A "negative Nancy" (sometimes modified to "negative Nelly") is a person who's endlessly pessimistic about everything. There are other phrases that connote a pessimistic outlook, and one of these also has a feminine bent to it. So if you want a female literary character who makes pessimistic pronouncements who's viewed as "foolish" (as no one takes her seriously), "Cassandra" may be your best bet. The phrase "Cassandra complex" is in current (if somewhat obscure) usage to describe a person prone to making dire and pessimistic predictions, especially ones that no one else takes seriously. As a symptom, it is commonly seen in patients with schizophrenia and schizotypal personality disorder, and is traditionally considered a negative symptom. See: (metaphor)Ĭassandra was cursed with the gift of prophecy (generally of the doom and gloom pessimistic variety) but she was also cursed so that no one would take her seriously. Nancy jeopardized her life but saved a drowning child. Synonyms: Hazard Jeopardize Venture Peril Danger Imperil Stake Endanger Contextual Examples: The ascent of the Mount Everest was a great hazard for the early mountaineer. It's not quite the opposite of Pollyanna but you might want to look at Cassandra from Greek mythology. Risk ( Noun ) To succeed in business, one must be prepared to run risks. "Only a _ would think human beings can't figure out a way to solve the issues that we face." The term must involve a character from literature, and must be in a form that would fill in the following blank: Yet it feels like there must be such a name just beyond the veil of cobwebs blocking my memory. I've wracked my brain to come up with a correspondingly pessimistic term, based on a character in literature, but I'm coming up empty. "Only a Pollyanna would think the climate change problem will solve itself over time." (By the way, the term echoes Voltaire's Pangloss, a character from Candide "who views a situation with unwarranted optimism.") The name has come to meanĪ person regarded as being foolishly or blindly optimistic. The term "Pollyanna" came into the lexicon with the 1913 publication of Pollyanna, a novel by Eleanor H. mainly American offensive an offensive word for a man who is gay. Comments on this question have been disabled, but it is still accepting new answers and other interactions. mainly American offensive an offensive word for a gay man.
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