Where I came from, when someone is ‘sad’ they are what Americans would call a ‘loser’. They are not unhappy because of a specific event (one meaning of ‘I am sad’) but they are pathetic in general.
What, in your neck of the woods, does ‘I am a sad person’ mean to you?
Yep, loser. Often in a geekish way.
:smack: Now I’ve read your title properly, you can ignore me…
Don’t worry. I do that all the time. In fact probably the majority of my posts break at least one rule of a thread’s theme because I didn’t pay attention to the OP or title. All you did was confirm what I said in the OP, which didn’t seem out of place at all.
It depends. If it’s fairly neutral or sympathetic in tone, then it can mean that the person is often depressed or has had a hard life.
If the tone is harsher (“He is sooo saaaad”), then yes, it means the person is pathetic, puerile, pitiful, self-aggrandizing, etc.
It can mean either, it just depends on how it is said.
It would depend very much on the context. If it were used to describe someone who had just had some sort of unpleasant experience then I’d assume it meant upset, sorrowful, *mournful * etc. If it were used more generally in an expression like he’s a sad specimen, then I’d assume it meant pathetic loser.
What everyone else has said: depends on context.
If I were taking a vocabulary test and sad was asked to be defined, I’d choose upset over pathetic though.
I have seldom heard “sad” to mean “loser.” It usually means unhappy. If I hear, “he’s a sad case,” it could mean a loser, but in a really tragic way. That is, expressing pity rather than ridicule.
Long, long ago, there was a cartoon soldier named Sad Sack. Now, there was a loser, right down to his socks.