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miserable

dichelson

Senior Member
Italy/Italian
Hello: in the following sentence I'm not sure about the meaning of "miserable":

"He slipped the revolver into a shoulder holster and concealed it under his jacket. A jacket on these warm days was going to be miserable, but Vic Moore was going to be ready."

Does "miserable" here mean "pitiful" or "uncomfortable"? Thank you.
Uncomfortable is good.

But I think the sentence is poorly written. It's not the jacket that is going to be miserable, but rather having to wear the jacket on a warm day is going to result in a miserable feeling of discomfort.
I agree with SwissPete. The jacket (wearing it) will make Jake miserable (=too hot).

I also agree that it the sentence as constructed does not say exactly what it means. However, this is a common and idiomatic way of speaking, and accurately reflects how Vic would think of it, just as "going to be ready" reflects Vic's thoughts as he puts on the gun and covers it with the jacket.
I thought "pitiful" would be an option because other people might find it ridiculous that somebody wears a jacket on such warm days. So you guys think this possibility has to be discounted, right?
I thought "pitiful" would be an option because other people might find it ridiculous that somebody wears a jacket on such warm days. So you guys think this possibility has to be discounted, right?

Yes, I think this has to be discounted. In this particular sentence, Vic (or Peretti) would have used pitiful (or pitiable) if that had been what he meant. By stretch of logic that is nonetheless understandable in context, the adjective applied to the jacket actually reflects its effect on Vic.
Yes. Pitiful would not be used in that sense for this situation. When miserable is used as a synonym to pitiful, it could mean "pathetic".

Miserable and pitiful could be substituted for each other in the following situations:

1. His miserable attempt lead to failure.
2. His pitiful attempt lead to failure.

Hope this helps!
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