Whats the difference?

Question

between being mad at someone and being disappointed in someone. You know the classic line, 'no, im not mad at you, just disappointed'..is that just b.s. or what?

Answer 1

You can be mad without being disapointed and you can be disappointed without being mad. They are two completely differnet feelings.

"Disappointed" is the feeling that you were let down. Someone did not live up to their end of an agreement or did not live up to their full potential.

"Mad" is a feeling of anger.

Answer 2

When you're disappointed in someone, it's more like you expected them to do better than they did and feel that they did something really dumb or stupid. It's a feeling of hurt, not anger, which I consider to be a BIG difference.

Being mad at someone is when you just want to get back at them somehow. It's when you dont really care why they did what they did, you just know that it negatively affected you, and you want consolation (revenge, apology, etc.).

Basically, I would consider disappointment to result in feeling pity for, or wanting something better for, someone else. And being mad would only result in personal gain.

Answer 3

People who are disappointed in you expected more from you. This is not necessarily true of people who are mad at you. Thats the difference IMO.
The other question, it's only BS if you didnt do anything wrong otherwise, its a good way to guilt someone.

Answer 4

no. someone can be disappointed and not be mad. you just feel hurt, kind of let down. You don't have to be mad though. Disappointment is way worse then being mad.

Answer 5

There are precious few people who can discern between the two. Disappointment often leads to getting mad because of the level of frustration involved in being 'disappointed' in the first place.
(so its usually just BS and a semi-decent way to say that you really p*s**d someone off)

Answer 6

Being the Mum of 4 I know the difference. The first, being mad, is directed toward the person themselves. I do this when whatever they have done was a deliberate act of mischief/bad behavior. The second applies to acts of stupidity, where the person meant no harm, but just didn't think things through, and so caused themselves or others a problem.
That's life experience talking.

Answer 7

There is a big difference: Mad at someone is anger at something a person did. Disappointed is someone is expecting something from a person and they don't meet your expectations. You can be one or the other or both!

Answer 8

If you are mad at the person, you are upset by their actions.
If you are disappointed, you feel sorry for them, because they are not as "good" as you thought. If there is a teacher/student relation, this most likely means being mad at yourself for not teaching well enough.

Answer 9

Being disappointed just means you're butt hurt with them, or sad that they did whatever they did to disappoint you. If someone disappoints me, it just means I had expectations and they weren't met; therefore I am disappointed.

Being mad is totally diffferent; it means your upset with anger and frustration; you're so mad that ughh!!! You just want to avoid that person or not talk to them...something like that.

Examples:
"I'm mad my friend farted in my face while I was asleep."

"Disappointed in myself that I slept the whole night so I could not get him back for laying a** on my face!!!"

Answer 10

if a parent caught their teenager smoking or looking at a dirty magazine they may say "I'm disappointed" b/c it would do no good for the parent to be mad. Whats done is done. I would rather make my parents mad than disappoint them.