crapehanger means A pessimist or doomsayer. It carries an Arena rating of 1721, earned across 6 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, crapehanger ranks #415 of 17,163 for Funniest Words, #689 of 17,132 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound, #697 of 17,143 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words, #1,470 of 17,105 for Most Storied Words.
Why “crapehanger” is a great word
A person who habitually takes a pessimistic or gloomy view of things. From *crape* (a variant of *crepe*, a crinkled fabric used in mourning garments) and *hanger* (one who hangs something), alluding to a person metaphorically associated with the black crepe hung as a sign of mourning, first attested in American English around 1915–1920. Unlike a "pessimist," a general philosophical stance, or a "killjoy," a mere spoiler of fun, a crapehanger is a professional mourner for the future. You see them in the furrowed brow that predicts rain for the picnic, in the sigh that greets any good news with a list of qualifying disasters, in the soul who walks through a sunlit garden and sees only the coming frost—a quiet testament to the human talent for rehearsing loss long before the curtain falls.
Etymology
From crape + hanger, from the use of that material in making mourning garments.
noun
- A pessimist or doomsayer.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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