Timeline for Is there a word/ phrase to describe somebody who has devoted their life to practising something but is still not very good at it?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
7 events
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| Oct 15, 2017 at 4:06 | history | edited | hlecuanda | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
Punctuation and clarification. added Quote markup
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| Oct 12, 2017 at 14:28 | comment | added | Christian Palmer | I think "stubbornly unaccomplished" adds a little bit of cheek to your excellent answer | |
| Oct 12, 2017 at 2:54 | comment | added | English Student | Very true @hlecuanda. I know a teacher who used to say, speak nice or be silent. Communication is the primary purpose of language. A secondary purpose is definition and clarification of concepts. In this particular case, the purpose wasn't communication and especially not criticism of real persons, but that I was seeking a word or phrase which clarifies my own internal concept of a person who devoted his life to something and is still not good enough -- how he will feel and how others will think of him -- for which your suggestion 'unaccomplished' is a neutral description that fits the case. | |
| Oct 12, 2017 at 2:38 | comment | added | hlecuanda | My pleasure! I was a bit unsettled because many of the answers, although precise and correct, completely disregard the idea that language is used mainly to communicate with other people. With the exception of technical fields, where being correct, precise and unambiguous is paramount, we should take care which words we choose to communicate, so as to not sow discord, resentment or hurtfulness. There are plenty of people in positions of power already taking care of that, so why join their destructive efforts? The proverbial Grandma's advise applies here: "If you can't say something nice...." =) | |
| Oct 12, 2017 at 1:47 | comment | added | English Student | Thanks for suggesting a very neutral term @hlecuanda! 'Unaccomplished' really fits the case in question. May I also clarify that this is not meant to talk about an actual person (and I have no relative who is a musician) but meant to refer to the generic case of people who devote their life to learning something (medicine/ law/ music/ politics) but they are still not very good at it. Music was just the example thst motivated my question, and your answer is very much appreciated. | |
| Oct 12, 2017 at 0:05 | history | edited | hlecuanda | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
added 146 characters in body
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| Oct 11, 2017 at 23:54 | history | answered | hlecuanda | CC BY-SA 3.0 |