4 ms·
No, I meant hapless, but as it's really used, not the obsolete definitions in most dictionaries. Hapless means bad stuff is happening to you. Helpless just me
by pg 18y ago
No, I meant hapless, but as it's really used, not the obsolete definitions in most dictionaries.
Hapless means bad stuff is happening to you. Helpless just means you couldn't defend yourself if it did.
- axod 18y agoBear in mind some countries still use those 'obsolete' definitions ;) Maybe it's a US/UK thing.
- swombat 18y agoThat's a very good point. Might be a US/UK thing. I definitely tend to use "hapless" as "unlucky"... "hapless souls" != "helpless souls".
- xenophanes 18y agoI'm from the US, and thought hapless meant, roughly, wandering about with no clear purpose, and consequently not achieving a good outcome. I find the dictionary definition very surprising.
- pg 18y agoI am a US/UK thing, so I feel like I'm in touch with how it's used in both places. Especially since it's mainly used in writing rather than speech.
- axod 18y ago>> "Hapless means bad stuff is happening to you." Fair enough, although I've never heard it used without meaning unlucky/cursed/doomed. In all the places I've seen it used it references some unlucky downtrodden person who has bad luck through no real fault of their own. I can't quite remember, but I'm sure it's used in quite a few cartoons.
- owinebarger 18y agoFor me, hapless has a connotation of clumsiness. The hapless person goes through life fumbling every opportunity. The opposite is a person adept at taking advantage of every opportunity. Relentlessly resourceful sounds like a person who makes opportunities or sees them where others don't.