the best supporting actor category, while the consensus view of the prognosticators assembled under the banner of the "Gurus o' Gold" is that the Academy will go for Mr de Niro.
Rhenish, Swabian and other regional flavours thrive Gerhard Polt, a Bavarian curmudgeon, now 72, is a Shakespeare among them.
It also shows the degree to which Iraq has forced the old curmudgeon to change his views of the world.The QDR predicts threats to America over the next two decades, and lists the things the Defence Department wants to counter them.
Feeling suddenly mortal, the old curmudgeon decides to accept the depraved offer made many years before by his longtime madam.
The old curmudgeon was talking about the smothering effects of parental duty on creative lives.
Johnson was dismayed, upon first seeing his results, to find himself a world-class curmudgeon, with a 12% score on agreeableness.
If only Ebenezer Scrooge had lived across town from a bigger rival, the ghosts of Christmas might have picked on the other guy, and left the poor curmudgeon to a good night's sleep.As protesters get better at running media campaigns, the second-best advantage may even be growing.
Despite his courtly manner in private, which so charmed Ms Albright, the mantle of statesman seems misapplied for the old curmudgeon.
He was a brooding curmudgeon who thundered against industry, progress and the young science that sought to explain them.
