Well. I have yet to list the infamous s-word. But how else to describe the joy that watching "Engineering Disasters" on The Hitlery channel's "Modern Marvels" brings me.
I could watch footage of baggage being chewed up in the infamous Denver Airport's baggage handling debacle for hours on end.
No. 2 (quixotic) isn't so uplifting either. Haters of the S-word are placing all our hopes on serendipity, which is fitting ... but if there were any justice, loquacious would top the site. I'm off to do my part!
"That the report of Sebastian Imhof's grave illness might also have been tinged with Schadenfreude appears not to have crossed Lucas's mind." - 'Flesh and Spirit', Steven Ozment.
The capitalisation here is just as ugly as the word itself. Common nouns are not capitalised in English, regardless of what happens in German. Pass the bucket please.
Don't make me do it. Up until now I have not actually been guilty of listing the dreaded s-word (as far as I know). But I'm starting to feel a little like c_b, all this bashing may just force me into a solidarity listing.
But - heaven forfend - far be it from me to interfere with anybody's fun. I think I was just tempted by the opportunity to say pshaw.
I'm actually starting to feel a little sympathy for poor schadenfreude, considering all the abuse it's taken lately. I thought about adding it to each one of my lists, just to see if it would rack up the count and tick people off (hee...) but I didn't. Yet.
Oh, pshaw to this lobbying for specific words in an effort to dethrone the most commonly listed. This is not the Colbert Nation.
I think you guys are making far too much of this. Being most commonly listed is no more than that - it does not imply, for instance, that people like the word, or in any way consider it among their favorites.
Suggestions, eh? Well, right now the #2, #3, and #4 words are quixotic, serendipity, and loquacious. All three of these have meanings that could be applied to Wordie, I think, and their popularity makes us seem like a good-natured lot.
If one of the three were to overtake schadenfreude, I wouldn't shed a tear.
Molly's nailed it. Some dislike the S-word for what it is but many, philosophically, would like to see something more positive up there. Any suggestions?
I dislike the s-word because I think it's overused. As we all started discussing why we disliked it, we seemed to have given it the Wordie treatment and it became a sort of collective we-hate-this-word thing.
And never hesitate to ask. No one will kick you off Wordie. (Well, John could, but he's not that kind of dictator.)
If only 50 people had listed the word, I think the dislike would be much less intense. But the top rank combined with the meaning says something a bit dispiriting about us collectively. Why couldn't a word like sprachgefuhl (also listed as sprachgefühl) be the top of the list? That would be frabjous!
As for moist, I personally associate it with bodice rippers, which not only makes it dirty in my mind, it gives it connotations of poor quality and veneral diseases.
Yes, I wanted to ask, too, but I never dared... How did it all start? Who found out that nothing can capture a heart... oops, sorry. Now I'm singing. And dancing.
Gangerh, you may have just made bunch of people very happy. Since about two weeks after Wordie launched, I've meant to make it so that least favorite words didn't count towards the number of times a word has been listed. And I think I never got around to it.
So this weekend I'll see if that's correct, and fix it if so. And we'll see if the S-word gets taken down a few notches. Maybe the reason it's been on top of the charts is because it's so hated.
Oh no! Help! I added the s-word as my least favourite and I think it added one to the count for it! Is this so? If it is, how can listing your least favourite word add to its popularity? Sacrilege-bleu! Is it a bug or am I bugdudgeoning? Btw,schadenfreudgeon is why I did it. Can I cancel it?
It would be pretty straightforward for me to calculate the top 100 at any given time. What I'd love to do is create some kind of dynamic histogram of how the top 100 has evolved. Or devolved. No promises, but I'll work on that someday.
I'm sorry to report that the S-word has hit 300. I don't think anything is gaining on it either.
Here's the rest of the top 100. Did anyone keep a record of what it looked like a year ago or at other times? It would be interesting to see how the rankings have changed.
Being sometimes a saccharine optimist, I can't help opining that the reason others' pain is funny is not that ha-ha, it's you instead of me, but rather an instinctual, communal response to tragedy: an affirmation that, despite obstacles, injuries, and atrocities, we survive anyway. Laughter springs not from a sense of superiority, but from a sense of connectedness.
Due to flagrant overuse, schadenfreude has been depreciated from a twenty-dollar word to a dime a dozen. If only the supply of words could be restricted in the same manner as currency.
The schadenfreude may now reign down, but that doesn't seem like a reason not to do so. http://evhead.com/2007/02/marketplace-wanted-web-site-for-sale.asp
I'm willing to bet that schadenfreude stays on the most wordied, past seven days list because it is always listed on the homepage. Akimbo went through a similar period.
Overrated word that has caught on wildly in an age when people giggle at the "Darwin Awards," etc.
about 1 year ago dbmag9 said:If sarcasm is the lowest form of wit...
Schadenfreude seems to be one of the most primal pleasures. Television shows abound are filled with examples: man falls off ladder, child flies off swing, bucket falls onto woman. In one sense it is a valuble learning experience: you are glad you weren't in that position, and make a note not to be in it yourself. But why is it so funny? The only answer I can give is that it expresses the joy you have, build in by millenia of evolutionary conditioning, that you were not the weak one who ended the chain, that, whilst others may fail, you go on to live another day.
why take pleasure in this word/ other people's suffering. Or wow, other people's lists of insipid words: "sash, dash cash"? Let's have some sapidity, please!
Well. I have yet to list the infamous s-word. But how else to describe the joy that watching "Engineering Disasters" on The Hitlery channel's "Modern Marvels" brings me.
I could watch footage of baggage being chewed up in the infamous Denver Airport's baggage handling debacle for hours on end.
Does this make me a bad person?
I like the sound of the x in quixotic, actually.
You got it, Pro. I was going to say "x as in expresso", but I knew I'd never forgive myself for actually typing ...
Sigh.
I just found this list!
Sorry? X as in WHAT?!
burntsox, quixotic is only horrid if you say it the way Americans seem to, pronouncing the x as in espresso.
A nice faux-Spanish pronunciation, with the x like an English h, is positively poetic.
It's a terrible word and a terrible concept! This word would never be allowed on the porch! *stomp, stomp*
(n): a feeling of extreme pleasure or satisfaction
No. 2 (quixotic) isn't so uplifting either. Haters of the S-word are placing all our hopes on serendipity, which is fitting ... but if there were any justice, loquacious would top the site. I'm off to do my part!
"That the report of Sebastian Imhof's grave illness might also have been tinged with Schadenfreude appears not to have crossed Lucas's mind."
- 'Flesh and Spirit', Steven Ozment.
The capitalisation here is just as ugly as the word itself. Common nouns are not capitalised in English, regardless of what happens in German. Pass the bucket please.
- Datacube of tech-support guy Alex Jacobson, Deus Ex.
One more plug for the runaway schadenfreude train (with a zeitgeist plug to nab a miserable double)!
Ptero, your failure to list pshawdenfreude will cost you Wordie points. That's a humdinger.
tsk, tsk gangerh! (Or do I mean tut-tut?) :-)
Don't make me do it. Up until now I have not actually been guilty of listing the dreaded s-word (as far as I know). But I'm starting to feel a little like c_b, all this bashing may just force me into a solidarity listing.
But - heaven forfend - far be it from me to interfere with anybody's fun. I think I was just tempted by the opportunity to say pshaw.
Please carry on!
psionnach
I think gangerh is having a bit of pshawdenfreude over there. ;-)
I tried that c_b and it seems that the count is per Wordie who lists the word rather than per number of times listed.
Pshaw to you too, s-ionnach! We're having fun and if you don't like it you can always take your list home. So there! ;~>
I'm actually starting to feel a little sympathy for poor schadenfreude, considering all the abuse it's taken lately. I thought about adding it to each one of my lists, just to see if it would rack up the count and tick people off (hee...) but I didn't. Yet.
Oh, pshaw to this lobbying for specific words in an effort to dethrone the most commonly listed. This is not the Colbert Nation.
I think you guys are making far too much of this. Being most commonly listed is no more than that - it does not imply, for instance, that people like the word, or in any way consider it among their favorites.
Suggestions, eh? Well, right now the #2, #3, and #4 words are quixotic, serendipity, and loquacious. All three of these have meanings that could be applied to Wordie, I think, and their popularity makes us seem like a good-natured lot.
If one of the three were to overtake schadenfreude, I wouldn't shed a tear.
schadenfreudgen, of course! Vote now!
Molly's nailed it. Some dislike the S-word for what it is but many, philosophically, would like to see something more positive up there. Any suggestions?
(*Still singing*)
I dislike the s-word because I think it's overused. As we all started discussing why we disliked it, we seemed to have given it the Wordie treatment and it became a sort of collective we-hate-this-word thing.
And never hesitate to ask. No one will kick you off Wordie. (Well, John could, but he's not that kind of dictator.)
If only 50 people had listed the word, I think the dislike would be much less intense. But the top rank combined with the meaning says something a bit dispiriting about us collectively. Why couldn't a word like sprachgefuhl (also listed as sprachgefühl) be the top of the list? That would be frabjous!
Well, I'm glad I'm not the only one wondering.
As for moist, I personally associate it with bodice rippers, which not only makes it dirty in my mind, it gives it connotations of poor quality and veneral diseases.
But that's just me :D
I second plethora's question. For that matter, why the hatred of moist?
Yes, I wanted to ask, too, but I never dared... How did it all start? Who found out that nothing can capture a heart... oops, sorry. Now I'm singing. And dancing.
At the risk of becoming a Wordie outcast for the rest of Wordieternity, I have to ask... Why is this word so hated?
I would never wish that on a fellow Wordie-ite.
'Spose the s-word is what you feel now 'cause I did get 'sucked in', r-t!
'Spose the s-word describes you now 'cause I did get 'sucked in', r-t!
Oh no, sir! I for one did not get sucked into that trap! You will see no trace of the s-word on any of my mind-numbingly long lists. No siree.
*harrumphs*
P.S. Gangerh, you can remove it. Just click on "delete" right after the listing. And hurry, before someone sees you there and adds it in solidarity!
Seeing this word appearing so often in the comments list lately, I've developed a growing fondness for it... Even favouritism...
(Actually I just like to sing it to the tune of the Hallelujah Chorus, for some reason.)
Aha! So 'tis possible that, after erinfern first listed it, 305 Wordies put it down as their least favourite? schadenfreudgeon demands a re-count!
Gangerh, you may have just made bunch of people very happy. Since about two weeks after Wordie launched, I've meant to make it so that least favorite words didn't count towards the number of times a word has been listed. And I think I never got around to it.
So this weekend I'll see if that's correct, and fix it if so. And we'll see if the S-word gets taken down a few notches. Maybe the reason it's been on top of the charts is because it's so hated.
Oh no! Help! I added the s-word as my least favourite and I think it added one to the count for it! Is this so? If it is, how can listing your least favourite word add to its popularity? Sacrilege-bleu! Is it a bug or am I bugdudgeoning? Btw,schadenfreudgeon is why I did it. Can I cancel it?
It would be pretty straightforward for me to calculate the top 100 at any given time. What I'd love to do is create some kind of dynamic histogram of how the top 100 has evolved. Or devolved. No promises, but I'll work on that someday.
SOMEONE DID IT AGAIN!
Higher than truthiness? I suppose that's one less point for the Hipster-ness of Wordie users, but our sadism is cemented.
It's a reassuring thought!
I must have been grandfathered in, then, thank heavens.
Does John have this on the sign-up confirmation page?
Thank you for joining Wordie, please add schadenfreude to complete the registration process.
See also chairekakiophobia.
Haha. I'm enjoying the fact that you can't, jennarenn.
It is a *shame* that I can't add this word to conversations.
I'm certain it does. It would be just like this word.
Hmmm. Do you think this word, when it lies awake in its bed at night, delights at the misfortune of other words in not being most-listed?
I have a feeling fuck is on the wane, which given the other words in the top 100 is a shame. Jejune? Azure? Pulchritude? Give me strength.
I'm sorry to report that the S-word has hit 300. I don't think anything is gaining on it either.
Here's the rest of the top 100. Did anyone keep a record of what it looked like a year ago or at other times? It would be interesting to see how the rankings have changed.
2. quixotic (227)
3. serendipity (217)
4. loquacious (193)
5. ennui (191)
6. plethora (185)
7. mellifluous (174)
8. obfuscate (169)
9. verisimilitude (164)
10. sanguine (162)
11. sesquipedalian (161)
12. ephemeral (159)
13. lugubrious (158)
14. onomatopoeia (156)
15. love (154)
16. syzygy (154)
17. cacophony (153)
18. defenestrate (152)
19. antediluvian (147)
20. defenestration (145)
21. crepuscular (144)
22. zeitgeist (144)
23. callipygian (140)
24. curmudgeon (136)
25. ubiquitous (135)
26. persnickety (135)
27. cerulean (135)
28. moist (131)
29. egregious (131)
30. ethereal (129)
31. esoteric (129)
32. palimpsest (128)
33. doppelganger (127)
34. superfluous (127)
35. portmanteau (125)
36. cantankerous (124)
37. pulchritude (122)
38. ersatz (119)
39. insouciant (117)
40. inchoate (116)
41. macabre (116)
42. mercurial (115)
43. obsequious (115)
44. synecdoche (115)
45. lackadaisical (115)
46. halcyon (114)
47. conundrum (112)
48. miasma (112)
49. salacious (111)
50. penultimate (110)
51. quotidian (110)
52. capricious (110)
53. nefarious (108)
54. anathema (107)
55. clandestine (107)
56. taciturn (106)
57. wanderlust (105)
58. erudite (104)
59. facetious (104)
60. pedantic (103)
61. akimbo (103)
62. solipsism (101)
63. jejune (100)
64. lithe (100)
65. peripatetic (100)
66. soliloquy (100)
67. apotheosis (99)
68. flibbertigibbet (98)
69. zephyr (95)
70. chiaroscuro (95)
71. epiphany (95)
72. neologism (95)
73. soporific (94)
74. vapid (92)
75. laconic (92)
76. palindrome (92)
77. quagmire (91)
78. nascent (91)
79. azure (91)
80. obstreperous (91)
81. avuncular (90)
82. brouhaha (90)
83. kerfuffle (89)
84. troglodyte (89)
85. melancholy (88)
86. paradigm (88)
87. recalcitrant (87)
88. unctuous (87)
89. sardonic (87)
90. prolix (87)
91. supercilious (86)
92. prestidigitation (85)
93. diaphanous (85)
94. lachrymose (84)
95. moxie (84)
96. fuck (84)
97. ineffable (84)
98. snarky (84)
99. perspicacious (84)
100. truthiness (83)
Yes indeed. And that's about all I have for you. :-)
"one brief, shining moment"?
maith go leor!
Npydyuan, for one brief, shining moment you almost made me like this word.
But then it passed.
Being sometimes a saccharine optimist, I can't help opining that the reason others' pain is funny is not that ha-ha, it's you instead of me, but rather an instinctual, communal response to tragedy: an affirmation that, despite obstacles, injuries, and atrocities, we survive anyway. Laughter springs not from a sense of superiority, but from a sense of connectedness.
Clearly the popularity of this word demonstrates the collective sadism of Wordie users.
"Die reinste freude ist die schadenfreude."
That's what stairs are for.
Hmph. Guess you told ME. ;-)
Y'see, I thought of that question myself. But I knew that I'm indie enough to get away with answering "BOTH!" So there. :-P
Wait...the words are more obscure or you have more of them that are obscure?
Oh cripes, I keep doing that. Occupational hazard....
You're just jealous because I have more obscure words than you.
Quit being all indie snob, U!
You'll not see my name on here, u. I dislike the word as much as you do. Eeesh.
232?!? Now that's just getting out of hand. And I still can't stand this word.
People, stop adding it! Resist the temptation! It's not that great, really!!
schadenfreude is terminally overused, but what a great word! truly captures that common, base feeling.
Due to flagrant overuse, schadenfreude has been depreciated from a twenty-dollar word to a dime a dozen. If only the supply of words could be restricted in the same manner as currency.
The schadenfreude may now reign down, but that doesn't seem like a reason not to do so. http://evhead.com/2007/02/marketplace-wanted-web-site-for-sale.asp
I'm willing to bet that schadenfreude stays on the most wordied, past seven days list because it is always listed on the homepage. Akimbo went through a similar period.
Overrated word that has caught on wildly in an age when people giggle at the "Darwin Awards," etc.
Schadenfreude seems to be one of the most primal pleasures. Television shows abound are filled with examples: man falls off ladder, child flies off swing, bucket falls onto woman. In one sense it is a valuble learning experience: you are glad you weren't in that position, and make a note not to be in it yourself. But why is it so funny? The only answer I can give is that it expresses the joy you have, build in by millenia of evolutionary conditioning, that you were not the weak one who ended the chain, that, whilst others may fail, you go on to live another day.
The next time I see someone fall on the ice I am going to help them up.
Also, the only equivalent phrase (that I am aware of) in English is Lucretian joy
laugharn brilliantly named schoenfraun schadenfreude's sad emo cousin.
Best used in Avenue Q.
Or the English version, epicaricacy.
. . . promotes the meaning of this word every day and every minute and in every way . . .
why take pleasure in this word/ other people's suffering. Or wow, other people's lists of insipid words: "sash, dash cash"? Let's have some sapidity, please!