Talk:ruthless

I thought ruthless meant "willing to do whatever it takes to succeed, no matter what gets in the way." — This unsigned comment was added by 220.235.156.48 (talk).

Not exactly, it just means ‘without mercy or compassion’. Widsith 08:46, 29 October 2006 (UTC)

Ruthless

So if Ruthless is no so good what is Ruth, and what is the history or roots of the word? — This unsigned comment was added by 137.91.114.239 (talk).

ruth means pity, compassion, regret. It's related to rue, as in "you'll rue the day". Widsith 14:00, 1 August 2007 (UTC)

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Rfv-sense: (Of a problem etc) Difficult to solve. - never seen it personally, no evidence in my usual suspects references. - Amgine/^talk 23:50, 1 February 2009 (UTC)

Two "ruthless problems" in Google Books: "The antitax phenomenon is an increasingly ruthless problem for schools"; "it appeared to him that the still more ruthless problem of £ sd awaited". On second thoughts, it might not mean "difficult to solve" here, but "unforgiving" (as though the problem has been anthropomorphised and made "ruthless" in the normal sense). Equinox 00:11, 2 February 2009 (UTC)

I think your second thought is right. The two problems described as ruthless seem not only difficult but impossible to solve and thus "without pity or compassion; cruel, pitiless". Delete sense. --Hekaheka 00:57, 2 February 2009 (UTC)

RFV failed, sense removed. —Ruakh_TALK 01:45, 4 November 2009 (UTC)