Malinger (verb) – To fake illness in order to avoid work or duty.
Coming from the French word malingre (which means sickly), this word attracted my attention because I have, quiet frankly, never heard of it in my life. Another studious kid I talked to had the same response. Says this kid,
"I don't know what to think."After much pleading, he continued by saying,
"is it someone who does something bad."I could tell what was said next but then this kid would lose credibility.
After looking up its meaning, I started to think of those I know who malinger for their own benefit. Many schoolmates miss school to avoid a test. I’m sure we all know who they are. They are not necessarily slackers, but they have let the troubles of work take over their duty to do the work.
Being a Type A person, I can’t imagine doing this. By avoiding the “work or duty,” one essentially makes it harder on themselves later. It seems very conceivable that this work will pile up or at the very least, make it harder on those around you. Sadly, some have no problem with this.
In case you interested in boosting your vocabulary further, the word, malinger, is similar to skulk (which describes people who avoid work or hide out of cowardice).
I have two questions for my readers.
1) Have you ever tried malingering?
2) What do you think about malingering?
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1. Oh i've definitely tried it, but it has never worked.
ReplyDelete2. It's a great thing under certain circumstances. If you need an extension it's great.
It reminds me of the word "malignant" which means dangerous to the health. The two words are sort of similar, and I can't stop classifying them under the same category.