A person who feigns care for your situation only to use it to enrich their lifeless, mundane existence. Actions also typically include: (1) unsanctioned sharing of your personal information to others in the form of gossip, judgement, (2) continued prodding for more details to assist the recipient in seeming more interesting to others than their own life would allow, and (3) as a basis for engaging strangers in conversation that falsely makes them seem more interesting than they actually are. Also used in the form “pathetic vicarious parasite.”
I was temporarily comforted by my retired father’s interest in my back surgery until I remembered that he is a pathetic vicarious parasite with the primary objective of obtaining information to gossip and elevate himself in social circles.
by Observative December 19, 2020
When there is a line of cars behind one person driving slow, and you're somewhere several cars back so you tailgate the person in front of you, who tailgates the person in front of them and so on and so forth until someone is tailgating the slow driver.
Joe: Man, I was five cars back from some old granny today and I couldn't pass... it sucked.
Pete: Dude, you totally should have tried vicarious tailgating.
Pete: Dude, you totally should have tried vicarious tailgating.
by albert mcpassingpants June 20, 2010