The feeling of distress from seeing the successes or pleasures of others, in English also known as jealousy or envy. It conveys what Nietzsche probably felt on his worst day, but coyly. And ironically, uttering it may also be its own antidote. Who doesn’t feel better having said a witty quip or impressing others with one’s own cosmopolitanism? After all, it’s German, four syllables and has Freud in it—and sounds like its antonym, Schadenfreude. (The less savvy might think you said that while your elders might think you said Frusen Glädjé, that decadent ice cream from the 80s.)
by Tantum March 22, 2013