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OP
OP
Schadenfreude--that's it. Thanks. I was making the first syllable more complicated than it is.
Whether it't just mischievousness or not, I'm not sure. From some of what I remember reading about schadenfreude, I've gotten the impression that it could be a rather serious psychological state. An enemy suffers loss; the opposing enemy feels genuine joy. This would be removed from sadism in that the one experiencing the joy wouldn't necessarily have caused the suffering of the sufferer. But that joy over suffering would be schadenfreude. That's been my understanding up to this point. Now I'm wondering whether I've been incorrect and that schadenfreude is just mischief. I'll go back and reread the thread to see whether anybody else commented.
Anyway, thanks, wwh, for the spelling. And for your mischief, too!
WW
Edit: Oh, OK. I just read what belligerentyouth wrote--"malicious joy"--and that's more in line with what I'd understood schadenfreude to be. Probably its broad range of application would run from mischief making through serious suffering.
Well, bless the Web for this WW (although as it tuned out I could remember most of the words):
Christmas time is here, by golly,
Disapproval would be folly.
Deck the halls with hunks of holly,
Fill the cup and don't say when.
Kill the turkeys, ducks and chickens,
Mix the punch, drag out the Dickens.
Even though the prospect sickens,
Brother, here we go again.
On Christmas Day you can't get sore,
Your fellow man you must adore.
There's time to rob him all the more
The other three hundred and sixty-four.
Relations, sparing no expense, 'll
Send some useless old utensil,
Or a matching pen and pencil.
("Just the thing I need, how nice!")
It doesn't matter how sincere it is,
Nor how heart felt the spirit,
Sentiment will not endear it,
What's important is the price.
Hark, the Herald Tribune sings,
Advertising wondrous things.
God rest ye merry merchants,
May ye make the Yuletide pay.
Angels we have heard on high,
Tell us to go out and buy!
So, let the raucous sleighbells jingle,
Hail our dear old friend Kris Kringle,
Driving his reindeer across the sky.
Don't stand underneath when they fly by!
Oh, and the Masochism Tango was found at:
http://members.aol.com/quentncree/lehrer/masochis.htm
Ah! And I just rediscovered Poisoning Pigeons In The Park. How could I forget??
http://members.aol.com/quentncree/lehrer/pigeons.htm
You should all hear these songs with music, though - Lehrer is a great musician and pianist, and a great performer.
OP
You're an angel, and I didn't even have to spend a ha'penny!
WW
)
Let's say that our wishes/feelings towards others are on a continuum, with completely neutral feelings at the zero point. To me, good will would be on the positive side; that is, not neutral: actively wishing good for others, as opposed to, "Well, it would be nice if good things happen to her, but if not, I don't really care". So--in this framework, the opposite of good will has to be actively negative. And I would call that a number of things, starting with ill will and menace.
Well, can't hardly blame you (she said ungrammatically), given some of the examples you've seen from your "elders" here. These past few months have been unlike anything that's ever been here before: it has shaken us to our roots. Let us hope that those angry days are gone for good, now; and I think you've set us a fine example.
Okay, to me, schadenfreude is the enjoyment of other's (usually mental) pain. I experience it, for instance, when my crap company's incompetent bosses are squirming trying to explain away to the City why various information supplied to that august body turned out to be wrong or misleading. I've also always felt that there was a soupçon of masochism in there as well, i.e. you are also caught up in whatever is going on and it may be damaging you as well, but you can't help smiling at it. Does that make sense?
Sadism is delight in the inflicting of physical or mental pain or at least that's the way I read it.
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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