From wikipedia:

Torvalds sarcastically quipped about the name git (which means "unpleasant person" in British English slang): "I'm an egotistical bastard, and I name all my projects after myself. First 'Linux', now 'git'."

He should have chosen 'Freax', it's a much better name

A kvetch. If you need a word for something/someone annoying, unreasonable, unpleasant, lazy, cantankerous or absurd, Yiddish is here for you.

I always learned kvetch to mean a complainer (or the act of complaining itself). I don't think this carries with it the implication that the person is unpleasant, much less lazy or absurd.

Yiddish has some of the best words for describing people and their mannerisms, some of which have been fully adopted by English, like klutz and (a little less common) chutzpah.

TIL Yiddish has a word that accurately describes a majority of HN users

I'm also fond of "[obdurate|inveterate] pedant"

In German, "Quatsch" means nonsense.

I always thought it is related to "quetschen" (squeezing). A kvetsh is somebody who is being squeezed and winces or squeaks (and incidentally, to squeak=quietschen).

Oh, you’re absolutely right. Oxford dictionary says:

> 1960s: from Yiddish kvetsh (noun), kvetshn (verb), from Middle High German quetschen, literally ‘crush’.

I thought of the same word, Quatsch. The Yiddish word probably shares the same roots.

Curmudgeon, Naysayer, Grouch

> Curmudgeon

That's it. Thanks.

Just be aware that, at least in British English, whilst "curmudgeon" can be used in an exclusively negative sense, it can also carry some "cuddlier" overtones and be used as something of a term of endearment.

That's a fancy way of saying "realist."

Not an adjective though.

curmudgeonly?

> Curmudgeon

How sexist! Curmudgeon / termagant.

I asked ChatGPT. Response: A person who unnecessarily complains and is grumpy might be described as a "grouch," "crank," "curmudgeon," or "grump." These words suggest someone who is habitually irritable and unhappy, and tends to complain or find fault with things unnecessarily.

The act of always complaining or otherwise being difficult is often called being cantankerous, though there isn't a direct noun for that.

There are a few words that might fit what you are looking for, of which I think the best is “curmudgeon”, and for lexical flexibility you can act curmudgeonly or be curmudgeonous. I'm not sure that curmudgeonous is a “real” word, spellcheckers refuse it and I rarely if ever see it elsewhere, but I like it as it essentially means the same as cantankerous but with less of a sharp edge - the difference between just naturally being difficult (curmudgeonous) and actively trying to be difficult (cantankerous).

Both are often associated with older people more than younger, though in the fast moving world of tech you don't have to be very old to appear to have ancient views!

you're such a cantanker!

old fart, pessimistic, realistic, comfort zone

slightly related: I like the definition of "programmer" at urban dictionary:

A person who is paid to professionally scream at a computer.

Programmer: "AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-oh, it works."

> A person who is paid to professionally scream at a computer.

Sounds like that was probably written by somebody who used to work either with me, or with one or two of my former colleagues.

Cantankerous. It's basically my nickname.

In Dutch I would say 'zeurkous' (literally translated 'whiny stocking') meaning something like 'grouch'

Miesepeter, if you like to borrow from german

Somebody once called me irksome which I rather took as a compliment and I think is great for this definition.

ornery (comparative ornerier, superlative orneriest) (Appalachia) Cantankerous, stubborn, disagreeable.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ornery

curmudgeon

I'm a crochety old grumpy greybeard, now get off my lawn! ;-)

Nerfbait, if Nerf guns are allowed at the office.

Honestly, just call me by my name ffs...

Experienced

Goblin

These days it's been superseded by the idea of "going full goblin" or "goblin mode"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goblin_mode

Crochety might also work.

Hey, that's me!

investor

Cynic

Grinch

A Grump

Whinger.

grouch

disagreeable