Sep 6, 2012 21:07
11 yrs ago
1 viewer *
English term

gullible or innocent

English Other General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters
How can I describe a little girl who dyes her hair because a salesman tells her that it will look great! She´s got red hair and wants it to be dark. She gets the product and puts it on. Unfortunately, it turned green!

Discussion

Crystal Samples Sep 6, 2012:
Gullible implies stupidity. Innocent implies being defenseless. Naive implies lacking life experience or having idealistic expectations with regard to human behavior (young people are often described as naive).
Patsy Florit (asker) Sep 6, 2012:
What´s the difference between gullible, innocent and naive? Why do you think "naive" is more suitable here?

Responses

+3
34 mins
Selected

gullible

To me, that scenario just about sums up being gullible. Gullible people will fall for anything, every time. Naive people like to hope for the best, like to believe people, so they will be swayed by a salesman, but they'll still have a bit of independent thought. Innocent is simply what it says - innocence may lead them to believe what someone says, or it may not. Depends how gullible they are!

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Note added at 39 mins (2012-09-06 21:47:03 GMT)
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Of course, it depends on how young this person is - we all go through a naive period, but some very young kids have already gone through that to become quite streetwise. Should a "little girl" be making this decision off her own bat?

Of course, if this is the same one who made a medicine cake (see another KudoZ question), then she's clearly very stupid and perhaps we should be looking for different adjectives.
Peer comment(s):

agree Lara Barnett
1 hr
Thanks
agree Yvonne Gallagher : yep, it seems to me she was stupid enough to fall for the salesman's blatherr
2 hrs
Thanks
agree kmtext
9 hrs
Thanks
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "This will do. Thanks"
+3
13 mins

Naive

If I had to choose between gullible and innocent in this circumstance, I would choose gullible, but I prefer the word naive for the scenario you just described.
Peer comment(s):

agree Charles Davis
27 mins
agree Simon Mac
1 hr
agree Mehmet Hascan : wet behind the ears
10 hrs
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