What's the difference between duffer and incompetent?

Duffer


Definition:

  • (n.) A peddler or hawker, especially of cheap, flashy articles, as sham jewelry; hence, a sham or cheat.
  • (n.) A stupid, awkward, inefficient person.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) They’re throwing everything they’ve got at this and, while there are bound to be a few duffers in the mix, you can bet that your mum will end up loving at least one of them.
  • (2) The West End debut of Keira Knightley will irresistibly get all the headlines and shift a lot of the tickets, though the rest of the cast of The Misanthrope – including Damian Lewis, Dominic Rowan and Tara Fitzgerald – are not exactly duffers.
  • (3) For the first time in years, the BBC has taken the contest seriously, stung by criticism from viewers and the rest of the continent that despite the UK's musical heritage it ends up entering duffers.
  • (4) Asked if the children may go on an adventurous sailing-and-camping expedition, the absent father replies, heartlessly: "Better drowned than duffers if not duffers will not drown."
  • (5) When the New York Times reporter Don Van Natta Jr played with Clinton in 2000, the duffer-in-chief simply replayed any of his stray shots, leading Van Natta to conclude that "[Clinton] followed the rules .
  • (6) Hardly anybody eats the stuff beyond a few old duffers nostalgic for the bad old days when protein was scarce, and a few ridiculous rump-imperialist uyoku.
  • (7) As a joke doing the rounds in Delhi put it, the three national-party candidates were a Duffer, a Bluffer and a Muffler.
  • (8) My hunch is that the old, badly informed duffers at the top of the BBC who took this perverse decision have yet to actually sit through Sun, Sex & Suspicious Parents .
  • (9) What says "This is my world now, you past-it old duffer" more than being tossed your child's defunct smartphone?
  • (10) Precocious rapid sleep duffers from usual one in an inclusion into the dream content the experimental situations and their emotional saturation.
  • (11) Firebrand lawyer and human rights campaigner Asma Jahangir caused a sensation by delivering a television tongue-lashing against "duffer" generals who, she said, were more interested in running wedding halls than defending their territory.
  • (12) The duffer was Rahul Gandhi; the muffler referred to third-party leader Arvind Kejriwal's habit of wrapping himself in a scarf.
  • (13) Katie Allen (@KatieAllenGdn) Carney on review post forex rigging stories: we can't come out of this with a shadow of doubt about the integrity of the Bank of England March 11, 2014 George Mudie MP, though, isn’t impressed -- accusing Carney of acting like his predecessor Sir Mervyn King by passing the buck onto other people; either the ‘old duffers’ on the Bank’s Court, or to FCA boss Martin Wheatley.
  • (14) It's good of you to put on a much more lavish show for us than you did for that old duffer, Gordo.
  • (15) Louis van Gaal is a duffer all over again after supervising three defeats in a row – the light aeroplane on duty at Anfield might soon be back here at this rate – while Tony Pulis is a genius once more for all but securing safety for his side at the most intimidating of venues.

Incompetent


Definition:

  • (a.) Not competent; wanting in adequate strength, power, capacity, means, qualifications, or the like; incapable; unable; inadequate; unfit.
  • (a.) Wanting the legal or constitutional qualifications; inadmissible; as, a person professedly wanting in religious belief is an incompetent witness in a court of law or equity; incompetent evidence.
  • (a.) Not lying within one's competency, capacity, or authorized power; not permissible.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Some women have clinically obvious cervical incompetence and may benefit from a cerclage operation, but criteria for early diagnosis are not universally agreed upon.
  • (2) First, the decrement in the maximal heart rate response to exercise (known as "chronotropic incompetence") found in the sedentary MI rat was completely reversed by endurance training.
  • (3) All but one patient had clinical evidence of pulmonary incompetence.
  • (4) Mutant polypeptides have been characterized that are competent and incompetent for association with GRP78-BiP.
  • (5) The possibility of being liable if an incompetent student becomes registered and causes harm is also discussed.
  • (6) A differentiation incompetent QM cell derivative was also isolated (QM5DI).
  • (7) Secondary valvular incompetence occurs from deep venous obstruction or increased venous distensibility (usually secondary to circulating estrogens).
  • (8) Valvular incompetence developed in 13 patients during the study period.
  • (9) This implies that degradation of sIgM does not result from the incompetence of 38C cells to polymerize.
  • (10) (vii) Two deletions within the EBNA-2 gene which rendered EBV transformation incompetent did not transactivate LMP1, whereas a transformation-competent EBNA-2 deletion mutant did transactivate LMP1.
  • (11) In a randomized placebo controlled parallel double blind study on 40 patients suffering from venous edema in chronic deep vein incompetence, the edema-reducing effect of horse chestnut seed extract vs. placebo, being the main test variable, was demonstrated by hydroplethysmography to be statistically significant.
  • (12) The etiology of acute severe mitral incompetence resulting from rupture of the chordae is presented and is illustrated by four case reports.
  • (13) Without the addition of the sRNA, the 7-8-8.5-10 particles were incompetent while the 7-8-8.5-10-RNA particles were competent in DNA packaging.
  • (14) It is the bonus culture – not high pay, recklessness or incompetence – that has polluted banking's public image.
  • (15) They shun cost-benefit analysis but soak up aid money, saying Haiti's state is incompetent and corrupt.
  • (16) Incidence of isolated mitral incompetence and combined heart injuries, valve damage mechanics, and frequent causes of blunt chest trauma are discussed.
  • (17) Among the special cases considered are: the competent adult patient who refuses treatment on religious or privacy grounds; the incompetent patient whose own wishes were never expressed, but whose family refuses treatment; the incompetent patient who expressed the wish not to be treated before becoming incompetent; and parents who refuse treatment on behalf of their child.
  • (18) Extensive research among the Afghan National Army – 68 focus groups – and US military personnel alike concluded: "One group sees the other as a bunch of violent, reckless, intrusive, arrogant, self-serving profane, infidel bullies hiding behind high technology; and the other group [the US soldiers] generally views the former as a bunch of cowardly, incompetent, obtuse, thieving, complacent, lazy, pot-smoking, treacherous, and murderous radicals.
  • (19) The device was implanted around 11 completely incompetent and seven partially incompetent valves in 18 veins of 11 sheep.
  • (20) It is clear that they are either incompetent or corrupt, and I don’t believe that they are incompetent.