# I HATE GLEE... in which I pit the inadequacy of American English **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 12, 2005, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-glee-in-which-i-pit-the-inadequacy-of-american-english/289799 "2005-02-12T22:32:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2005, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-glee-in-which-i-pit-the-inadequacy-of-american-english/289799/1 "2005-02-12T22:32:33Z")
German is such a kicky little language for expressing unhappy concepts, idnnit? It has perhaps my favorite: _schadenfreude._ Why doesn’t American English have an equivalent word meaning “delight and exuberance in the suffering of others?” Only, y’know shorter. Easier to spell. The best I can think of – and I trust you’ll agree with me on this – is “glee.” Glee is such a fucking hateful little four letter word. Not to mention useless. Happiness can be expressed so much better in other English words that don’t sound so dippy. _He sang along gleefully to the “Barney” song._ I joined my Glee Club when I was sixteen. _When he knelt to propose she clapped her hands in glee._ FUCK! They all sound like thoroughbred twits. I don’t think I’ve seen its use in the modern sense where it didn’t include connotations of hurtfulness that other English words married with happiness and hatefulness simply don’t possess: _Once I learned that my ex-husband’s mistress died choking on his cum on their wedding night, my despondence over their recent marriage was instantly transfigured with a sense of uninhibited glee._ That’s fucking poetry. No other synonym of _happy_ fits that sentence so well, or any other sentence expressing a similar opinion. But can I find one. single. dictionary out there that agrees with me? NooOOoooo. Glee is always defined as “exuberant happiness,” with NO other connotations. People, this is an injustice I can no longer let stand. Hence this thread. _Glee_ should also mean “hateful happiness.” Thus I launch a new idea to improve this bitter old world. SPREAD THE WORD. Use “glee” yourself. Use it well and use it gleefully. Know that I now stand here, a glee black man, laughing gleefully at the changes I’ve wrought here today. Mwah ha ha HA ha ha HAH! ---
**Author:** ![phouka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2005, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-glee-in-which-i-pit-the-inadequacy-of-american-english/289799/2 "2005-02-12T22:39:39Z")
I take up your challenge, sir, and wait for the gleeful moment when Merriam-Webster’s bows to your denotative prowess. ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2005, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-glee-in-which-i-pit-the-inadequacy-of-american-english/289799/3 "2005-02-12T22:47:38Z")
Thanks for feeling me on that. BTW – I love your sig line, **phouka.** ---
**Author:** ![Ilsa\_Lund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a6a055/32.png) [@Ilsa\_Lund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ilsa_Lund)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2005, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-glee-in-which-i-pit-the-inadequacy-of-american-english/289799/4 "2005-02-12T22:48:45Z")
**glee** never did anything to me. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2005, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-glee-in-which-i-pit-the-inadequacy-of-american-english/289799/5 "2005-02-12T23:01:20Z")
What word do you propose to replace the correct and modern, non-hurtful uses of “glee” in your second paragraph? **Phouka** ’s sig is highly appropriate. After a couple decades of more frequent use, schadenfreude will shorten its pronuciation and spelling in English. My prediction is that it will turn into the word shit. Shit will by then have been replaced with fitzwalladernanakacree. ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2005, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-glee-in-which-i-pit-the-inadequacy-of-american-english/289799/6 "2005-02-12T23:13:11Z")
\*\*This Year’s Model. \*\* My choice? _Ecstasy_ and its variations. Any misunderstandings deriving from the drug of the same name would doubtless improve the dispositions of the singing kid, teen club and impending marriage in my examples. ---
**Author:** ![qubed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f07891/32.png) [@qubed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/qubed)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2005, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-glee-in-which-i-pit-the-inadequacy-of-american-english/289799/7 "2005-02-12T23:40:11Z")
What about **sadism**? It’s fairly close, and it doesn’t always have to be used in a sexual context. ---
**Author:** ![TVeblen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@TVeblen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TVeblen)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2005, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-glee-in-which-i-pit-the-inadequacy-of-american-english/289799/8 "2005-02-12T23:42:44Z")
Whoa. This thread isn’t about what I thought: “What’d **glee** so, beat somebody at chess?” Never mind. ---
**Author:** ![Sevastopol](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cdc98d/32.png) [@Sevastopol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sevastopol)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2005, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-glee-in-which-i-pit-the-inadequacy-of-american-english/289799/9 "2005-02-12T23:44:19Z")
> [@This Year's Model](#): > > What word do you propose to replace the correct and modern, non-hurtful uses of “glee” in your second paragraph? > > **Phouka** ’s sig is highly appropriate. After a couple decades of more frequent use, schadenfreude will shorten its pronuciation and spelling in English. My prediction is that it will turn into the word shit. Shit will by then have been replaced with fitzwalladernanakacree. What complete bullfitzwalladernanakacree. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2005, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-glee-in-which-i-pit-the-inadequacy-of-american-english/289799/10 "2005-02-12T23:44:53Z")
Glee is a name chosen by a doper to represent them. You need to be more sensitive! ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2005, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-glee-in-which-i-pit-the-inadequacy-of-american-english/289799/11 "2005-02-12T23:53:54Z")
I forgot about **glee** when I pitted _glee_. Part of me is cackling in glee at **glee** and gleefully awaits glee’s response. Perhaps he will adopt the name **ecstasy** as suggested. I should do a serious of semi-rants that pit words with Dopers’ screen names. “I HATE ASTRO… in which I pit the deficiencies in scientfic nomenclature dealing with outer space,” for example. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2005, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-glee-in-which-i-pit-the-inadequacy-of-american-english/289799/12 "2005-02-13T00:07:39Z")
There is an English word, “epicaricacy,” which means schadenfreude. But it doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue like “schadenfreude.” This, of course, brings up the irony of declaring a word as English simply because it is constructed of the same Greek and/or Latin roots as many of our other words. ---
**Author:** ![LeeshaJoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e8cbc/32.png) [@LeeshaJoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LeeshaJoy)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2005, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-glee-in-which-i-pit-the-inadequacy-of-american-english/289799/13 "2005-02-13T01:56:01Z")
Actually, considering that English is ultimately Germanic in origin, co-opting _schadenfreude_ seems rather appropriate. ---
**Author:** ![LilyoftheValley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/54ee81/32.png) [@LilyoftheValley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LilyoftheValley)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2005, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-glee-in-which-i-pit-the-inadequacy-of-american-english/289799/14 "2005-02-13T02:06:42Z")
**Askia** , do you have kids? I ask because ‘glee’ is the word I always think of for the hysterical big grinny giggles that my one-year-old gets when she’s really having fun. No other word really describes it, IMHO. (I think it stops at teenagehood if not earlier, though.) Anyway, I must disaglee…errr…disagree with your conclusion that ‘glee’ is useless. Save the glees! > [@](#): > > I should do a serious of semi-rants that pit words with Dopers’ screen names. “I HATE ASTRO… in which I pit the deficiencies in scientfic nomenclature dealing with outer space,” for example. If you ever feel the urge to pit a mundane white flower, I might be able to think of one… ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2005, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-glee-in-which-i-pit-the-inadequacy-of-american-english/289799/15 "2005-02-13T02:13:54Z")
> [@Snooooopy](#): > > There is an English word, “epicaricacy,” which means schadenfreude. But it doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue like “schadenfreude.” Which really says something about the word “epicaricacy.” ---
**Author:** ![Quint](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/76d3ee/32.png) [@Quint](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quint)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2005, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-glee-in-which-i-pit-the-inadequacy-of-american-english/289799/16 "2005-02-13T03:21:04Z")
> [@Snooooopy](#): > > There is an English word, “epicaricacy,” which means schadenfreude. But it doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue like “schadenfreude.” From [Here](http://dict.leo.org/cgi-bin/dict/forum.cgi?action=show&group=forum003_correct_l&file=20041025094225) "\*References to the word online quote Bailey’s Dictionary ca.1700, where the question is raised as to whether Bailey invented the word himself, as a direct transliteration from the Greek Epickarikaky, or not. And that’s it. The only reference. Other massive and conclusive, exhaustive works of English, such as OED, M-W, AHD and so on have no reference to it, not even as obsolete.\*" Seems that **epicaricacy** ’s inclusion in the English language is pretty tenuous. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2005, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-glee-in-which-i-pit-the-inadequacy-of-american-english/289799/17 "2005-02-13T03:56:41Z")
> [@Quint](#): > > Seems that **epicaricacy** ’s inclusion in the English language is pretty tenuous. You’ll get no argument from me that, as a word, it pretty much sucks! ---
**Author:** ![blowero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2005, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-glee-in-which-i-pit-the-inadequacy-of-american-english/289799/18 "2005-02-13T06:30:10Z")
> [@Askia](#): > > Why doesn’t American English have an equivalent word meaning “delight and exuberance in the suffering of others?” We do. _schadenfreude_. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2005, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-glee-in-which-i-pit-the-inadequacy-of-american-english/289799/19 "2005-02-13T09:17:49Z")
> [@blowero](#): > > We do. _schadenfreude_. Damn. You beat me to it. > **[Definition of schadenfreude | Dictionary.com](https://www.dictionary.com/browse/schadenfreude)** > > Definition of schadenfreude from Dictionary.com, the world’s leading online source for English definitions, pronunciations, word origins, idioms, Word of the Day, and more. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2005, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-glee-in-which-i-pit-the-inadequacy-of-american-english/289799/20 "2005-02-13T09:26:41Z")
Any takers for _weltschmerz_? And “anomie” and “ennui” don’t count. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-glee-in-which-i-pit-the-inadequacy-of-american-english/289799.md?page=2)