Is it OK to be a Luddite?

[Doug Millison]

I'm curious about "cranky" as a descriptor for the Is It OK to be a Luddite?
essay.
What is it in the essay that calls up this response?



crank·y2 (krngk)
adj. Nautical crank·i·er, crank·i·est 
Liable to capsize. 

Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth
Edition
Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.


crank·y1 (krngk)
adj. crank·i·er, crank·i·est 
Having a bad disposition; peevish. 
Having eccentric ways; odd. 
Full of bends and turns; crooked: a cranky mountain road. 
Working unpredictably; erratic: a cranky old truck. 
Rickety; loose. 

cranki·ly adv. 
cranki·ness n. 

Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth
Edition
Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.



cranky \Crank"y\ (-?), a. 1. Full of spirit; crank.

2. Addicted to crotchets and whims; unreasonable in opinions; crotchety.
[Colloq.]

3. Unsteady; easy to upset; crank. 


Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.



cranky adj 1: (used of boats) inclined to heel over easily under sail [syn:
crank, tender, tippy] 2: easily irritated or annoyed; "an incorrigibly
fractious young man"; "not the least nettlesome of his countrymen" [syn:
fractious, irritable, nettlesome, peevish, peckish, pettish, petulant,
testy, tetchy, techy] 


Source: WordNet ® 1.6, © 1997 Princeton University