Ineptitude
Brown, Charliemeek hero unable to kick a football, fly a kite, or win a baseball game. [Comics: “Peanuts” in Horn, 543]
incompetent commander of the minesweeper Caine. [Am. Lit. and Cinema: Wouk The Caine Mutiny in Benét, 157]
officious, inept constable. [Br. Lit.: Much Ado About Nothing]
deputy who can’t be trusted with loaded gun. [TV: “The Andy Griffith Show” in Terrace, I, 55–56]
bungling do-gooder. [TV: Terrace, I, 305–306]
whose every action reeks of incompetence. [TV: “Gilligan’s Island” in Terrace, I, 312–313]
called a “butcher” for his needless and bungled operations. [Am. Lit.: King’s Row; Magill I, 478]
soft-hearted, unkempt Viking whose raids yield minuscule plunder. [Comics: Horn, 299]
the ultimate in inept officers. [Comics: “Beetle Bailey” in Horn, 105–106]
bungler trying to find niche; always fails. [TV: “The Huckleberry Hound Show” in Terrace, I, 367–377]
naive official in charge of prisoner-of-war camp. [TV: “Hogan’s Heroes” in Terrace, I, 357–358]
chinless aide, bungles the simplest assignments. [Comics: Hagar the Horrible in Horn, 299]
actions are well-meant, but his continual interference ruins lovers’ plans. [Br. Drama: The Busybody in Barnhart, 185]
obliged to label painted objects for identification. [Span. Lit.: Don Quixote]
book stating, “in a Hierarchy, every employee tends to rise to the level of his incompetence.” [Am. Lit.: The Peter Principle, Payton, 522]
who can’t do anything right. [Comics: “The Sad Sack” in Horn, 595–596]
can’t live up to his name. [Am. Lit.: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz; Am. Cinema: Halliwell, 780]
bumbling assistant to Colonel Klink at Stalag 13. [TV: “Hogan’s Heroes” in Terrace, I, 357–358]
country doctor attends Tristram Shandy’s birth and crushes the infant’s nose with his forceps. [Br. Lit.: Tristram Shandy in Magill I, 1027]
inexperience makes their trip on the Thames become a series of misfortunes. [Br. Lit.: Jerome Three Men in a Boat in Magill II, 1018]
twin antitheses of “New York’s Finest.” [TV: “Car 54, Where Are You?” in Terrace, I, 138–139]
world’s most incompetent sheriff. [Comics: Horn, 673]
invents clever objects that never work. [Br. Lit.: Lewis Carroll Through the Looking-Glass]
Allusions—Cultural, Literary, Biblical, and Historical: A Thematic Dictionary. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.