William Watson: A bad year for humbug thanks to White House Scrooge
Despite the Dickensian deficiencies of his personality and motivations, Trump accelerated the pushback against woke-ism on all fronts
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I learn on the internet (yes, that’s almost a contradiction in terms) that the word “humbug” first appeared in print in the 1750s and that its use peaked in 1862 at 1.3 hits per million words. In recent years, it’s still used a respectable 0.3 times per million.
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Most of those uses are likely around Christmastime, thanks to Charles Dickens making “Bah! Humbug!” famous in A Christmas Carol, published Dec. 19, 1843, and never out of print since. The first edition of the book, a run of 6,000, sold out by Christmas Eve of that year. Imagine being among the first people ever to read what has become, scriptures aside, the classic Christmas story! It was only offered to a privileged few at first, the original gilt-edged, leather-bound version retailing for the modern equivalent of more than£30 ($55). When a cheap bootlegged version appeared,........





















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