10

I happen to be this type who always finds it hard to turn down someone who asks for my help.

You know, like when people ask to borrow some money, ask to take them to see a doctor, ask to help with English (I'm a nonnative speaker), ask to teach them some difficult subject, and anything. Moreover, this type of personality will not turn down one's request even if they are in a difficult situation themselves.

I don't think that the word kind or nice or selfless would be suitable for this.

I read this too, but the word altruist is used to describe someone who never asks for help, not for someone who can't say a "no" to someone else who asks them for help (which means that they may frequently ask for others' help too).

Besides, I don't know whether this is a negative or positive personality. So I can't figure out the right word to describe it.

Do I comprehend this in a weird way?

Community
  • 1
Safira
  • 1,936
  • 1
    Apart from the periphrastic "always willing to help" I've thought of "obliging". – None Dec 25 '13 at 16:54
  • 1
    I suggest Yes Man. – Jill-Jênn Vie Dec 25 '13 at 19:38
  • 1
    I would say a pleaser. (I'm one too) – Colin Fine Dec 25 '13 at 20:25
  • Laure: Isn't it more like someone who obeys the rules?

    Jill: From the wiki page you provided, I think it's more like someone who says a yes to everything? (Not just a help)

    Colin: Hmm, I think you comment is the closest one of the three, but if it's a negative personality, I think @bib's answer (patsy) is good, right?

     – Safira Dec 26 '13 at 04:00
  • @ColinFine your comment answer from eight years ago(!) is spot-on. Why not post it as an answer? – EleventhDoctor Mar 30 '20 at 19:21
  • It doesn't have to be a negative thing, but you might want to see if any of the items from the "laundry list" ring true for you : https://adultchildren.org/literature/laundry-list/ – Joe Jan 15 '21 at 17:51

5 Answers5

14

Perhaps

pushover - a person who is easy to overcome or influence: Colonel Moore was benevolent but no pushover

or

patsy - a person who is easily taken advantage of, especially by being cheated or blamed for something

or

soft touch - (informal) a person easily persuaded or imposed on, esp to lend money

Of the three, the last is probably the most positive (at least in US usage). The other two suggest gullibility.

bib
  • 72,782
8

Doormat. This is definitely a negative usage, as it imparts the sense of having no will of one's own.

FeliniusRex - gone
  • 2,304
  • 'Doormat' is more referring to the person's response to conflict rather than requests; a doormat lets someone walk over them. – Sam Jun 03 '14 at 12:44
  • In both cases, the person is passive; a doormat doesn't fight back, and a doormat will do whatever someone asks him to do, in the interest of avoiding conflict. – FeliniusRex - gone Jun 03 '14 at 12:55
  • I agree that they are very close in meaning. If you look at e.g. pushover vs doormat, one is referring to how easily someone is influenced (easy to push over) whereas the other references a specific state of a person (they are dominated). To me this reflects both the situations in which the words are better suited (as I indicated above) and also adds greater force to doormat when used to describe a person. – Sam Jun 03 '14 at 12:59
2

acquiescent akwēˈesənt/adjective: ready to accept something without protest, or to do what someone else wants."The unions were acquiescent and there was no overt conflict"

synonyms: compliant, complying, consenting, cooperative, willing, obliging, agreeable, amenable, tractable, persuadable, pliant, flexible, unprotesting;

Ahmad Ragab
  • 141
0

Since "doormat" is taken, I'll submit "obsequious".

It means being obedient or servile to an excessive degree

MW

djm
  • 685
  • The MW definition you linked to doesn't match the definition you give. MW says 'marked by or exhibiting a fawning attentiveness'. I don't really think this is what the asker is after. – EleventhDoctor Mar 30 '20 at 19:20
-1

"Sometimes I may be too compliant." may be what you're trying to say of yourself.

Compliant - 1.) complying; obeying, obliging, or yielding, especially in a submissive way: a person[] with a compliant nature. dictionary.reference.com

or possibly

Pliant - 1.) bending readily; flexible; supple; adaptable: She manipulated the pliant clay. 2.) easily influenced; yielding to others; compliant: He has a pliant nature. dictionary.reference.com

Kit Z. Fox
  • 27,819
ipso
  • 1,810