What’s your favorite word?
I like the German word “Schadenfreude,” meaning to take joy in another’s misfortune.
I like the idea that a person can be so in touch with their dark side that they can express that bit of pettiness in a single word. So much of language is obfuscation and deceit. Southerners use four words (i.e. “God bless his soul”) to say a person is an idiot, and – even then – the meaning is masked.
Schadenfreude is authentic, and we need more authenticity in language.

Actually, we say “Well bless your heart.” Hehe.
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Schadenfreude is a terrible word, at least when German is your native tongue. It means getting pleasure out of someone else’s misfortune. Freude=joy. It’s a bad character trade in my opinion, but you are honest and I respect that.
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Humor ist wenn man trotzdem lacht. 🙂
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‘= proof of humour is in the pudding of misery’ (freely translated by BS)
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Mel Brooks said something like, “Tragedy is when I step off a curb into a puddle, comedy is when another guy falls down a sewer hole and dies.”
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ok I’d settle for the other guy getting soaked in the sewer – they don’t have to die for comedy 🤣
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actually, believe it or not, the cultural connotation is actually good humour, at least in the British context where the word has been borrowed 🙂
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