the.com/sympathy
feeling sorry for someone from a comfortable distance, then changing the subject.
means A feeling of sorrow or compassion for another person's misfortune, often expressed as understanding or shared concern.
from From Greek 'sympatheia,' a marriage of 'syn-' (together) and 'pathos' (feeling, suffering) — literally 'suffering together.' It traveled through Latin 'sympathia' into English around the late 1500s, originally describing a mysterious affinity between things that seemed to mirror each other's states. 'Pathos' is the same root that gives us empathy, pathetic, and pathology — a whole family built on feeling.
- word roots
- From Greek for suffering together.
- vs empathy
- Sympathy watches; empathy climbs into the hole.
- physical reflex
- Yawns and laughter spread by sympathetic contagion.
- card industry
- Sympathy cards are a multimillion-dollar grief market.
- nervous system
- Your sympathetic nerves trigger fight-or-flight, not feelings.
diana princess of wales — 2 billion people watched her funeral in 1997, unprecedented global emotional response
ryan wells rescue 1987 — 18-month-old trapped in texas well for 58 hours, captivated nation's sympathy
malala yousafzai shot 2012 — shot by taliban for education advocacy, global sympathy propelled her nobel prize and mission