schadenfreude....great pleasure at others misfortune......

janzman | 20:49 Fri 27th Mar 2009 | Word Origins

6 Answers

We see,and experience this every day especially on television.Programmes such as Big Brother...I'm a Celebrity....The Apprentice ...The X Factor.... any of the numerous reality tv shows. I just wonder if there is any word in the English language that equates to this,admittedly delightful, German word?

filibuster

red ball

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Quizmonster

In 1867, Thomas Carlyle translated it as mischief-joy. I think that - or a similarly hyphenated word - is the best you are going to find. Roget's Thesaurus doesn't even list the word, as it is so commonly used in English anyway.

ladyalex

My son, when he was quite small had somehow come across this word, I think in a newspaper. He was asking us what it meant but could not really either remember it or pronounce it properly and, of course had lost the newspaper. He came up with CHICKENFLOOD, which wasn't bad...and, once we had figured out what he meant, that is what it has remained in our house.