The benefits of schadenfreude Flashcards
schadenfreude
the satisfying feeling you get when something bad happens to someone else.
Imagine you’re in a queue at the supermarket and someone pushes in, but when they got to pay, their credit card doesn’t work – think of the feeling you might get just seeing their misfortune – another word for bad luck. but it’s quite a mean feeling too.
loanword
a word from one language that is used in another language without being changed.
Schadenfreude is what we can call a loanword - a word from one language that is used in another language without being changed.
So you’re right – schadenfreude is used in English and am I right in thinking it describes the satisfying feeling you get when something bad happens to someone else?
comeuppance
a person’s misfortune that is considered to be deserved punishment for something bad that they have done.
a person’s bad luck that is considered to be deserved punishment for something bad that they have done.
particularly when is happens to someone we envy. If we see a wealthy celebrity suffering on a reality TV show, or are exposed for not paying their taxes, we feel good. We say they’ve had their comeuppance.
justice
punishment someone receives that is fair for what they have done.
the punishment someone receives is fair.
People especially feel schadenfreude when they think the misfortune is deserved. Then the question is where this joy arises, is this actually joy experienced towards the misfortune of others or is it also at least partly about a just situation – that this misfortune of another actually appeals to a sense of justice. That’s also the reason why we like the misfortune of hypocrites because if they fall down that also is a deserved situation.
hypocrites
people who claim to have certain moral beliefs but actually behave in a way that shows they are not sincere.
That’s also the reason why we like the misfortune of hypocrites because if they fall down that also is a deserved situation.
She talked about how schadenfreude is a subjective thing – based on our feelings – and it’s not as simple as deciding what is right or wrong.
commiserate
expressing sympathy to someone about their bad luck.
That’s the verb. The noun form is commiseration.
We don’t really experience emotions, you know, as either-or things, it’s not black or white. I think it’s perfectly reasonable that we could genuinely commiserate with someone else’s misfortune at the same time as a terrible sly smile spreading across our lips because, you know, something we’ve envied about them has turned out not to work out so well or whatever it is.
