8 ms·
>disinterested critical discourse is really just a willful schadenfreude? I think the writer has misunderstood the word "schadenfreude". He seems to understand
by galaxyLogic 9y ago
>disinterested critical discourse is really just a willful schadenfreude?
I think the writer has misunderstood the word "schadenfreude". He seems to understand it as
"joy you get from hurting somebody else".
I always understood SchadenFreude to mean
"the joy you get from somebody else's loss
or other misfortune" - with no active
participation by you in causing it.
- donjoe 9y agoYes, that's exactly how you would use it in German. The word itself actually consists of 'Schaden' (damage/harm) and 'Freude' (joy/pleasure/happiness). In case someone gets 'damaged', you'd feel joy and experience 'Schadenfreude'. If your car-addicted neighbor annoying the whole neighborhood with his 400 HP engine would run over his own cat, you'd experience 'Schadenfreude'. You'd still feel sorry for the cat though ;)
- mannykannot 9y agoIn German, is it also used in a darker sense, as the counterpoint to envy? For example, an acquaintance goes on what would be your dream vacation, but is plagued by illness. I hope this article is not a sign that we are losing the word in English to people who want to affect erudition, as we don't have a good native substitute (and that is not because English speakers do not have such emotions!)
- kmmlng 9y agoWithout having more details, I generally wouldn't say one would feel Schadenfreude in your example. Now, if your acquaintance is obnoxious or is putting everyone down for not being able to afford their dream vacations, then yes, Schadenfreude would apply. In more general terms, you don't feel Schadenfreude whenever something bad happens to someone. There has to be a sense of "Well, that guy had it coming".
- donjoe 9y agoYeah, right - you somehow need that 'haha, look at you'/'that serves you right' moment to call it 'Schadenfreude'.
- mannykannot 9y agoMaybe, but none of the ~dozen definitions that I have found have this 'they had it coming' qualification. This, may, however, be the way the meaning is going in English. https://www.quora.com/Why-do-most-American-dictionaries-provide-an-incorrect-definition-of-schadenfreude https://www.quora.com/Why-do-most-American-dictionaries-prov...
- cavanasm 9y agoYeah, joy from inflicting harm is sadism. Author probably just wanted to use the word schadenfreude. It's a really fun word.
- pdpi 9y agoIt really is a fun word. Always makes me thing of Avenue Q.
- toyg 9y agoGerman has some awesome words: glockenspiel, gesundheit, blitz, panzer...
- mbeex 9y ago... Eichhörnchen
- mamon 9y ago...Bundespraesidentenstichwahlwiederholungsverschiebung
- mrec 9y ago...Rindfleischetikettierungsueberwachungsaufgabenuebertragungsgesetz
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- ourmandave 9y ago...Claudia Schiffer, Heidi Klum, Julia Stegner, Diane Kruger,...
- donjoe 9y agoIn German, you can combine a bunch of words to create a new one. Feel free to read the full explanation on a pretty awesome example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donaudampfschiffahrtselektrizit%C3%A4tenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengesellschaft https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donaudampfschiffahrtselektrizi...
- JohnStrange 9y agoThat's correct, and I should mention that Schadenfreude can sometimes even be used with a positive connotation, namely when a bad person suffers some misfortune due to his own wrongdoings.
- bryanrasmussen 9y agoI think that is actually closer to the usage in English. In English it often seems to be the joy you feel at the misfortune of someone as an outcome of poetic justice.
- ebbv 9y agoYep. Frankly the whole article felt like watching a little kid put on adult pants and try to convince the adults to take them seriously.
- zaroth 9y agoKind of ruined the article for me, thanks. </s>