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I am looking to put a list of qualities together for an appraisal type system, with both positive and negative qualities. One of the words I want to place is to describe people who do not face up to problems, hope certain situations will simply go away by themselves, or bury their head in the sand. I couldn't think of a single word that could describe this. |
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Not an answer, I think, but "passive-aggressive" is a personality trait that often expresses itself as you say. |
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It's not a single word, but what about "being an ostrich"? Does it fit your request? Originally this word (N.B. ostrich) only indicated the bird, but not has become polysemous and one of its meanings is:
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I think the word you are looking for is "struthious". struthious • \STROO-thee-us\ • adjective : of or relating to the ostriches and related birds Example sentence: "The law is not so struthious as to compel a judge … to divorce himself or herself from common sense or to ignore what is perfectly obvious." (Hon. Bruce M. Selya, U.S. v. Sklar, U.S. Court of Appeals, 1st Circuit, 1990) Did you know? "Struthious" can be scientific and literal, or it can be figurative with the meaning "ostrich-like," as in our example sentence. The extended use suggests a tendency to bury one’s head in the sand like an ostrich. But do ostriches really do this? No -- the bird’s habit of lying down and flattening its neck and head against the ground to escape detection gave rise to the misconception. The word "struthious" has been fully visible in English since the 18th century. "Ostrich" is much older. Anglo-French speakers created "ostriz" from Vulgar Latin "avis struthio" ("ostrich bird"); Middle English speakers made it "ostrich" in the 13th century. Scientists seeking a genus word for ostriches turned back to Latin, choosing "struthio." |
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I think the term you're looking for here is self-delusion.
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I would describe such a person as "an avoider", and the behaviour as "avoiding" or "avoidance". Such a person may also be passive-aggressive, but they need not be: they may also be shy or diffident. |
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To be "oblivious" or actually, deliberately oblivious is a way of describing the behavior of burying your head in the sand. |
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I think 'ESCAPIST' would be an appropriate word. Also, 'OSTRICH' is a word which figuratively means a person who does not face up to the facts. I doubt if it can be used in informal context, though. |
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If you're looking for a behavioral term, consider "denial." |
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I would like to propose 'ostricize' as a term to mean 'burying your head in the sand' as in 'not facing up to reality'. 'Ostricize' would make a nice pairing for 'ostracize' and conjures up the proper image of an ostrich as suggested in 'burying your head in the sand'. Makes for a nice turn of words, too, like in 'Steven ostricized himself and refused to get out of bed'. |
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