Funny is often used as a code word. A nice way of saying something before you know something is "off".
So yes funny can mean strange or weird. It can also mean other things too.
Usage:
- Dad might say, "I don't want any funny business while we are away." Funny meaning simply bad.
- "That guy gave me a funny look." Funny meaning weird (usually).
- "Do you think this bread smells funny." Funny meaning bad or strange.
- "I think Jeff might be a little funny if you know what I mean." Funny meaning gay. [ To add to this. This can be said in a serious way and can be offensive, however in the usage that is common to me it is said to mock people that say funny to mean gay - if this makes sense. ]
- "That guy had me rolling. He is one funny dude." Funny meaning humorous.
- Dad saying to a guy picking up his daughter for a date, "I don't want anything funny going on tonight." Funny meaning sex.
Funny is a funny word. There are probably 10 more variations of ways to use funny but it would be funny for me to keep going on with different definitions... unless I am a little funny.
A plebiscite is a vote of the people. (Strictly it's a vote of "the common people" and could perhaps exclude people of a higher status [the word comes from Ancient Rome where it would exclude the Senate from the vote, and also not be binding on the Senate] but I don't think there's anywhere this is done today).
A referendum is a vote on an issue that has been referred to the people by the government (including if there is a mechanism by which the people can insist they do so).
Since a referendum involves the people voting, all referenda are plebiscites. Since about the only practical reason why there would be a vote of the people (plebiscite) is that an issue had been referred to them (referendum) in practice all plebiscites are referenda. In practice therefore they are the same.
As such, pretty much synonyms.
However, being terms about political procedure, they each have slightly different definitions in different jurisdictions and as such they are sometimes different in the contexts of a particular legal system.
In both Ireland and Australia referendum is used to refer to a vote to amend the constitution and plebiscite on any other matter. That difference is not the same in other jurisdictions.
It's often, but not always, the case that referenda are binding and plebiscites are not (though gauging the opinion of the people and then ignoring it puts any government into a fraught position). In the UK though their recent non-binding vote on leaving the EU was referred to as a "referendum". This might owe something to suspiciously-run plebiscites having been conducted in countries they were enemies of, or soon to become enemies of, at the time (France under Napoleon, Germany under Hitler), giving referendum a fairer connotation in that country than plebiscite.
Best Answer
I'd say that pitiful might be either of those two definitions (you use context to know which is being used), but pitiable is only the first.
A coach might tell his team "Your guys on defense were pitiful today". He's telling them that they did a bad job. But you would never use pitiable there.