Verboticism: Schuldeschadenfreude

'That idiot has finally been fired?'

DEFINITION: n. A mixture of delight and guilt felt when a colleague, whom you despise, suffers a misfortune. v. To feel bad about feeling good when something bad happens to someone who is definitely not good.

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Schuldeschadenfreude

Created by: catgrin

Pronunciation: shool-de-shahd-n-froi-duh

Sentence: Kathy'd thought of herself as a "mean girl" so her schuldeschadenfreude at Betty's car accident (Betty'd always flaunted that Mercedes!) was something of a shock.

Etymology: Basically a compound German word, this is based on a combination of "Schuld" (guilt) and "Schadenfreude" (pleasure at the misfortune of others) which is an already accepted, and surprisingly rarely used word in the English language.

Points: 584

Comments: Schuldeschadenfreude

Alchemist - 2007-03-23: 07:40:00
I schuld've known!