Maybe it comes from the fact that when some are miserable, they tend to make others miserable on purpose so they don't feel alone. Or, their mood just radiates and makes others feel bad also.

I think it comes from the type of people who want the world to know their business and have people feel sorry for them. Plus people tend to gravitate towards bad news. Morbid curiosity.

Two types of comparison. Either compare yourself to someone who is not miserable and well off. Or compare yourself to someone who is more miserable than you. Which would make you feel better?

I think it means that you want other people around to wallow in your misery. That company should have similar negative feelings for that love to exist , you feel you're not alone after all : ) In my country we have a saying loosely translated as: "A many people's hardship is a fool's consolation"

from those who crave attention

I think it depends on what is causing the misery. If it's my own personal problem and no one else can help, i'll keep it to myself and be sad somewhere quiet and it will get better. Sometimes I just need tht one person to hug me and tell me it will be okay. But if it's a major thing and involves others, there is something healing about being together. Like when 9-11 happened, it was like it happened to everyone. I didn't want to be alone though I didn't want to be in a crowd. I just needed to be with those I loved and knew and try to make sense of it some way. It didn't make sense but just being close to others was a comfort beyond belief.

From people that aren't accustomed to taking responsibility for their own feelings. You know the kind of person that likes to blame others for their misery. Good question +

I'd rather be on my own. For a rather evil answer to the second question, this quote from 'Fawlty Towers' episode 'The Builders' may do - "Now then, remember Mr Fawlty, there's always someone worse off than yourself." "Is there? Well I'd like to meet him, I could do with a laugh." Mean, but there may be a grain of truth in it.

It means if you're miserable you'll take comfort, if not pleasure, in knowing other people are miserable, too. http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/44/messages/673.html http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=Misery+loves+company&r=66 http://www.bartleby.com/59/3/miserylovesc.html Now predominantly current in the United States. Cf. mid 14th-cent. L. gaudium est miseris socios habuisse penarum, it is a comfort to the wretched to have companions in woes; [a 1349 R. Rolle Meditations on Passion in C. Horstmann Yorkshire Writers (1895) I. 101] It is solace to haue companie in peyne. In miserie Euphues it is a great comfort to haue a companion. [1578 Lyly Euphues I. 238] If that which is commonly spoken be true, that to haue companions in misery is a lightner of it, you may comfort me. [1620 T. Shelton tr. Cervantes' Don Quixote ii. xiii.] All my Letters are inter septed by those Rebels who want Every one to be kept in Dark like themselves. (Misery Loves Company). [1775 T. Gilbert Letter 4 May in W. B. Clark et al. Naval Documents of American Revolution (1964) I. 279] If misery loves company, misery has company enough. [1851 H. D. Thoreau Journal 1 Sept. (1949) II. 440] The question is how to salvage a difficult season. Refusing to open our depressing 401(k) statements may work for a little while, but most of us need something more emotionally nourishing. (And besides, misery loves company.) [2002 Washington Post 21 Aug. F1] Fellow sufferers make unhappiness easier to bear, as in "She secretly hoped her friend would fail, too--misery loves company." Words to this effect appeared in the work of Sophocles (c. 408 b.c.) and other ancient writers; the earliest recorded use in English was about 1349. http://www.answers.com/Misery%20loves%20company

Popularly, it also probably comes from Marlowe's Doctor Faustus (performed around 1592 and published 1605)... When Faustus asks the Devil's envoy, Mephistophilis, why the Devil wants to enlarge Hell, his kingdom, Mephistophilis repllies, in Latin, "Solamen miseris socios habuisse doloris" which means "in company the miserable find solace" or "misery loves company"... So you can see the "evil" implications of wishing others to be sad if you are too... See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solamen_miseris_socios_habuisse_doloris

RosieGHM Jetpacker, your misery is short lived and temporary. For the truly "miserable", this is a 24/7 way of life. There are some people that only can function when they bring terror, sadness, pain and upheaval to others. You are not like like that.

I think people misinterpret. I think, it means that human beings a pack animals and that being around others you like/love helps to easy (if not fend off) the misery. I don't want an audience either, too. I know some people who want their friends to be therapists. I'd rather just hang out and do stuff.