A miser or cheapskate is a person who is reluctant to spend money, sometimes to the point of forgoing even basic comforts. The term derives from the Latin miser , meaning "poor" or "wretched," comparable to the modern word "miserable".

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Famous misers in history

• John Elwes (aka "Elwes the Miser"), was a noted British eccentric and miser, and believed to be the inspiration for the character of "Ebenezer Scrooge" in Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol . ^[1]
• Ephraim Lópes Pereira d'Aguilar, 2nd Baron d'Aguilar – an eccentric Jewish nobleman.
• Andrew Carnegie – Scottish born American industrialist, was notoriously "thrifty" until his old age, when he endowed numerous charities, including the New York Public Library. He was infamous for tipping a dime for services rendered, especially when a much larger tip was appropriate.
• The Collyer brothers of New York City, who earned notoriety for living in a filthy, booby-trapped home.
• Hetty Green – Cortland miser – was considered the world's wealthiest woman in 1916.
• Joseph Nollekens – Londoner generally considered to be the finest British sculptor of the late 18th century, he was also a notorious miser.
• Charles Huffman was a miser from the 1950s in the U.S. He was found dead on a Brooklyn, New York street with no money in his pockets. The police traced him to a $7 per week room that was filled with bank books and more than $500,000 in stock certificates. He was characterized by Franz Lidz, in The New York Times , on October 26, 2003.

List of notable misers in fiction

• Gus Jauregui - Mexican, Was invited to a bar, but didn't want to go because he said he had no money. A free beer was offered and gus accepted... then he pulled out his wallet and bought another beer with his own money.
• Ebenezer Balfour – Scottish, antagonist from Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson
• Jack Benny – Jewish American, title character of The Jack Benny Program
• Mr. Briggs – English, guardian of the title character in Cecilia by Frances Burney
• Norbert Colon – British, cartoon character from the adult-orientated comic Viz
• George Costanza – American, one of the main characters in Seinfeld , played by Jason Alexander
• Milburn Drysdale – Scottish American, played by Raymond Bailey in The Beverly Hillbillies TV sitcom
• Henry Earlforward – English, in Arnold Bennet's novel Riceyman Steps (1923)
• Fagin – Jewish Londoner, antagonist from Charles Dickens novel Oliver Twist
• Paulie Gualtieri – Italian-American, aka "Paulie Walnuts", DiMeo Crime family capo on The Sopranos
• Grandet – French, father of Eugenie Grandet , a novel by Balzac
• Harpagon – French, from Molière's play The Miser
• Eugene H. Krabs (aka Mr. Krabs) – Bikinian, voiced by Clancy Brown in SpongeBob SquarePants animations
• Otto Lidenbrock – German, professor in the novel Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne
• Silas Marner – English weaver, George Eliot (pen name of Mary Ann Evans) character
• Scrooge McDuck – Scottish American, Walt Disney character voiced by Alan Young; named after Ebenezer Scrooge
• Trina McTeague – Swiss German American, wife of the brute McTeague in Frank Norris' novel
• Fred Mertz – American, played by William Frawley on I Love Lucy
• Mean Mr. Mustard – Indian, title character in a Beatles' song from the album Abbey Road
• Plyushkin – Russian, character from Nikolai Gogol's novel Dead Souls
• Henry F. Potter – American, played by Lionel Barrymore in the film It's a Wonderful Life
• Séraphin Poudrier – French Canadian, in the novel Un homme et son péché by Québécois author Claude-Henri Grignon
• The Baron – Russian, a character from Alexander Pushkin's drama The Miserly Knight , also The Covetous Knight , (Russian: ?????? ??????, Skupóy rïtsár)
• Ebenezer Scrooge – English, protagonist in A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens character (based on real-life miser John Elwes)
• Shylock – Jewish Venetian, from The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare
• The Lady of Stavoren – Dutch, local legend
• Jason Pitts The Game (U.S. TV series)

Stereotypes

The stereotype of the "miser" is a wealthy, greedy man who lives miserably in order to save and increase his treasure. Other stereotypes are the "thrifty" Scotsmen and the "frugal" Dutch.

A related stereotype is the capitalist as portrayed in, for example, Soviet propaganda. Both are usually moneylenders or industrialists, in any case businessmen, who possess great personal wealth but aren't bothered by the fate of the poor. The difference is that, unlike the miser, the capitalist does spend his money and is typically portrayed leading a decadent life. Anti-Semites have portrayed Jews both as misers and/or capitalists.

See also

• Frugality
• Seven deadly sins
• Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder

References

1. The Letters of Charles Dickens by Charles Dickens, Madeline House, Graham Storey, Margaret Brown, Kathleen Tillotson, & The British Academy (1999) Oxford University Press to George Holsworth, 18 Jan. 1865 pp.7