Sunday, October 20, 2019
Feckless
Feckless Feckless Feckless By Maeve Maddox A reader has called my attention to a surge in the use of the word feckless in the American press. A Web search garners 1,550,000 hits. Feckless derives from feck, a dialect word possibly formed by a linguistic process called aphaeresis: ââ¬Å"omission of one or more sounds or letters from the beginning of a word.â⬠Examples of aphaeresis include: squire from esquire and coon from raccoon. Feck, which is documented as early as the 14th century, is probably a shortening of the noun effect. Feck is ââ¬Å"energy and gumption.â⬠A person with feck gets things done. When used to refer to a thing, the adjective feckless means, ââ¬Å"valueless, futile, or feeble.â⬠Used to refer to a person or a personââ¬â¢s actions, feckless means, ââ¬Å"lacking energy; weak, helpless.â⬠In modern usage, feckless is used chiefly as a synonym for irresponsible or shiftless. This latter use of feckless is especially common in the British press in headlines and articles relating to social welfare programs: Britains most feckless father? Unemployed dad of 10 is expecting FOUR more children ââ¬âThe Telegraph. Lets get the feckless to buy food not fags and booze ââ¬âMailOnline. No one would consider her [a young unmarried mother of four children, by two different men, and expecting her fifth] to be anything other than feckless and irresponsible. ââ¬âThe Independent. The Oxfam report ââ¬â ââ¬Å"Walking The Breadline,â⬠published in June this year, states that half a million people in the UK rely on food banks. Yet the Government puts their fingers in their ears, blaming feckless parenting and scroungers. ââ¬âThe Guardian. Here are some examples in contexts other than discussions of welfare recipients: Given their feckless track record, would you really trust Apple with (even more of) your digital life? ââ¬âSource uncertain; the comment appears on numerous sites. One striking feature in all three works is how badly the men do; how feckless they are, how treacherous, weepy, self-obsessed and violent. ââ¬âReview of a collection of three short stories by Bernhard Schlink. Because the usual use of feckless is to describe people or actions lacking in will or responsible purpose, some of the examples I found left me a bit puzzled: Delete a Feckless Effect from Filler Edgar Steeleââ¬â¢s Feckless Racism Here are some sure fire home remedies and tips to get rid of your feckless and lifeless hair. The opposite of fecklessââ¬âfeckful (powerful, effective, efficient, vigorous)ââ¬âis used seriously in an OED citation dated 1568: I culd nocht cumwithout sum gret and fecfull purpois. [I could not comewithout some great and feckful purpose.] Anyone using the positive adjective feckful nowadays would be aiming for humorous effect, as in this 1990 quotation from The New York Times: The unfailingly feckless Bertie Wooster and his valet, the formidably feckful Jeeves. Sometimes feckless is the perfect choice, but sometimes not. Here is a selection of words that might serve better in some contexts: good-for-nothing idle indolent inept irresponsible lazy neââ¬â¢er-do-well no-account slothful sorry useless worthless David Auburn, playwright and contributor to the Oxford American Writerââ¬â¢s Thesaurus, says this about feckless: The obscene-sounding first syllable gives punch and an air of harsh condemnation to the synonym for irresponsible, conveying ââ¬Å"not merely irresponsible but also unforgivably blithe, and in oneââ¬â¢s blitheness, causing great harm.â⬠Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Coordinating vs. Subordinating ConjunctionsRules for Capitalization in TitlesParticular vs. Specific
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