looking for a word

vivi123 · Post by **vivi123** » Thu Oct 02, 2003 6:04 am

I am looking for a word that describes "a person who carries out a job he is not qualified to carry out, and if caught could constitute a crime" ie a doctor

Just a guy · Post by **Just a guy** » Thu Oct 02, 2003 10:59 am

Quack …. impostor …. fake …. fraud …. swindler …. con …. counterfeit …. pretender …. con artist …. charlatan ….

I realize you only asked for one….. ;) ….

For an unqualified doctor, in America, “Quack” is the most often used word, charlatan is good too. Although all of those words work for; "a person who carries out a job he is not qualified to carry out, and if caught could constitute a crime".

PS,
if the moderator reads this; I couldn't log in with the user name & password that I actually copied & pasted from my conformation email I got when I regestered..?

Pirate · Post by **Pirate** » Sun Feb 01, 2004 6:22 pm

Hey guy,

I’m afraid fake, fraud, con, counterfeit are not for PERSON. They can be used as verbs, nouns or adjectives but the nouns indicate the thing, not the person.

But con artist, faker and counterfeiter r relevant. As i know, in American English “faker” is often used for the one who cheats others by selling bad quality jewellery at high price (more than it should be).

Anyway thanks for “quack” and “charlatan” which i have put inside my head after reading ur post.

Cheerful,

Mikelos Maxairitsas · Post by **Mikelos Maxairitsas** » Fri May 28, 2004 3:06 am

You could also use the adjective 'incompetent', which describes a person who is not qualified to do the job that they do.