I learned as a child, and for some reason it stuck, empathic is the word and empathetic was just plain not a word. It seems that through improper usage the word has become acceptable and means the same thing. Redundant and unneccessary. Has annoyed me for some time.
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And? Is this just a rant, or did you want us to do something about it? Would its congener then rightfully be 'sympathic'?
— Mister Micawber
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And? Is this just a rant, or did you want us to do something about it? Would its congener then rightfully be 'sympathic'?
If it is a matter of 2 forms of adjective surviving with the same meaning, then there are certainly other examples (all of which slip my mind at the moment even though they occur repeatedly as points questioned here on our threads).