[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

"I’m a bad person. I know it’s not nice to take joy in the misery of others, but I can’t help but smile when I see a story about bad news in France."

Please forgive me for a moment of pedantry.

The quote above is a perfect illustration of the meaning of "Schadenfreude". The writer is not only taking "joy in the misery of others"; he also clearly feels guilty about it. Schadenfreude is a guilty pleasure. If there is no feeling of guilt, it's just gloating.

Schadenfreude is a great word -- we had to borrow it from the Germans, because there's no word quite like it in English. Unfortunately, it's been so overused -- as a simple synonym for gloating -- that it's probably forever lost its special meaning. /pedant

At least, that's how I understand it. If I'm wrong, perhaps some greater pedant will set me straight.

[Hugin]

A joke illustrating Schadenfreude...

A poor peasant is digging a field when he sees a brass lamp laying in the mud. He takes it out and starts rubbing the mud away, when a genie appears. The genie tells him he will grant one wish for freeing him, so choose carefully. The peasant thinks, then says, “My neighbor has a cow. Every day he gets milk, and he makes butter and cheese. I don’t have a cow, so whenever I want milk, or butter, or cheese, I must buy it from him. It’s not fair.”

“So”, the genie says, “what is your wish”.

“I want you to kill the bastard’s cow!”

[Erasmus]

There is also Freudenschade, which means peevish envy at the good fortune of others.

At least that's what it means, now that I've made it up.

(I'm sure that a Google search will reveal hundreds of other great minds who have done likewise.)