Date:    Tue, 14 Apr 1998 10:08:26 -0700
<br>From:    "A. Vine" <avine[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]ENG.SUN.COM>
<br>Subject: modern use of "gruntled"
<br>
<br>>From the Word du jour email dl:
<br>
<br>gruntled (GRUN-tl'd) (adj.)
<br>
<br>  -Definitions(s): 1. pleased; satisfied; contented (the opposite of
<br>     *disgruntled*)
<br>
<br>  -Samples:
<br>
<br>        "An action against a barrister for negligence. . .
<br>         would open the door to every disgrunted client.
<br>         Now gruntled clients are rare in the criminal
<br>         courts."
<br>            --*New Statesman*, 11 Nov. 1966
<br>
<br>        "The Agency has a nice file of gruntled exes
<br>         who have found their talents in a great variety
<br>         of jobs."
<br>            --E. McGirr, *Hearse With Horses*, 1967
<br>
<br>  -Side Dishes: Gruntled has a curious history.  *Gruntle* originally meant
<br>     "to grunt" (from Middle English *gruntelen*); then through the late 16th
<br>     century it was used to mean "to grumble or complain."  Thus, *gruntled*
<br>     then would have meant essentially the same as our modern *disgruntled*,
<br>     "to become discontented."  In 1938, however, P.G. Wodehouse revived the
<br>     word and gave it a modern spin, deciding that it made a nice counterpart
<br>     to *disgruntled*:
<br>
<br>        "He spoke with a certain what-is-it in his
<br>         voice, and I could see that, if not actually
<br>         disgruntled, he was far from being gruntled."
<br>            --P.G. Wodehouse, *Code of Woosters*, 1938
<br>
<br>Copyright 1998 Tim Bottorff
<br>
<br>Can anyone confirm P.G. Wodehouse as the origin of the modern use of this term?
<br>
<br>Andrea
<br>