What moves generating grief can be mentioned as pathetic.
The term pathetic derives from the Latin pathetĭcus which, in turn, has origins in a Greek word that means "sensitive" or "that causes an impression." The dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) defines this adjective as something that can move the spirit vehemently, generating sensations such as grief, sadness or nostalgia. For example: “The victim's mother tore herself in a pathetic cry of pain,” “The condemned man's pathetic gesture of sadness moved those present.”
Starting from this meaning offered by the aforementioned linguistic document, we can determine that it is common for the term in question to be used in art to refer to some works, especially framed within the field of imagery. Thus, an example would be the following: “The Christ who processed through the streets of Seville managed to move those present especially because of the patheticness of his face.”
The pathetic as grotesque or ridiculous
Pathetic, in any case, has a much more common use linked to the grotesque and that which causes shame in others . In this sense, pathos is associated with the ridiculous : “That man is pathetic, he keeps making up stories to attract media attention,” “Ariel wore a pathetic baby costume at her birthday party,” “I couldn't "I can't help but laugh at his pathetic interpretation of the song."
As a synonym for grotesque, pathetic can be an attack or a disqualifying comment towards another person: “Your behavior is pathetic, you should be ashamed,” “I have never met someone as pathetic as you,” “The performance of the Argentine team was truly pathetic: "He received four goals in ten minutes and was eliminated from the tournament in the first round."
Something ridiculous or embarrassing can be described as pathetic: "My car is pathetic, it breaks down every week."
The term in literature and music
In addition to everything mentioned, we cannot ignore that there is an expression in the field of Literature that makes use of this concept of pathetic. Specifically, we are referring to what is known as the “pathetic fallacy,” which is nothing more than the resource of describing a series of lifeless objects in nature by granting them a series of feelings or sensations that only belong to human beings.
We can also determine that in the musical field there are various compositions that are titled like the term we are addressing. This would be the case, for example, of “Amor patético” by singer Johnny Lexus or simply “Patético” by the group Saiko, of Chilean origin and which falls within the pop and rock genre.
The pathetic nerve
The pathetic nerve (also known as the trochlear nerve ), on the other hand, is a nerve in the skull that is linked to motor skills by innervating the greater oblique muscle of the eye. It is found in the middle brain (mesencephalon) and originates a set of fibers that emerge from the rostral medullary velum.
A nerve that is very important because its malfunction can cause the person who suffers from it to have, for example, a divergent strabismus when they experience paralysis. However, damage to it can result in the person in question also having to face double vision.