One man’s misfortune is another man’s joy

My favourite German word is not ‘kraftfahrzeughaftpflichtversicherung’,

which means ‘motor vehicle liability insurance’. Nor is it ‘bezirksschornsteinfegermeister’, or ‘head district chimney sweep’, nor even ‘’brustwarze’ (‘breast wart’, the horrifically uninviting word for ‘nipple’). No, my favourite German word, at a manageable four syllables, is ‘schadenfreude’. From ‘schaden’ — ‘damage or harm’ — and ‘freude’ — ‘joy’ or ‘pleasure’.

A new book, Schadenfreude: The Joy of Another’s Misfortune, is an exploration of this most appalling human emotion. Schadenfreude is not about sadism; it’s not about inflicting damage on others. It’s worse: it’s that warm glow you get when you hear bad stuff about someone else. It’s what modern culture — which the book calls the ‘spitezeigst’ — is built upon.