{"id":2928,"date":"2022-04-09T17:40:57","date_gmt":"2022-04-09T17:40:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/?p=2928"},"modified":"2022-04-09T17:41:50","modified_gmt":"2022-04-09T17:41:50","slug":"neer-do-well-meaning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/neer-do-well-meaning\/","title":{"rendered":"Ne'er Do Well - Meaning, Origin and Usage"},"content":{"rendered":"

Are you looking for an expression to use to describe someone going nowhere in life? You could use \u201cne\u2019er do well.\u201d This post unpacks the meaning and origin of this expression.<\/p>\n

Meaning<\/h2>\n

The expression \u201cne\u2019er do well<\/em>\u201d refers to a person that can\u2019t get ahead in life. It\u2019s a way of calling someone a \u201cfailure to launch<\/em>\u201d or defining someone that seems to always fall into self-destructive behavior that gets them nowhere in life.<\/strong><\/p>\n

For example, you could say a drug addict living in a tent on the corner is a ne\u2019er do well. There is no chance of them coming back to normal society, and if they do, it\u2019s going to be something of a miracle to keep them on the right path.<\/p>\n

Example Usage<\/h2>\n

\u201cThat kid is a real ne\u2019er do well, he\u2019s going nowhere in life, and it\u2019s only a matter of time before he goes to jail if he keeps this up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cClive is a ne\u2019er do well in life. The moment he has money, he\u2019s spending it down at the casino, and then he wonders why he can\u2019t pay his rent.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLeave him alone. He\u2019s just a ne\u2019er do well that\u2019s going nowhere, don\u2019t let him convince you of anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou known Jim, he\u2019s a ne\u2019er do well at anything, and that guy is going to be out on the street when his landlord finds out he skipped on the rent again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\" \"\"<\/p>\n

Origin<\/h2>\n

The origin of the expression \"ne'er do well\" comes from 13th century North England and Scotland. The earliest mention of the phrase in print comes from the playwright Allan Ramsay and his work, \"A collection of Scots proverbs,\" published in 1737.<\/p>\n

\"Some ha'e a hantla fauts [have many faults] , ye are only a ne'er-do-well.\"<\/p>\n

The expression \"ne'er-do-well\" was also a common saying in the early nineteenth-century Australasian penal colonies as a way to demean Irish and British men and boys with undesirable personalities and demeanors.<\/p>\n

These men were unable to gain recognition in normal society. As a result, they went to the penal colonies to rehabilitate themselves. The public would also refer to these men and boys as \"remittance men\" because they relied on support from their families, and they would use it to buy alcohol and women.<\/p>\n

The term would start to appear in travel journals in the mid-nineteenth century. George Hepburn used the expression in his diary writings in 1851 during his voyage to the city of Dunedin.<\/p>\n