Talk:commiserate

I'm in a debate with a British friend (I'm from the USA) over the meaning of this word. She says it's only used to express sympathy for the death of a friend or loved one. While I agree with that meaning, I hear it used in the U.S. to mean a more general expression of sympathy, or even to mean two people who get together to share their common misery about something. Am I off — This unsigned comment was added by Slugger415 (talk • contribs) at 14:50, 20 March 2008.

I am British and while this word is normally used for funerals I can recall it being used for less, but still very, tragic situations - a broken leg or ended relationship perhaps. I like the idea of being miserable together as "co-miser-ate" but I'm not sure that is right. Conrad.Irwin 14:54, 20 March 2008 (UTC)

I am also English - and it certainly has the more general usage that we have in our definition. SemperBlotto 14:55, 20 March 2008 (UTC)

Here is an example from the New York Times: http://tvdecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/11/leno-and-kimmel-commiserate/

— This unsigned comment was added by Slugger415 (talk • contribs) at 14:50, 20 March 2008.