Is the word "awful" offensive if used to describe someone's skills? [closed]

Solution 1:

I don't think this is a neutral choice of words:

• awful has a very strong meaning:

  1. Very bad or unpleasant;

  2. Extremely shocking; horrific.

Note how 'unpleasant' comes out first in the definition, which suggests subjective appreciation from the user.

• What's more, the word's etymology shows very clearly as 'awe-inducing', which suggests an emotional statement rather than a factual one.

• appreciation of a language skill can leave much to subjectivity : their English is awful could be used to convey that the locutor doesn't like the candidate's accent or dialectal specificities in general. The author probably meant that they didn't believe the candidate's fluency in English would suffice for the job, but this is left unclear.

For these reasons, I would certainly find this an offensive thing to say (or hear)! An expected choice of words in a professional setting would be, for instance:

… even though his English was poor. (still somewhat offensive because of the lack of specificity)

… even though his English seemed inadequate for the job.