the.com/meanness
a weakness in disguise, always loudest in the people most afraid of being small
means The quality of being unkind, petty, or unwilling to give or share — whether in spirit, money, or generosity.
from From 'mean,' which has tangled roots. The 'unkind, stingy' sense grew from Old English 'gemǣne,' meaning 'common, shared by all' — a cousin of Latin 'communis.' Over centuries 'common' slid downward in tone: from 'belonging to everyone' to 'ordinary,' then 'low-born,' then 'inferior,' and finally 'shabby, stingy, cruel.' The suffix '-ness' simply turns the adjective into the state of being it. So the word literally carries a fall from grace — from 'shared by all' to 'shares with none.'
- brain cost
- Cruelty triggers stress hormones in the aggressor too
- contagious
- Witnessing meanness makes bystanders more likely to act mean
- old root
- Originally meant common or shared, not cruel
- power tell
- Studies link everyday rudeness to felt powerlessness
- cheap thrill
- Putting others down briefly spikes the boaster's self-esteem