lackadaisical
adjective

- lacking enthusiasm and effort

Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary

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ORIGIN

Lackadaisical has a surprisingly melodramatic origin. It descends from the archaic exclamation "lack-a-day!" (a shortened form of "alack-a-day!"), a cry of woe and regret from medieval England.

The word "alack" emerged in Middle English, where lack carried weightier meanings than today's simple "absence"—it signified failure, fault, disgrace, even shame. Thus "alack-a-day!" literally meant "Shame upon this day!" or "Woe to the day that has brought this misfortune upon me!" Picture a medieval merchant discovering his shipment lost at sea, or a courtier learning of some catastrophe.

Over the centuries, this anguished cry softened and weakened. By the 1700s, it had become almost fashionable affectation—something languid aristocrats might sigh while fanning themselves. The variant "lackadaisy" appeared around 1768, and shortly after, the adjective "lackadaisical" (1775) emerged, meaning "lacking in life, spirit, or determination."

The irony is perfect: a word born from desperate lamentation transformed into a description of people who can't even muster enough energy to care about anything—the ultimate linguistic journey from tragedy to apathy.

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THE LACKADAISICAL ENGLISHMAN

Englishman Paul Railton (23), was prosecuted, fined £66, and ordered not to drive for six months, after he was seen “walking” his dog by driving slowly along with the leash held out the car window.

Railton pleaded guilty to “not being in proper control of a vehicle,” his lawyer said his client acknowledged that walking his dog in this was “was a silly thing to do,” and conceded that there was “an element of laziness” involved.

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SYNONYMS

apathetic, asleep at the wheel, couldn’t-care-less, disinterested, don’t give a damn, drippy, going through the motions, indifferent, languorous, languid, lethargic, listless, not bothered, sluggardly, slumberous, snail-paced, tortoise-like, without a care in the world, work-shy

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PRACTICE OWAD in an English conversation, say something like:

“These days one can’t afford to be LACKADAISICAL about data security.”

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Paul Smith