I love reading books where I encounter either words, thoughts, or names that I don't know. My mother was a schoolteacher and when you asked her what a word meant, she would always say,"Look it up." So I got into the habit early and it stuck. Currently I am reading Olive Kitteridge, a novel by Elizabeth Strout that won a Pulitzer Prize. I tell you this not because that is why I chose it, but to let you know others think this book is good. And it is a good read. I really like Strout's style of introducing a character by mentioning things that happened in the past in a familiar way, like you already know about this person from prior reading. Before I caught on that she was employing this device I thought I was spacing out, and tried to go back and re-read the salient passages. I am intrigued with writing that is unexpected, keeps me on my toes, and then makes me allow the author to let the character unfold gradually, like a slow seduction. If I were being tested on this baby, I would go back and read it again when I was done. I may do that anyway. But I digress, back to the word schadenfreude. Apparently I have been asleep at the switch, because when I looked it up, I found out that this word has been featured in The Simpsons, Malcolm in the Middle, Two and a Half Men, West Wing, Boston Legal and a song in the musical Avenue Q. No, I don't watch these shows nor have been to the musical, but when a word has been out there that much, one thinks (I think) one should know it. Well, Wikipedia was the place to turn. The definition is pleasure derived from the misfortune of others, and in the novel, that concept is brought to life in a conversation between two bitter women. 
It seems less sinister when illustrated by a Peanuts comic strip. However, my research did uncover that the habit of dwelling with enjoyment on evil was picked out by the medieval Church as a sin know as morose delectation. Now that sounds really bad, like if you don't atone for that straightaway you are going to hell. Leave it to the Church to find a way to make a sin sound as evil as possible. Of course, that was their job. The Social Comparison Theory was developed from this thinking, which essentially says that when people around us have had bad luck, we look better to ourselves. All I know is that when I have gained weight, other people who I previously thought as heavy look thinner. I don't think that is what they are talking about. Wikipedia can't stay on topic any better than I can, not that this is a problem for me. The posting went onto talk about portmanteau. Ever hear of that? Not me. Portmanteau describes two words blended to make one. Like breakfast + lunch=brunch, Labrador+poodle=Labradoodle, Brad+Angelina=Brangelina, Sharon+Tony=Sharony.
It seems less sinister when illustrated by a Peanuts comic strip. However, my research did uncover that the habit of dwelling with enjoyment on evil was picked out by the medieval Church as a sin know as morose delectation. Now that sounds really bad, like if you don't atone for that straightaway you are going to hell. Leave it to the Church to find a way to make a sin sound as evil as possible. Of course, that was their job. The Social Comparison Theory was developed from this thinking, which essentially says that when people around us have had bad luck, we look better to ourselves. All I know is that when I have gained weight, other people who I previously thought as heavy look thinner. I don't think that is what they are talking about. Wikipedia can't stay on topic any better than I can, not that this is a problem for me. The posting went onto talk about portmanteau. Ever hear of that? Not me. Portmanteau describes two words blended to make one. Like breakfast + lunch=brunch, Labrador+poodle=Labradoodle, Brad+Angelina=Brangelina, Sharon+Tony=Sharony. So where is the Italian word of the day? It is "Buonpormeriggio" and means "Good Afternoon."
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