This has always bothered me

[MyBlackHen]

Gormless, I know the word, but where did it originate, and what was a gorm?
You have to love the English language.

[Mamyalynne]

http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-rut1.htm

[lankeela]

I can remember a programme (think it was candid camera or something similar) where a foreign gentleman was going round asking people where he could get a 'gorm', as he had been told he was 'gormless' I always thought it was a Yorkshire saying as me mam used to say it a lot.

[Ann]

In Leicestershire the saying is someone is a "right gorm" - usually someone looking vacant with mouth open ...... :)

[gness]

In Irish gorm means blue.

[MyBlackHen]

Brilliant mam, that would suggest the Norse influence in my area, thanks.

[Mamyalynne]

Gormless is now mainly an informal British English word that describes somebody foolish, lacking sense or initiative. This comes from a defunct term, usually spelt gaum, a dialect word meaning care or attention; in turn this derives from an Old Norse word gaumr. Though rarely recorded, at one time gaum-like was also around, for someone with an intelligent look about them. Curiously, the verb to gorm also existed, which meant to stare vacantly, implying almost the opposite; but this may be related to the Irish gom for a stupid-looking person and so may be unconnected with the other sense of gorm.

[askyourgran]

I always thought it a a Yorkshire saying, but looking at google it is an old Norse (Viking) word.

[owdhamer]

It originated in owdham,where else, or was it Rochdale.

[jno]

I'm sure the Vikings used it a lot in Yorkshire, for whatever reason

[plautus]

We often hear "ruthless", the opposite of which ought to be "ruthful", but never heard.

[FredPuli43]

No surprise. The Vikings were strong in Yorkshire. Some say they never left.

[plautus]

Yorkshire born and Yorkshire bred..
Strong i' the arm and thick i' the head..

(I'll get my coat).

[MASS1961]

Think the vikings did leave Fred but gene's still there.

[Mamyalynne]

“Ruth” was a common word in Middle English, first appearing (as “reuthe”) around the 12th century, meaning “pity or compassion,” and in the 13th century we spoke of a person who was kind, charitable, and just generally felt your pain as being “ruthful.” (“Ruthful” has also been used at times to mean “inspiring compassion or pity,” i.e., pathetic, as well as “expressing grief” as in “ruthful weeping,” but these are secondary senses.)

A person who lacked those qualities of kindness and charity, whose only concern was for personal gain and never shed a tear for the victims of his greed, has been, since the early 14th century, known as “ruthless,” literally lacking the quality of “ruth.”

[owdhamer]

mamya you amaze me.

[plautus]

I am afraid I don't go back as far as the 13C. I congratulate you on your endurance, however.

[MARTIN07]

anyone know the answer for having seeds dispersed by animals, E_I_O_C