an empath is not pathetic !

I keep seeing "empathetic".....

.....with due respect......

perhaps there is a conscious, or unconscious, combination of "empathic" and "sympathetic", that comes up with that (non)word.... ?

guess that "empathetic" sounds too much like 'pathetic' to me.

Just saying.

The root word "pathos" simply means emotion. Words based on that root all deal with emotions: sympathy, empathy, antipathy, apathy, telepathy, etc. You are applying a connotation to the word "pathetic" that is only one usage of the root and really isn't the definition of the root.. Just keep in mind that "path" refers to emotion and feelings. Are those so bad?

(I teach rhetoric and we spend LOTS of time working with recognizing pathos in writing, etc. We have to have this discussion the first time we encounter "pathos", and students get very comfortable with hearing me say things like "Is that a pathetic argument?"; they understand I don't mean pitiful or worthless--I simply mean "Is that argument appealing to emotions and feelings?")

Retrain your thinking about that definition and that should help.

You got me curious, but it turns out both words are correct. I imagine different regions or communities use one more than the other.
http://grammarist.com/usage/empathetic-empathic/

Both words are listed on onelook.com too.

In more times and most places, "pathetic" simply meant "sensitive" and that wasn't regarded as a bad thing.

I'm entitled to have connotations, FG. No apologies there, and I don't need help retraining my thinking about this. and btw, I didn't use any words remotely like worthless or pitiful, that was you! Empathetic is a non word which has been granted an OK status here and there *only here and there) because so many people use it. reminds me of the schools that tell their students they can spl thngz enny ole wei the wont ef datz whut dey wonna doo. whoooz tew tll thum no?

Well, there is no such thing as a "non word" that is in use - if people (especially many people) use it, it means, per definition, that the word exists! A quick search of "empathetic" gets 622 hits in the 450-million-word Corpus of Contemporary American English, versus 459 hits for "empathic".
We may not personally like a word; there are many words I don't personally like, and wish that they weren't used. And of course there are words that are not appropriate in particular contexts or register, slang terms in an academic paper for instance. Just like it's inappropriate to use nonstandard spelling in most contexts, as you point out. However, "empathetic" and "empathic" are used synonymously in both academic papers and more everyday language contexts (again my source is the corpus mentioned above - it's free for all to use at http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/ ), and there's nothing inherently negative about that.

right, and a Fortune 100 company I used to work for had in their standard terms and conditions a paragraph about 'breech of contract'. I guess that's doing business by the seat of your pants.

I didn't say your weren't entitled (get up on the wrong side of the bed this morning? Seem a bit testy), but if that wasn't your point, what WAS your issue with the word then? I guess I really don't have any idea what you are talking about in that case. Perhaps a bit more info from you would clarify.

Personally, I don't see empathetic as a "non word" at all. What has set off your tirade against that word today?

my 'tirade' was yesterday.

True. But what was your issue at that point?

never mind, Chris. Shouldn't have posted it on this form in the first place; it's not T related.

Apologies everyone.

*pulls up chair & reaches for popcorn*

lol................. shove over there EM, and hand me that popcorn

:-) .

Is something interesting showing?

I like the word empathic myself. The therapists/psychiatrists I have known use the word empathic. However, to each his own. Thanks SAWE

This thread came to mind today. Someone described 'empathy' as moving about within another's experience without judgement. That sounded nice.

It's because English is not French. You can't just make up stuff in French like you can in English. But you can do whatever the eff you want in English.

Whenever I see "empathic," I immediately think of Deanna Troi from Star Trek Next Generation. I tend to use empathetic more often.

Me too actually. This made made me chuckle a bit as I thought it was only me.