Definitely not incompetent. I would use it in the context of someone who is, by no fault of their own, in a difficult position; subject to the whims of fate; for whom things seem to turn out for the worse.Hornbein said:I always thought it meant "incompetent," but the dictionary says "unlucky." Huh. I now say that hapless is used as a euphemism for incompetence.
As my distant ancestor, Angus McGoldstein would say....hutchphd said:but I'll just stick to the Yiddish. (Its my Scots-Irish roots.)
Hornbein said:I wonder how many other words I have the wrong definitions for?
Ah , Uncle Angus.....I do love the number of descriptors of (often deficient) humans that are availible in Yiddish. A sclemiel is hopeless a schlemazel hapless and we could all use a few more good mensch.Vanadium 50 said:As my distant ancestor, Angus McGoldstein would say....
Apparanetly hap is an old Norse word for good luck. The original meaning, therefore, is ill-starred or ill-fated.DaveC426913 said:I'm not sure you're wrong; I'd say you have a subset of the word use.
Finding oneself inexplicably lost in a foreign country with no money, contacts or shelter could describe a hapless fella who got there either by no fault of his own or by fault of his own.