codger

old codger

An affectionate or playfully derisive term for a cantankerous, eccentric old man. My grandpa is such an old codger, but we all love his gruff ways.

See also: codger, old

old coot

An eccentric or irritable older person, especially a man, whose views or attitudes are considered boring or old-fashioned. Ah, don't mind that old coot. He's just cantankerous because he isn't up to speed with the way of today's youth. I've fully embraced that I'm going to be a stodgy old coot when I get older.

See also: coot, old

old fogy

An older person, especially one whose views or attitudes are considered boring or old-fashioned. Ah, don't mind that old fogy. He's just cantankerous because he isn't up to speed with the way of today's youth. I've fully embraced that I'm going to be a stodgy old fogy when I get older.

See also: fogy, old

Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

old codger/coot/fogy

Unflattering names for an elderly man. Old codger, dating from the mid-1700s, may imply that he is testy or crusty, whereas old coot, from the mid-1800s, indicates he is silly or ignorant. As for an old fogy, he may be hidebound in tradition. None of these is a desirable epithet, or, as Terrel Bell put it, “There’s only one thing worse than an old fogy, and that’s a young fogy” (commencement address at Longwood College, Virginia, June 17, 1985). A newer and decidedly vulgar synonym is old fart, dating from the first half of the 1900s. Phil Donahue said it of himself on his NBC television show in 1992: “I didn’t always look like an old fart like this.”

See also: codger, coot, fogy, old

The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer