RadioBanter - Woger

There is no word in our language to explain this feeling.
In fact only the German language has a word for
this: "Schadenfreude". It means taking pleasure in the misfortune
of others. It is not necessarily malicious, or envious. It can
be a just pleasu the fall from grace was deserved.

"As I learned there was a word for this, albeit in
another language, in German, and so sort of as a hobby I continued
to look into this subject of why is it that we feel pleasure when
bad things happen to other people. And the more I looked, the more
fascinated I became - in part, because I couldn't find anything. No
one seemed to have written on it. And eventually, I came across a
clue in the writings of Arthur Schopenhauer, a very influential 19th-
century German philosopher who, in the 1840s, says essentially "turn
back, don't look any further. There is a kind of pleasure that we
take in the misfortunes of other people. It is called Schadenfreude,
and it is a sign that the devil is working in a person". And this is
very curious, because I knew that Schopenhauer, an atheist, didn't
believe in God. And so I was intrigued that he referred to this
religious imagery - to frighten us, if you will. Not long after
Schopenhauer wrote, in the 1840s, that we should banish from our
communities any monster who ever witnessed taking pleasure in the
misfortunes or sufferings of other people, an English Archbishop
named R. C. Trench used the word Schadenfreude by name, in a book
that he wrote called The Study of Words. According to the Oxford
English Dictionary, this English Archbishop R. C. Trench is the
first person ever to use the word Schadenfreude in the English
language. And his use was quite curious. He'd moved to a discussion
of frightening words, and he used as one of his primary
illustrations the word Schadenfreude - he said to English
speakers "our neighbours, the Germans, have a word for taking
pleasure in the misfortunes of other people", and he said that the
mere fact that the German language contained a word for this
phenomenon was evidence that all of German culture was
polluted, was tainted."

- John Portmann

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group...e/message/2797

"Lights Out" wrote in message
...
Please, guys, give Roger a break and remember him in your prayers.

We all know Roger has not been well for years and years, and these last
two
weeks have been a particularly difficult time for him.

Roger suffers from congenital heart problems, a problem that at fifty
years
of age, is difficult to deal with.

How about all of us say a silent prayer for Roger and ask God to speed
Roger
on his road to recovery?

There is power in prayer and who knows? Maybe our prayers can help speed
Woger to a quick recovery.

And if God doesn't listen??? Well, Roger is going to die.

Bottom line? Nobody cares.