Word help
Is there a word for a man who blames others for his bad luck and failures?
sanjay
Expert
4 answers 
So far as I know, there is no one-word noun that describes this type of person, with the possible, but uncommonly-used, exceptions of scapegoater or blamer. Other noun phrases that describe this quality are [someone] who plays the victim, or [someone] who passes the buck.
I hope this helps.
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answered Jan 27 at 12:35
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If you want to start a new paragraph in this comment box, hit 'enter' twice.
For some reason the first one never takes.
add commentBlamer is good. I've also seen 'projectionist' from the psychological term 'projection', but that is awkward. People like this have sociopathic tendencies, but sociopath carries more faults than just blaming others. I know people like this, and I call them seldom.
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answered Jan 27 at 14:47
Lewis Neidhardt
Expert
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This condition is a defense mechanism called Psycholocical Projection. In Dr. Karl R. Wolfe's blog True Silence he references Sigmund Freud's description of this condition as follows, "... a psychological defense mechanism whereby one “projects” one’s own undesirable thoughts, motivations, desires, feelings, and so on onto someone else..." So, I'm not sure if this makes them a "Projector" or some other term. I would look to the field of psychology to look for a coined term. I hope this gets you closer to your answer.
~J
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edited Jan 27 at 16:17
J. Andrew Merschat
New member
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I agree that 'projector' is used in psychotherapeutic discourse but the term has not entered the everyday lexicon.
@Shawn Mooney. Thanks for the comment. I assume you see where I was going with this. Trying to give Sanjay a place to look and find a better term than mine... hence the quotes. I see @Lewis Neidhardt is going the same place I am with this that I am.
add commentThe description fits an alcoholic, but an alcoholic doesn't describe everyone like that. A conspiracy theorist often blames the government for bad things that happen.
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answered Jan 27 at 13:17
Patty T
Grammarly Fellow
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Hmm, I think 'alcoholic' is much, much too specific; certainly, a common characteristic of unrecovered alcoholics is that they tend to blame everyone else for their problems, but the noun 'alcoholic' would never, ever be used in a general sense to describe the type of personality Sanjay is asking about, would it? Similarly, a 'conspiracy theorist' is also extremely specific, although not perhaps in an American context, where the phrase would describe 90% of the members of theRepublican party, who believe Obama stole the election, is secretly a Muslim and was bornin Hawaii. That was almost a joke, but not quite. Seriously. neither 'alcoholic' nor 'conspiracy theorist' is general enough to define the type of person who habitually blames others. How about'Mitt Romney'? (I am joking...) Pending other suggestions, I think my suggested phrases are the best so far...
I f-ing hate the comment function on grammarly.com! At least on my computer, the ability totype extends far beyond what is visible on my monitor, and so I try to compensate by usingthe 'enter' button (a hard return) to keep my entire text visible to me while I am writing and editing. Despite all that, I still see spacing and other embarrassing errors after I see the comment displayed. I hate that! Maybe I should risk downvoting and post comments as responses? :)
I agree on all points of both comments, Shawn. One of the crappy things about the format on this forum is that you can't easily have conversation on a topic. You answered Sanjay's question quite well. I was just musing out loud, trying to think of who those type of people might be. Just like using a thesaurus, one word might lead you to another word, which might lead you finally to the word you are looking for. Apparently at least two people think that was a bad idea. Either that, or I offended an alcoholic and a conspiracy theorist. ;-) My screen does the same thing in the comments field as I typ. I have to trust that I hit the right keys when I go beyond the right side of the field.
As an alcoholic conspiracy theorist, I took great exception to the aspersions you cast on my
character, Patty!
(Just kidding)
Shawn
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