Two Antiphons; No Bah-Humbug

Bah-humbug! Of all the words associated with Christmas, “bah-humbug” is hands-down my favorite, not because I like the sentiment, but because the word is just plain fun. It even has an interesting history. “Bah” first came on the scene in the year 1600 (as did the words: barky, batty, and beachy). It was used, as it is used today, to express disdain or contempt. “Hum,” in Old English, meant “to deceive.” Now, we could have guessed that. What do you do when you don’t know the words? You pretend you know them by humming. That’s right, humming, besides being extremely annoying, is a form of deception. And the word “bug” seems to be related to the same word from which we get the term “bogeyman.” Put it together and “bah-humbug” referred to some sort of contemptuous fake bogeyman or some unfavorable commotion that was pure hooey, hokum, humbuggery. But that’s