Timeline for What do I call a person who is well qualified but has failed in his life?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
28 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| May 27, 2017 at 3:55 | answer | added | aparente001 | timeline score: 5 | |
| May 26, 2017 at 13:55 | comment | added | English Student | OP, if you are bold enough, you might simply consider the word 'failure' as in "The Failure - a story about a man who is highly educated, but a failure"-- it would be a provocative title and the reader would be interested to read it and find out why? -- you can explore many social and psychological issues and even bring out how this person is not a failure in a spiritual sense, etc. I SAY BOLD because some people don't like to use negative titles like 'failure.' | |
| May 26, 2017 at 13:50 | review | First posts | |||
| May 26, 2017 at 13:55 | |||||
| May 26, 2017 at 13:47 | comment | added | English Student | @Mitch I think OP simply wants a term that describes such a person. As in, "Mr.A has a Ph.D but is struggling for a living as a small shopkeeper. He is a ________________" This term might be the topic of the story and possibly also its title. | |
| May 26, 2017 at 13:46 | history | reopened |
Dan Bron Mari-Lou A Mitch Hank Drew |
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| May 26, 2017 at 13:30 | comment | added | Mitch | @user237875 ?? That's not a sentence with a slot. Or is 'this' where you want the word to go? It would help us a lot if you could give a sentence where you expected term would fi. | |
| May 26, 2017 at 13:24 | history | edited | user237875 | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| May 26, 2017 at 13:01 | comment | added | Mitch | Can you give a sentence with a slot for this word? Or do you just want to say "This person is a X"/"This person is Y"? | |
| S May 26, 2017 at 12:59 | history | edited | Mitch | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
Added 2 tags of which single-word-request tends to encourage certain very creative members to take note!
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| S May 26, 2017 at 12:59 | history | suggested | English Student | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
Added 2 tags of which single-word-request tends to encourage certain very creative members to take note!
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| May 26, 2017 at 12:43 | review | Suggested edits | |||
| S May 26, 2017 at 12:59 | |||||
| May 26, 2017 at 12:27 | comment | added | English Student | @Dan Bron only the hypothetical person's back story can reveal exactly 'why' he is struggling for a living running a small shop in spite of having a PhD -- depending on whether he was incompetent, unfortunate or recalcitrant! Certainly the market cannot be 'blamed' unless there is a genuine shortage of opportunities. | |
| May 26, 2017 at 12:23 | comment | added | Dan Bron | @user237875 Ok, fair enough. I've edited your post to reflect all this additional information you've kindly provided in the comments. Use the updated question as a guide for your next question. The more detail you provide up front, in the actual question and not comments, and the more clearly you present it (including standard orthography, spacing, spelling, punctuation, formatting and so on), the faster and better answers you'll get. | |
| May 26, 2017 at 12:20 | history | edited | Dan Bron | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| May 26, 2017 at 12:17 | comment | added | user237875 | @DanBron leave the blaming part because it is for a story. I just need the term for that specific case. A person who has failed to achieve success despite his high educational attainment. | |
| May 26, 2017 at 12:06 | review | Reopen votes | |||
| May 26, 2017 at 13:46 | |||||
| May 26, 2017 at 12:04 | comment | added | Dan Bron | So not being able to keep a shop going is his failure but not being able to find a way to earn a return on his degree "because of lack of opportunity for that specific expertise" is the market's failure? That seems inconsistent. Why blame him for one but not the other? Why blame the market for one but not the other? | |
| May 26, 2017 at 12:02 | history | edited | user237875 | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| May 26, 2017 at 11:57 | comment | added | user237875 | @EnglishStudent Yes! you absolutely got me right | |
| May 26, 2017 at 11:55 | history | edited | user237875 | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| May 26, 2017 at 11:50 | history | edited | herisson | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| May 26, 2017 at 11:47 | comment | added | English Student | @RegDwigHt I make the educated guess that 'poor shopkeeper' is used within a background of Indian English to mean impoverished small trader, which is apparently a failure (according to OP) for somebody with the highest qualifications. However native speakers of English reading 'poor shopkeeper' might think (as I first did, though I am Indian) that the hypothetical person failed at some business venture. OP wants a single word for a person who is a material or financial failure despite the highest educational qualifications. I am only trying to explain the context of 'poor shopkeeper' here. | |
| May 26, 2017 at 11:44 | comment | added | user237875 | I mentioned poor alongside shopkeeper.A person who is running a shop of low level and cannot even arrange to get the basic facilities for himself and his family despite having a well qualified PHD degree.Now is that information enough? | |
| May 26, 2017 at 11:00 | comment | added | Spagirl | @RegDwigнt To be fair, the text says 'a poor shopkeeper', which I took to mean someone who had failed to make a go of shopkeeping, but it is ambiguous. Perhaps the OP could sharpen up the question? | |
| May 26, 2017 at 10:47 | comment | added | RegDwigнt | As an aside, it's quite an attitude to regard being a shopkeeper as "failing at life". Especially if someone has actual "certain reasons" to be a shopkeeper. In my ideal world, everyone has a PhD. In your ideal world, there aren't even shopkeepers. Sucks. | |
| May 26, 2017 at 10:42 | comment | added | RegDwigнt | You can call them any number of things. If you don't know what to call them given all the additional details and context that you have, we certainly don't know what to call them when said details and context are withheld from us. | |
| May 26, 2017 at 10:41 | history | closed | RegDwigнt | Needs details or clarity | |
| May 26, 2017 at 10:38 | history | asked | user237875 | CC BY-SA 3.0 |