delight in another person's misfortune

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#135883 - 12/11/04 12:19 AM delight in another person's misfortune
darkpond stranger Registered: 12/11/04 Posts: 3	Is there a word that means "a person who delights in the misfortune of others?"
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#135884 - 12/11/04 12:57 AM Re: delight in another person's misfortune
tsuwm Carpal Tunnel Registered: 04/03/00 Posts: 10463 Loc: this too shall pass	you want a word for the person who exhibits schadenfreude? (or in English, perhaps, epicaricacy?) I would call this person a sadist.
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#135885 - 12/11/04 07:38 AM gloomjoy
plutarch veteran Registered: 10/10/01 Posts: 1385	I would call this person a sadist In general usage, I believe, a sadist is someone who enjoys inflicting pain, physical or psychological, on someone else. What might be wanted here is a more generalized, 'innocent' enjoyment of another person's misfortune which celebrities and politicians often complain about when they fall from grace. Your word "epicaricacy" is a good word, tsuwm, altho a bit of a mouthful. If "epicaricacy" means "taking pleasure in others' misfortune", then someone who takes such pleasure is an "epicaricacist" [which is even more of a mouthful]. Perhaps a new coinage is in order. Taking inspiration from the word "killjoy" [meaning "party pooper"], how about: "gloomjoy". Thus, a person who delights in the misfortunes of celebrities (and others) as reported in the news [and often fabricated for their peculiar delectation in gossip magazines] is a "gloomjoy". Judging from the popularity of gossip magazines like the National Enquirer, I fathom there are a lot more gloomjoys around than there are sadists. That's a good thing ... I guess. [It probably keeps some gloomjoys from evolving into sadists.]
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#135886 - 12/12/04 01:16 AM Re: delight in another person's misfortune
darkpond stranger Registered: 12/11/04 Posts: 3	Thanks. I knew I came to the right place.
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#135887 - 12/12/04 06:02 AM Re: delight in another person's misfortune
Wordwind Carpal Tunnel Registered: 09/30/01 Posts: 6296 Loc: Piedmont Region of Virginia, U...	Schadenfraulein and Schadenfrauboy. It's stretch, but, hey, it's early.
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#135888 - 12/12/04 08:53 AM Re: delight in another person's misfortune
plutarch veteran Registered: 10/10/01 Posts: 1385	Schadenfraulein and Schadenfrauboy Good one, Wordwind. People who haze college freshman are known as Schadenfratboys. re "It's stretch, but, hey, it's early." Hey, it's always a good thing to stretch first thing in the morning. We humans could learn a thing or two from cats -- and not just about cat naps. At Cat Tech everyone practices catastenics before they make a feline to the cateteria for breakfast. They call it the pause which refreshes.
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#135889 - 12/12/04 10:12 AM Re: delight in another person's misfortune
themilum veteran Registered: 05/25/02 Posts: 1529 Loc: Aladamnbama the most watered s...	What's a word that means "delight in another person's misfortune"? Thanks. I knew I came to the right place. __________________________________________________ Uh, maybe I'm just a little bit overly suspicious but...uh, what exactly does a person named Darkpond mean when he says I've come to the right place? _________________
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#135890 - 12/12/04 10:34 AM Re: delight in another person's misfortune
plutarch veteran Registered: 10/10/01 Posts: 1385	what exactly does a person named Darkpond mean when he says I've come to the right place? The enigma is likely to remain an enigma, themilum. Darkpond can't see his own reflection. Aside to Darkpond: That's not really a reflection on you. I'm just trying to be funny. If you don't enjoy my sense of humor, don't worry about it. No-else does either.
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#135891 - 12/12/04 02:29 PM Re: delight in another person's misfortune
themilum veteran Registered: 05/25/02 Posts: 1529 Loc: Aladamnbama the most watered s...	What good luck! I am signing onto a thread that has 7 replies and 77 views...777. Now Darkpond, don't you go take Plutarch's proverbs too literally. On occassion he says things just for the effect! But on the whole he's a pretty good fellow, his problem is the same as many guys who have been bright since birth - he thinks in absolutes. For example look over in Fun & Games where all the kats and Chicks are singing and laughing and playing Hogwash. Do you see Plutarch over there joining in the fun? Of course not. Plutarch will tell you that he doesn't join the frivolities because he is not wanted over there, and there-in lies the crux - he is right, some don't want him over there, but some do. Meanwhile Plutarch plays the martyr...overtly. Invertly Plutarch leads a tilt at the windmills of his own very good mind.
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#135892 - 12/12/04 03:25 PM Re: delight in another person's misfortune
plutarch veteran Registered: 10/10/01 Posts: 1385	there-in lies the crux - he is right, some don't want him over there, but some do I guess that's my crux to bear, themilum. Dear Darkpond, if you think this is a mixed review of Plutarch's virtues, I should warn you in advance [as a "Stranger"], it doesn't get any better than this. In fact, some people think themilum is my sock puppet. But themilum insists it isn't true.
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