by MikeySix » Fri Feb 18, 2011 1:11 pm TeckXKnight wrote:That varies on where you're from and your birth language. English speaking countries don't have as strong of a root understanding of Schadenfreude and we see evidence of this not only neurologically but linguistically as well as we've failed to adapt and develop a word or similar definition for ourselves. Slavic nations, Germany, and I'm sure many other parts of the world have a deeper connection to it.
To put it bluntly, where you're from determines what a word means to you and what evokes it/what it evokes. It's kinda of amazing, really. I've had the pleasure of rooming with a Linguist this year and you learn so much when you cross studies.
So ya, I'm just going to repeat what your teachers always tell you to not cite wikipedia and be careful about the information you take from there. That said, statistically it's about as accurate as any other encyclopedia with the bulk of its errors lying in nationalism, bias, and the sciences. If you ever want to see internet rage, watch the Korean Japanese War article go back and forth. One side says that the other commit horrible atrocities, the other says that they acted bravely and civilly for war times. Neither is wrong, it's just how you want to spin the exact same thing. Brilliant~!
Pretty sure his use of the word correlated with what I read on wikipedia. He says he enjoys causing grief and misfortune to others.
I also read that in popular culture, the word is used by a character in team fortress 2, which is probably where the child learned the word.
