schadenfreude

~Humour is just Schadenfreude with a clear conscience~ Friedrich Nietzsche

Schadenfreude :

/ˈʃɑːd(ə)nˌfrɔɪdə,German ˈʃɑːdənˌfrɔydə/noun

What in the world is Schadenfreude? I have a thing for interesting terms that are linked to human psychology. Schadenfreude is a German term that recently found its way into the English dictionary. Its English equivalent is epicaricacy. Honestly, I have never heard of such a word :D..clearly, my vocab needs prayers! I can’t even begin to imagine how to use it in a sentence! I digress.. I feel good though when I hear of a word I read somewhere, snap my mental fingers and say…ooh, I know! I know that word!

So anyway, as indicated earlier,Schadenfreude is a German word which means, and I quote, ” the pleasure derived by someone from another person’s misfortune.” If we were to be honest, all of us at one time or the other, have been guilty of this. How many times has something bad happened to someone and we say, ” Aaah good! Serves him/ her right!” We are all human and when someone has done something annoying, we want revenge,no matter how tiny. Karma, they say, knows us by name and has our addresses inscribed on her palm. So we wait and literally hope our offenders get their comeuppance sooner rather than later…though the waiting is hard! For most of us, the only reason the people who wrong us are alive is because it is illegal to kill…enough said haha…

So you have dated this person for XYZ months or years. You feel this “IS THE ONE.” One day from the blues, you get dumped. Bitterness and anger reigns and you pray all sorts of things happen to this person. One day, a year down the road, you hear he/she was dumped by someone they have been dating, or their house burnt down. You feel that feeling of pleasure from their misfortune,no matter how fleeting? That is schadenfreude. Its as simple as that.

So anyway, it is human to think or say, “serves ’em right!” after something happens to someone we think deserves it. It would be hypocritical for anyone to say they haven’t thought it once or twice…ha! maybe that toe you stubbed was someone wishing you would drop dead…I kid 😀 Don’t beat yourself up or think you are evil. You are only human, We seek comfort in strange things and nothing is changing any time soon. It is what it is.

P.S This has been in draft form for a while, until the other day some friends talked about it on Facebook and I remembered it. I envy people who write regularly. What do they smoke? Can someone tell me so I smoke it too? xoxo

~Tragedy is what happens to me, comedy is what happens to you~