# Is schadenfreude the new "it" word? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 5, 2009, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-schadenfreude-the-new-it-word/488434 "2009-03-05T20:14:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2009, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-schadenfreude-the-new-it-word/488434/1 "2009-03-05T20:14:29Z")
Ya know, about ten years ago I signed up to [m-w.com](http://m-w.com)’s E-mail a day list. Over the years I slowly but surely turned into a word junkie. I love adding new words to my vocabulary. Funny thing is tho’, every time I learn a new word I haven’t heard before, it seems like I start noticing that word being used everywhere. I mostly attribute this phenomenon due to the fact that now that any given word is added to my vocabulary; my senses are more keen to it being used. But schadenfreude? Why on this board alone I’ve noticed this word being used ten fold. I first learned this word watching “Boston Legal”. Now, it seems like it’s being used everywhere. Anybody else notice this? ---
**Author:** ![Jeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2009, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-schadenfreude-the-new-it-word/488434/2 "2009-03-05T20:18:40Z")
Many fans of the Simpsons recognize this word (thanks to one of Lisa’s quips during a long-ago episode)\*. I have no doubt that part of its popularity (at least on this board) relates to that. \*back in 1991 according to wikipedia ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2009, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-schadenfreude-the-new-it-word/488434/3 "2009-03-05T20:27:14Z")
> [@Jeff](#): > > Many fans of the Simpsons recognize this word (thanks to one of Lisa’s quips during a long-ago episode)\*. I have no doubt that part of its popularity (at least on this board) relates to that. > > \*back in 1991 according to wikipedia It was also the title of a song in the 2003 musical **Avenue Q**. - Did you ever clap when a waitress falls and drops a tray of glasses? And ain’t it fun to watch figure skaters falling on their asses?\* ---
**Author:** ![Merejane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@Merejane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merejane)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2009, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-schadenfreude-the-new-it-word/488434/4 "2009-03-05T20:31:11Z")
> [@SHAKES](#): > > But schadenfreude? Why on this board alone I’ve noticed this word being used ten fold. I first learned this word watching “Boston Legal”. Now, it seems like it’s being used everywhere. > > Anybody else notice this? I learned this word on “Boston Legal” and have noticed it’s being used a lot since then, too. It seems weird that this would happen, because in the scene where Alan used the word, he didn’t just use it – he explained its meaning to the jury. I don’t think that would have worked if most people knew the meaning of the word already. They would be thinking, “Excuse me, why are you giving me a pedantic lecture on the meaning of a word that everyone knows?” I thought the scene worked because it was _not_ a common word. But as you said, now I read that word often. ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2009, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-schadenfreude-the-new-it-word/488434/5 "2009-03-05T21:06:23Z")
I almost never heard it before that Simpsons episode. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2009, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-schadenfreude-the-new-it-word/488434/6 "2009-03-05T21:15:14Z")
> [@SHAKES](#): > > But schadenfreude? Why on this board alone I’ve noticed this word being used ten fold. I first learned this word watching “Boston Legal”. Now, it seems like it’s being used everywhere. > > Anybody else notice this? It has a lot of catching up to do if it wants to take the title away from “twee”. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2009, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-schadenfreude-the-new-it-word/488434/7 "2009-03-05T21:17:35Z")
There’s even [a song about it.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WenavtbrtA) ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2009, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-schadenfreude-the-new-it-word/488434/8 "2009-03-05T21:21:53Z")
Must be a meme\* or something. \*(another “it” word) ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2009, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-schadenfreude-the-new-it-word/488434/9 "2009-03-05T23:31:52Z")
I remember using it in college, back in the 70’s. ---
**Author:** ![Cosmopolitan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/94ad74/32.png) [@Cosmopolitan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cosmopolitan)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2009, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-schadenfreude-the-new-it-word/488434/10 "2009-03-06T00:08:05Z")
It’s been one of my favorite words for years, along with “defenestrate”. They just _roll_ off the tongue, no? ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2009, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-schadenfreude-the-new-it-word/488434/11 "2009-03-06T00:39:22Z")
I’m pretty sure _Schadenfreude_ was popularised in Britain in the 80s, well before The Simpsons, thanks to a TV commercial featuring, IIRC, Kevin McNally (Pirates of the Caribbean, innumerable British TV shows). The advert was all about this word that the German language has but English doesn’t. It made quite an impression, and I distinctly remember people starting to use the word after that. I’m damned if I can remember what the ad was for, but it was a long time ago. British Gas? ---
**Author:** ![T.Slothrop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3e96dc/32.png) [@T.Slothrop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/T.Slothrop)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2009, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-schadenfreude-the-new-it-word/488434/12 "2009-03-06T08:13:31Z")
I learned it in Germany in the 1980s from Germans who pointed out that it was a German word which had no correlation in English. Now my kids use it. On a similar note, I really hate it when I learn something from reading and then everybody else in the world learns it from something on TV. And then they tell me about it. ---
**Author:** ![Lo-Slung\_Denim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f6c823/32.png) [@Lo-Slung\_Denim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lo-Slung_Denim)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2009, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-schadenfreude-the-new-it-word/488434/13 "2009-03-06T16:37:49Z")
I learnt it in school I think, so I must have been under 16. That was ten years ago. I do not recall seeing it frequently on this board either recently or in the few years I’ve been reading here. Maybe because I am not sensitive to it as I have known the word for ages. I do not like the word defenestrate. I don’t know why! ---
**Author:** ![I\_Am\_The\_Lorax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19adc/32.png) [@I\_Am\_The\_Lorax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Am_The_Lorax)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2009, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-schadenfreude-the-new-it-word/488434/14 "2009-03-06T18:32:38Z")
This is one of the words that I’ve only ever read, not heard. I don’t know how to pronounce it, so I wouldn’t even try to say it. (Meme, either) ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2009, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-schadenfreude-the-new-it-word/488434/15 "2009-03-06T19:07:33Z")
> [@I\_Am\_The\_Lorax](#): > > This is one of the words that I’ve only ever read, not heard. I don’t know how to pronounce it, so I wouldn’t even try to say it. (Meme, either) If you go to [dictionary.com](http://dictionary.com) and look it up; there is a speaker button. Click on it and they pronounce it for you. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2009, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-schadenfreude-the-new-it-word/488434/16 "2009-03-06T19:18:12Z")
If it means “per se” will die a violent death, then I will get…how you say?..a feeling of perverse secondary pleasure witnessing the misfortune of that terribly misused and overdone phrase as it disappears from consciousness. ---
**Author:** ![accidentalyuppie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@accidentalyuppie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/accidentalyuppie)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2009, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-schadenfreude-the-new-it-word/488434/17 "2009-03-06T19:31:15Z")
I think we’re hearing it a lot these days simply because there’s a lot of it going around. It’s always been a favorite word of mine and I wish there was an English equivalent. ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2009, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-schadenfreude-the-new-it-word/488434/18 "2009-03-06T19:35:07Z")
I’m pretty sure it’s an OLD “it” word enjoying a resurgence. I remember hearing it a lot in the 80s and early 90s. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2009, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-schadenfreude-the-new-it-word/488434/19 "2009-03-06T21:35:43Z")
> [@I\_Am\_The\_Lorax](#): > > This is one of the words that I’ve only ever read, not heard. I don’t know how to pronounce it, so I wouldn’t even try to say it. (Meme, either) Shah + den + froy + duh (the “freud” part of the word is pronounced like Sigmund Freud) ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2009, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-schadenfreude-the-new-it-word/488434/20 "2009-03-07T00:46:37Z")
And when exactly was it that _“in”_ words became _“it”_ words? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-schadenfreude-the-new-it-word/488434.md?page=2)