"Do-gooders" are not people who do good

To call someone a do-gooder is not a compliment, because "do-gooder" has come to mean NOT simply "someone who does good", but to have a whole bundle of pejorative overtones associated with it - naive, busy-body, interfering, self-righteous, misguided etc etc

OED online - "a well-meaning but unrealistic or interfering philanthropist or reformer. "

So it's not really a good point to criticise someone for using "do-gooder" as a term of abuse, because rather sadly that is exactly what it has become

I blame Dickens for ridiculing Mrs Jellyby

Posted By: Old Git on March 1st 2013 at 11:38:23

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