Not only is October 15th the final day of National Pet Peeve Week, it is also designated National Grouch Day. Don't complain to us; we're only here to talk about some terms for folks who celebrate Pet Peeve Week all year long.

We begin with grouch. In addition to its "grumbler" sense, grouch also names "a fit of bad temper" and "a grudge or complaint." Grouch is believed to have developed as an alteration of grouch, an old term that still exists as a dialectal synonym of grudge.

Although the word grouch has only been around since the late 1800s, habitually irritable, bad-tempered, or complaining types seemingly have been around forever. Back in the 14th century, such discontented sorts were dubbed carpers and complainers. The 16th century saw the birth of such negative nicknames as grumbler, crab, faultfinder, and malcontent.

Things then remained quiet on the querulous front for a few hundred years, with such slim pickings as crosspatch (17th century) and killjoy (18th century).

Coinages cranked up again in the crotchety community of the 19th century. Not only was grouch coined then, but so were the terms bellyacher, grouser, and grump.

Perhaps folks are tired of coming up with terms for the tetchy, so far, our century has added only one name for members of the fretful few: sourpuss.