Hello
What do you call someone who fails to keep his promise(s)?
Thank you.
I can’t think of a single word (other than ‘liar’ which doesn’t necessarily fit the bill well enough). I’d just call him someone who doesn’t keep his promises/ someone who breaks his promises.
A “flake” is a good approximation of this, though it is an informal slang word. Still, since it seems one of the few words to fit this defiition, maybe it will become more accepted someday.
Hmmm, to me that wouldn’t fit at all because ‘a flake’ / ‘a flaky person’ is someone who is a little silly and scatterbrained.
Hmm, I understand its meaning as being closer to the definitions on my link - here are a couple, along with usage examples:
[i]n. An unreliable person; someone who agrees to do something, but never follows through.
- John called in sick to work again today. He’s such a flake.
- Mary said she would do the research for our project, but it’s been a week and she hasn’t done a thing. She’s such a flake.
A Frequently unreliable person who says that they will do somthing or attend somthing, but never shows. Usually this is done without notice.
“Alex isn’t here yet, we need to start playing poker!.. I bet he flaked again”[/i]
It is true though that a flake is a person who fails to keep promises to do something, not just promises in general.
I agree there are elements of unreliability which could be akin to failing to keep promises, but I just don’t see that as a well-rounded explanation. I guess we’ll have to agree to differ.
Here are the definitions I’ve looked at:
Oxford Learner’s Dictionary
(North American English, informal) a person who is strange or unusual or who forgets things easily
› a person who you cannot trust to remember things or to do what they say they will do, or someone who behaves in a strange way
(Definition of flake noun (PERSON) from the Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)
Wordnet
oun: a person with an unusual or odd personality
Houghton Mifflin
Slang A somewhat eccentric person; an oddball.
MacMillan
an insulting word for someone who you think is strange or unusual, or who forgets things easily
a person with an unusual or odd personality
Collins
an eccentric, crazy, or unreliable person
Yes, we can agree to differ. I also think with more informal or slang-type words like flake, the meaning is a little less fixed and more fluid than that of more “respectable” words.
And of course there’s the ‘opposite side of the pond’ factor which rises its head from time to time.
Anyway, this is my favourite type of Flake:
