Today I was scolded for leaving my access card at home for the second time. From my point of view, this causes about 10 seconds of work for the people at the reception. When I asked why this would be such a big deal, I got only evasive answers pointing to policies and power plays … Read more
What would be a clear and concise way to describe someone whose ambitions or aspirations far exceed his means or abilities? Answer “His reach exceeds his grasp.” This comes from Robert Browning’s poem ‘Andrea del Sarto‘ which contains the lines: Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, Or what’s a heaven for? AttributionSource … Read more
Imagine this scenario: Someone claims to have been blessed with unspecified special powers by God or something similar (a self-proclaimed prophet, a fortune-teller, a psychic) . A row of people forms before their door who believe that person might help them. What do you call these people? The word beggar, due to its connotations, seems … Read more
What is an adjective for genuinely thinking oneself as skillful or knowing a lot about a particular subject but is actually inexperienced? Example: Jack thought knew a lot in this area, but he actually didn’t. Jack was ____. This is different from the question What is a word or phrase for someone who professes to … Read more
Is there an equivalent of "workaholic" (a person who feels compelled to work excessively) to describe a person who feels compelled to identify with raising a family in a similarly excessive fashion? Note the emphasis on the word excessively, which means this word tends to have–just has workholic does–a connotation of disapproval. The word doesn’t … Read more
A killer is a person that has already killed someone. The term i’m looking for is someone who wants to kill people but never does. Only has a tendency to do so, or wants to kill them but never really does. Answer Homicidal ideation is a term describing the mental disorder such a person suffers … Read more
What is the idiom/expression for a person who gets owned/caught red-handed for his logical fallacy/mistake/theft and knows he is wrong but has the tenacity to show as if nothing is wrong? In fact, he ridicules the corrector as if he were absurd to accuse an infallible person. Answer I think you may use the idiomatic … Read more
Okay, So I am in often in a conversation with this person. But I have now realized that all our talks have been futile because he keeps on repeating the same topics. Topics I have talked about before. I just want to tell him you are ‘x word‘ and don’t want to continue having conversations … Read more
The best word I can think of to describe the person would be to call them a martyr, but I do not know if that is the proper use of the word, or if there is a better one. I say martyr because someone with a martyr complex is someone who uses their suffering and … Read more
I’m stuck finding a word to use for somebody who thinks he has tech skills because he can use the latest trendy mobile apps, though in fact he knows nothing about technology (e.g. how an app is made: how to create it). Answer A person who knows how to use a fancy state-of-the-art app with … Read more
