A Great German Word

The Los Angeles Jewish Observer ^ | 17 October 2005 | Si Frumkin

[anotherview]

I am not a great fan of German achievement. I believe, horrors! horrors!, that a Lexus or a Cadillac is better than a BMW or Mercedes. But I do acknowledge that Germans have a way with words. They created words that other languages simply do not have. Schadenfreude is such a word. In case you are not familiar with it, it takes 7 English words to define it: "malicious satisfaction in the misfortunes of others". The dictionary also explains it with a quote from the New York Times about historian Peter Gay, who felt Schadenfreude as a Jewish child in Nazi-era Berlin, watching the Germans lose coveted gold medals in the 1936 Olympics; he said that it "can be one of the great joys of life."

[anotherview]

Better a little late than never...

[anotherview]

Pinging the pingers

[AlaskaErik]

At least that's $14 million that won't be spent on electing Rats.

[dsc]

If the NY Times was a newspaper rather than a propaganda organ, this would have been front-page news.

[SmithL]

James Wolfensohn bought himself an education.

[anotherview]

...but do you really think he learned anything???

[umgud]

Bravo, Bravo!

[Captainpaintball]

Yet those who donated will only hate themselves more, and help, in their small way, to perpetuate the one-sided violence against their brethren.

[A message]

but do you really think he learned anything???

Agreed, what is that definition of insanity? Something about doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.

There was nothing learned here other than another example for the rest of us about a fool and his money.....

[Snapping Turtle]

This is a simple and yet telling example of the "plight" of the Palestinians.

[I got the rope]

Good find.

[Rocky]

One of the early Israeli leaders said, "The Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity."

Anyone remember who said that? It was profoundly true.

[wideminded]

One article I read said that only about a third of the greenhouses were ruined.

[anotherview]

One of the early Israeli leaders said, "The Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity."

Anyone remember who said that? It was profoundly true.

Abba Eban

[anotherview]

One article I read said that only about a third of the greenhouses were ruined.

Care to provide a link? Every report I read, from the left and from the right and from every point in between, said that every last one was destroyed.

[Optimist]

only about a third of the greenhouses were ruined

Yes, there were about 3,000 and about 1,500 of the remaining 2,000 intact have been put back into production.

[Cacique]

ping

[BlackVeil]

Some references to the Gaza greenhouses:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20051019/wl_mideast_afp/mideastgazaagriculture

Oct 19 2005

GAZA CITY (AFP) - Gaza Strip farmers have renovated more than two-thirds of the greenhouses left behind after Israel's withdrawal, creating jobs for some 2,500 agricultural workers, officials said.

Figures published by the Palestine Economic Development Company (PED) show that in the month since Israeli troops left Gaza, Palestinian agricultural workers have refurbished some 2,200 dunams (22 hectares) of greenhouses out of the 3,162 which were transferred to them. ...


http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=46011

Israel shuts off water, dries Gaza greenhouses
Multimillion dollar deal set to transfer structures to Palestinians

---

August 29, 2005
By Aaron Klein

JERUSALEM – After months of intense negotiations recently culminating in a deal allowing for the transfer of Gaza's high-tech Jewish greenhouses to the Palestinians, several former Jewish residents who briefly returned to their farms told WND they were shocked to find most of their produce has died because Israel turned off the water in the area.

"I couldn't believe it. Almost all of my crops are dead, and the rest is dying," Anita Tucker, one of the pioneer farmers of Jewish Gaza told WND. "I hope the Palestinians aren't expecting fresh produce. ... A fortune in crops is now all gone."

The greenhouse deal, reached just days before the Gaza evacuation, sold the area hot houses for about $14 million to the Economic Cooperation Foundation, an international fund which in turn will transfer the structures to the Palestinians.

…
About one-quarter of Gaza's Jewish greenhouses were previously dismantled and moved to new communities in Israel by their owners. The foundation deal reportedly covers the majority of the remaining hothouses.

The first payment to the former farmers of Jewish Gaza was transferred this weekend to a committee working on their behalf. …
But several Jewish Gaza refugees who were allowed to briefly return to their hothouses said most of the produce currently inside is now dead.

Tucker, who owns large structures, said her hothouses were set to be watered by automatic irrigation systems.

"The sprinkler systems didn't work because Israel stupidly turned off the water after the Gaza withdrawal," said Tucker. "All my work, down the drain."

[luvbach1]

Unlike the French who usually attempt to invent a lame Francofied version of a neologism, Englsh just swallows Schadenfreude whole.