Strategic Incompetence

Avoiding unwanted work by emphasizing one's own incompetence and/or praising someone else's greater competence.

"I would address the wedding invitations myself," said Cecile, in a dazzling display of strategic incompetence, "But my handwriting is practically illegible."

by YoshinoyaBeefBowl May 25, 2021

bethesda-grade incompetence

Making something that could be good but ends up being terrible, but people enjoy it anyway; ignoring hundreds and hundreds of helpful suggestions; generally being a giant assclown that is clearly only worried about selling the bridge that you are currently burning while standing on.

The world fades from black. You sit in a wooden cart, surrounded by bandits. One of the bandits has terribly broken textures, and two others are incorrectly labelled as housecats. You shout out to God almighty "I think there's a mistake here!!" Suddenly, a feral pig jumps out of a bush and explodes, killing you. This is some Bethesda-grade incompetence.

by OldManBOMBIN August 1, 2019

functional incompetence

The ability to maintain a façade of competence, the surface of which, once penetrated, reveals the individual actually has little to no understanding of the tasks in which they have been placed in control of. This type of employee is of particular concern as their incompetence may not be discovered until they have left the organization.

John excelled at functional incompetence because he seemed to know what he was doing until an audit showed he fabricated all his reports.

by Tamara101972 September 19, 2016

soup of incompetence

A descriptive phrase used to indicate that an organization is comprised of people who, as a collective, are entirely incapable of getting anything done that they set out to do because as a whole, they are completely incompetent.

I’ve worked for the state for much of my life and have experienced the obscene soup of incompetence that exists and which thereby wastes everyone’s hard-earned tax dollars.

by Dr Bunnygirl July 20, 2023

weaponized incompetence

When a person acts like they have no idea how to do something even though they definitely do. They do this so that later on they can act like they're the master at either to impress someone or get praise. Also known as strategic incompetence

"I don't know how to do that, you do it"
"Stop lying, everyone knows how to change a tire, weaponized incompetence is why you have no girlfriend"
"Fine, (murmurs cartoon profanities)"

by HumongousBazongas AvadaKedavra December 21, 2021

Tornado of incompetence

An overly-confident, yet completely unqualified, leader who unwittingly leaves a wide path of destruction in their wake.

We we're almost finished with our project, until the Tornado of Incompetence - TOI - showed up! Now, I've gotta work all weekend!

by Specialks October 30, 2010

professional-incompetence

Someone who is bad at what they do, someone who really doesn't know what they're talking about, but they do it in a way that seems outwardly proffessional.

Adjective form: proffessionally-incompetent

It Doug has so much professional-incompetence, he posts his own drivers-ed tutorials online, but he doesn't even know how to drive.

Sarah is professionally-incompetent, because she really does look like she knows what she is talking about, but the pros mock her, because to an outsider she looks like she can talk the talk AND walk the walk, but her catwalk is not a real catwalk; she would hurt herself on a real catwalk.

by IAmPseudonyMeRoar!!! December 8, 2018