Scene 1: You work for fund manager Team A. Team A and Team B are fierce competitors for performance recognition in the firm. One morning, Team B receive news that their fund has lost half of its portfolio value because an investment asset has tanked overnight. You and other Team A members are gleeful to hear the outcome.

Scene 2: You are enjoying a leisurely walk on a park trail. Suddenly, a jogger elbows past, loudly cursing you for obstructing his path. He's hardly gone a few paces ahead when he stumbles over a root and falls. You can see he's not hurt. As you saunter past, you're unable to hide the huge smirk on your face.

You are experiencing schadenfreude in both scenes. Put simply, feeling happiness over the misfortune of others. That sounds pretty wicked, doesn't it? But there it is, an emotion that I believe if everyone shares all the scenarios that ever evoked it, can be compiled into a big fat volume.

The word, schadenfreude, originates from German (schaadenfrӓude). The English language is rich with contemporary foreign words. I also read that words originating from French and Latin make up around 30% of the English vocabulary (https://spb.hse.ru/soc/illuminated/news/359798506.html).

My interest on this topic started last week when I introduced the Malay word 'rojak' in my Tutor's Column. I used it in context to mean 'mixed with many things'. I subsequently had second thoughts and wondered if I should keep everything purely English when writing. Then, in a lesson on Cafetalk, my student and I considered ordering 'hors d'oeuvres' or 'entrees' in a restaurant. So, my friends, the English language is happily, quite 'rojak'.

Back to 'schadenfreude'; is the feeling of schadenfreude a good or bad thing? Hmm .. well, that's a slippery slope. Who am I to judge?

Note:

You may look up the definition of 'schadenfreude' here. Have fun learning how to pronounce it too.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/schadenfreude

For further reading and to tickle your thoughts (National Geographic calls it a deficit of empathy):

If you’ve felt like people are getting crueler, you may be right (nationalgeographic.com)

 
Postscript added on 8 Oct 2023: Note: Thank you to those who have written to let me know you enjoy reading my column but daren't take a lesson because there are parts you don't really understand. I assure you we'll always speak at a level which suits you so that we can enjoy a casual conversation. Also, we can go through words and sentences that are difficult so that we learn together. Perhaps, they will be easy then and we'll always have something to talk about. No stress!