To feel envy is human, to savour schadenfreude is devilish.
Arthur Schopenhauer
I've been forced to watch my foes enjoy ceaseless feasts of schadenfreude.
David C Berman
I have mixed feelings about the notion of schadenfreude. It's the underlying premise of celebrity gossip magazines where the proletariat laughs at the misfortunes of Hollywood stars. Their cellulite, their divorces and their drug addled spouses. It's a nasty business.
My love for the word schadenfreude is different and twofold. One is simply the sound of it. It's so fabulously German! All those syllables, the sssccchhhh sound; rounded off with that marvelous freude at the end. What's not to love about that?
Second, I really like how there is no equivalent word in the English language. Even if we had one it would never be as good as schadenfreude. It would probably be some dull, mangled term taken from psychology. English speakers have no option but to use the German word: schadenfreude!
SCHADENFREUDE! SCHADENFREUDE!
And that my dear reader is why the greatest word in the English language is German.
