Word or phrase

[Gamblnluck]

So many times on here I see somebody ask other authors about a random thought they had. A few weeks ago Milliedynamite asked about beginning lines. Damned if the first line that flashed through my mind was not the one she had from Tale of Two Cities. Today, I was writing on my saga, and used a word that sparked a memory from the long distant past. Vulnerability. I learned the word back in the early sixties reading a Superman comic book. The word and it's meaning stuck in my brain.
Years later I saw the idea used as "That was his Kryptonite" but for me at the time, it was the biggest word I knew and could use.

 

[Nicenashguy615]

Redheads are my Kryptonite!

 

[Britva415]

I remember the first time I heard someone say “anodized” out loud.

I’m not dyslexic but my whole life I had been reading it as “adonized.”

 

[shelleycat1]

It was an altraboss round his neck.

It took me ages to realise that was wrong.

 

[VallesMarineris]

When I was kid I once saw a news bit on TV about a journalist who won the "Poulet Surprise". For a long time I wondered why journalists would get an award named after a kind of chicken and why they especially presented it as a surprise.

 

[Britva415]

What's the word for when you, like, "introspect" except you aren't doing it about your own self, you're doing it about someone else's experience, feelings motivations and personality. Is there a more specific and better word than just plain old "empathizing"?

 

[NuclearFairy]

What's the word for when you, like, "introspect" except you aren't doing it about your own self, you're doing it about someone else's experience, feelings motivations and personality. Is there a more specific and better word than just plain old "empathizing"?

Extrospective: Examining that which is outside yourself.

 

[Britva415]

Extrospective: Examining that which is outside yourself.

But inside another person? Doesn't sound like it, but I'll look it up and see if I think it serves for this.

 

[iwatchus]

What's the word for when you, like, "introspect" except you aren't doing it about your own self, you're doing it about someone else's experience, feelings motivations and personality. Is there a more specific and better word than just plain old "empathizing"?

Nosy

 

[Britva415]

Nosy

Totally not what I'm looking for, but

 

[TheLobster]

What's the word for when you, like, "introspect" except you aren't doing it about your own self, you're doing it about someone else's experience, feelings motivations and personality. Is there a more specific and better word than just plain old "empathizing"?

Psychoanalyzing?

 

[StillStunned]

What's the word for when you, like, "introspect" except you aren't doing it about your own self, you're doing it about someone else's experience, feelings motivations and personality. Is there a more specific and better word than just plain old "empathizing"?

My wife calls it "being more patient with you than you deserve".

 

[calmlikeabomb]

What's the word for when you, like, "introspect" except you aren't doing it about your own self, you're doing it about someone else's experience, feelings motivations and personality. Is there a more specific and better word than just plain old "empathizing"?

Navel gazing?

 

[THBGato]

I was in my thirties when my wife, who was a Radio broadcaster at the time, pointed out to me that the word "segue" is pronounced "seg-way" (not seeg). I had thought they were two separate words that had the same meaning, like blend and mix. Turns out it was just one word and I had been saying it wrong for most of my life, but nobody else had ever corrected me.

 

[VallesMarineris]

What's the word for when you, like, "introspect" except you aren't doing it about your own self, you're doing it about someone else's experience, feelings motivations and personality. Is there a more specific and better word than just plain old "empathizing"?

There's a standard concept in psychology called "Theory of Mind". Per Wikipedia, it's "the capacity to understand other individuals by ascribing mental states to them." Here's the article:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_mind

Would that be it?

 

[NotWise]

What's the word for when you, like, "introspect" except you aren't doing it about your own self, you're doing it about someone else's experience, feelings motivations and personality. Is there a more specific and better word than just plain old "empathizing"?

I think "emphathize" is what you want, but you may need to add an adjective to get the exact sense you need.

 

[Britva415]

There's a standard concept in psychology called "Theory of Mind". Per Wikipedia, it's "the capacity to understand other individuals by ascribing mental states to them." Here's the article:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_mind

Would that be it?

Maybe if it can be used as a verb!

I think "emphathize" is what you want, but you may need to add an adjective to get the exact sense you need.

Sounds good.

 

[Areala-chan]

I was in my thirties when my wife, who was a Radio broadcaster at the time, pointed out to me that the word "segue" is pronounced "seg-way" (not seeg). I had thought they were two separate words that had the same meaning, like blend and mix. Turns out it was just one word and I had been saying it wrong for most of my life, but nobody else had ever corrected me.

I have never met someone else for whom this was true, but I was exactly the same!

 

[Areala-chan]

What's the word for when you, like, "introspect" except you aren't doing it about your own self, you're doing it about someone else's experience, feelings motivations and personality. Is there a more specific and better word than just plain old "empathizing"?

Actors call this adopting a persona, where you're exploring the mental and emotional states of someone who isn't yourself in order to fully inhabit that character for a role. I don't know if that's precisely what you mean though. It sounds more like you're talking about the practice of going over someone else's situation in your head. Outside of 'sympathize' and 'empathize', I'm not sure there's specifically a word for it.

 

[crookedletter]

What's the word for when you, like, "introspect" except you aren't doing it about your own self, you're doing it about someone else's experience, feelings motivations and personality. Is there a more specific and better word than just plain old "empathizing"?

I think the issue is that people perhaps overuse "empathize" when what they mean is "sympathize." What you're describing is empathy, real empathy. Unless you're talking about something supernatural, in which case you get to make up a word for that if you want.

 

[Britva415]

Unless you're talking about something supernatural, in which case you get to make up a word for that if you want

This is sort of going in the direction I had in mind. But only sort of. "Empathizing" has more meanings, connotations and practical usages than the specific case I was thinking about. The case I was thinking about is how some people are a hell of a lot better at it than others, so, maybe that does make it a bit of a super power, especially in the situation where it's an active effort rather than a feeling which just happens and you unthinkingly run with it.

I was looking for an active verb, and when you say someone is "empathizing" with someone else, it doesn't say what I want it to say. I want it to say something which is much closer to what we're talking about when we say someone is "introspecting," but with the object of introspection being someone else other than oneself.

Like, "empathizing" isn't wrong but not as specific as what I wanted to say.

I guess I just need to spell it out instead of coming up with one verb to convey all that.

Thanks to all for the discussion and ideas.