My late wife, who was a social worked and was especially attuned to people's pain and incredibly sympathetic to most wrongdoers due to their upbringing, took great delight (evilly, she would say) at seeing losing fans of a sporting event crying in the stands. Especially children. At the end of a game she would shout, "Show me the crying babies!!!"
As the mother of a Deaf adult who walks with him a lot, I can assure you that drivers (and bicyclists) assume that you can hear them. Even without honking, cars think you hear the engine, because most of the time they are right. Electric cars will probably end that— I have already been surprised by a few of those and my hearing is so far only slightly compromised by old age. That said, once your “deaf child” walks for miles the signs don’t help. So my PSA—never assume pedestrians hear you.
My dad - who held a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Carnegie Tech as well as a Master's Degree in math - once installed a new light fixture in the kitchen of my parents' house. Being a cautious man with a deep knowledge of electricity, he turned of the appropriate circuit breaker (in the basement) before he started. When the job was neatly done, he turned the breaker back on. The light worked, shall we say, brilliantly. At that point my uncle (his brother), who was visiting, asked him where the switch was for the light. Despite his careful planning, he'd neglected to include a switch. I managed to contain my amused reaction, but my uncle laugher harder than I'd ever seen him laugh.
For me, the Trump schadenfreude is prompted by how often he has flaunted breaking the law and been lauded for it. He hates illegal immigrants yet his organization gets caught hiring them all the time - a small fine and he gets to save thousands on labor, so he habitually does it. He fake-cries about lost jobs and companies going under, yet he is the cause of so many companies going under because he doesn't pay them for their services. He wants the rich to pay their fair share, but not HIM - he doesn't own anything himself (his corporation owns his homes so he doesn't have to pay personal taxes), and hides behind tax law for his personal gain while the rest of us support the government. He touts how he returned the presidential salary as a donation to the government, but you bet your bottom dollar this 'donation' was written off his taxes. He talks about scofflaws as if he wasn't one of them, so we're glad to see him finally have to pay for his transgressions.
Hi Gene, just stopping in to pay you a compliment… I’m a former teacher and for years I’ve been working on a prototype for an educational reading tool. I’ve scoured the entirety of the English language for source material to the point where, in order to wring any more words out of it, I have to read the works of true “logophiles” - a word that I just went to one such extreme in order to learn it exists! Anyway, I wanted to compliment you on your vocabulary and “logophilia,” as your chats - especially lengthy ones like today’s - are not only a constant resource for interesting words to add to the mix, but a joy to read. Thank you!
The mentions of Sam Houston Institute of Technology and Antonin Scalia School Of Law remind me:
I went to undergrad school in Denton, Texas at what was then called "North Texas State University."
A few years after I graduated the dean announced that the school was changing its name to "University of North Texas" to align with the other state U's.
There was no pause for breath before he added, not without a note of urgency, "But the campus radio station will still be called 'KNTU'."
When they first built it, the geniuses behind the trolley that runs between downtown Seattle and the newer tech hub (now home of Amazon) was the South Lake Union Trolley. They backtracked, but locals still talk about riding the SLUT. I honestly can’t remember the approved nomenclature.
I too remember that. I was at Texas Woman's University at the time but took a course over at NTSU. Noted with some regret that when they changed the name of the University, they retained the old call letters.
As might be expected (after all we're all more or less human...), Germans aren't the only ones who revel in the misfortunes of others; it's just that they are able to put an entire expression or emotion in one word --- frugal lingo that German is. The Japanese prefer, “The misfortunes of others taste like honey,” while the French speak of" joie maligne," a diabolical delight in other people’s suffering. And, of course, you just know that great nihilist, Fred Nietzsche, would have something heartwarming to say about it: “To see others suffer does one good," he wrote, “To make others suffer even more so." The best we can come up with (so far) in English is "epicaricacy," (from the Greek) which means the same, more or less. Btw --- in all fairness, I should point out that it's not all sadistic delight for the Germans, bless their hearts. There's also "freudenfreude," or the enjoyment of the success of others --- at least made up of German words --- if not yet part of the vernacular.. Something those who participate in the Invitational regularly experience. And a rolling of eyes is heard in the land.
Gene has this long list of invective modifiers describing Trump, and you get no argument from me regarding any of them. This guy is definitely an outlier on the decency scattergram. BUT, Thomas Jefferson “ owned” a woman he repeatedly impregnated. She was in no position to refuse his carnal demands…she was raped, no other word. He then enslaved his own children by her. Who the hell locks their own kids in the slaves’ quarters? He also “purchased” from the King of France 530 million acres of land without any regard to the rights of the indigenous peoples and to which he and the King had no more real proprietary claims than I do to Montecello or Versailles . Jefferson was the most well read, enlightened man of his time so don’t speak of moral relativism, he knew he was being a shit. A bigger shit than Trump? The invectives generally reserved for Andrew Jackson are slaver, ethnic cleanser and tyrant. Trump worse? Polk captured through pro-active military conquest far more territory than Putin could dream of in his wettest wet dream. Trump wanted to buy Greenland. IMHO, Trump wasn’t even the worst president of the 21st century. That would be W, whose hubris and arrogance led to 9/11 and to the useless death and maiming of 10,000s of Americans and 100,000s of civilians, generally folks of color. And the financial collapse and Great Recession. Hating Trump, sometimes, is just too damn easy.
Nothing wrong with co-hate. But, don't quite get your distinction: less terrible is not as bad ? That what you're saying ? Evil is relative ? Fact is, however, he and his brand of neo-fascism are directly in our view and occupy share of mind. And he is particularly adept at generating visceral hate to keep it there. We can hate the others in hindsight --- in spare moments.
I think the underlying truth here is that our hatred for Trump has a heaping portion of fear baked in. You could argue that all hate is fear. We don't announce hate for because he also had many positive qualities and achievements. Were they enough to balance out his appalling actions? Even if we agree no, at least he had something on the other side. What does Trump have as a positive?
As reprehensible as Jackson was, at least he is in the past.
We hate Trump because not only is he awful, but because we fear him, with good reason.
He is a very present danger.
I am afraid for our country, and afraid for my fellow citizens, and by extension, afraid for myself because of his influence. That translates to hate pretty easily.
I don’t disagree with you. We’re allowed to hate those who pose a real danger to us and ours. But I think professional historians, in making these subjective lists, need to limit their biases to the objective record. Twelve presidents owned slaves, two of them who owned hundreds are on Mt. Rushmore. Would anyone seriously consider putting them up there today? Was January 6th really worse than slavery, or the Trail of Tears? I wonder if historians 100 years from now will think so.
And yet somehow "W" Kris climbing up this list each year. He was once in last place himself. It's crazy to think that Trump could somehow creep up from the bottom as quickly.
It is true that W is right up there as the worst for all the lives he took, the intelligence he ignored, the lies he told, and the games he played. But he had plenty of help from at least every President since 1948 (and of course Britain and France before that) in creating the horror show that is now the "middle east." Without our trillions and our thumb on the scales of UN votes, the Israelis would have had to sink or swim on their own as our Repub friends are asking Ukraine to do now.
When I was in grad school working on my MA in Sociology, the American Sociological Society was, maybe for obvious reasons, trying to get the membership to approve a name change to The American Sociological Association, which gave all of us students the opportunity to walk around in opposition wearing buttons that said, We Want ASS.
I couldn't help notice you managed to leave out a mention of the new footwear sensation, introduced by Donald "Shoes of the Fisherman" Trump over the weekend --- the Trump Sneakers (sound of gagging is heard) for only $399/pair. Although I suppose if you were able to fork over $450MM, you would also get your own NBA player. No word yet on what the slogan will be, other than, "Buy My Shoes or I'll Have Someone Burn a Star of David on Your Lawn." Some that come immediately to mind: "Trump Sneakers: Sneak with the Best," "Trump Sneakers: When Taste is Not a Consideration." No doubt there will also be snarky comparisons like: "Hair Trump" or "Conworse." I also imagine a conversation at "Sneakercon" in Philly, where the shock and awe unveiling took place, went something like:
"Hey bruh, who's the old, funny lookin' dude with the lame kicks ?"
"I think that's called lamé and he's runnin' for president."
Re: the dream about renting another apartment, I've often dreamt of finding a door in my apartment that I've never noticed before. I open it -- and there's whole other room! Obviously, this is because I'm always looking for more storage space.
One odd offshoot of this dream is that one day, I went into my local drugstore (for real, not in a dream), went to the back of the store -- and there was a whole new room! It turned out that they had expanded the store by acquiring the space next door, which they quietly renovated BEFORE removing the wall that separated the two spaces. Despite my frequent visits, I had never noticed anything going on.
I have always assumed it does. I'm forever finding extra rooms, secret passages, hidden staircases (to a blessedly empty attic), and closets full of forgotten clothing.
the dream interpretation sites say it means something along the lines of, you have undiscovered depths. But since i honestly don't put any faith in any of that, i suppose you can interpret it however you like! Like, say, your house will magically increase in size the way Trump's did when it went from being a place to being a real estate assessment.
I agree with your disgust of the mispronunciation of "impor-ent". Kudos for her basketball skill, but Rebecca Lobo, reporter and color analyst for ESPN, is the worst offender.
Hmm. Wiktionary was my source for the pronunciation I used. But I just found this lim in the OEDILF:
Epicaricacy is a word
That is currently used by a nerd:
"Taking joy in misfortune."
The word that I'm torchin',
Schadenfreude, will soon be interred!
Whether epicaricacy is really an English word or not has been debated. It was first cited in Nathaniel Bailey's Universal Etymological English Dictionary in 1727, spelled as epicharikaky, though the subsequent Oxford English Dictionary has not cited it. It is cited in specialty dictionaries, however. The pronunciation of epicaricacy has been debated as well. The pronunciation I am using, ep-ih-KARE-ih-kuh-SEE, is the most often spoken one. However, Mrs. Byrne's Dictionary uses EP-i-kar-IK-i-see. Without epicaricacy we only have a German word, Schadenfreude (pronounced shah-den-FROY-duh in this limerick), to mean "taking joy in another's misery."
My late wife, who was a social worked and was especially attuned to people's pain and incredibly sympathetic to most wrongdoers due to their upbringing, took great delight (evilly, she would say) at seeing losing fans of a sporting event crying in the stands. Especially children. At the end of a game she would shout, "Show me the crying babies!!!"
I love this.
Holy hell, that is a sports fan! 😆
As the mother of a Deaf adult who walks with him a lot, I can assure you that drivers (and bicyclists) assume that you can hear them. Even without honking, cars think you hear the engine, because most of the time they are right. Electric cars will probably end that— I have already been surprised by a few of those and my hearing is so far only slightly compromised by old age. That said, once your “deaf child” walks for miles the signs don’t help. So my PSA—never assume pedestrians hear you.
My dad - who held a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Carnegie Tech as well as a Master's Degree in math - once installed a new light fixture in the kitchen of my parents' house. Being a cautious man with a deep knowledge of electricity, he turned of the appropriate circuit breaker (in the basement) before he started. When the job was neatly done, he turned the breaker back on. The light worked, shall we say, brilliantly. At that point my uncle (his brother), who was visiting, asked him where the switch was for the light. Despite his careful planning, he'd neglected to include a switch. I managed to contain my amused reaction, but my uncle laugher harder than I'd ever seen him laugh.
For a while in college I carried my books in a monogrammed bag (a gift from my mother). There were more than a few curious inquiries.
Ha.
For me, the Trump schadenfreude is prompted by how often he has flaunted breaking the law and been lauded for it. He hates illegal immigrants yet his organization gets caught hiring them all the time - a small fine and he gets to save thousands on labor, so he habitually does it. He fake-cries about lost jobs and companies going under, yet he is the cause of so many companies going under because he doesn't pay them for their services. He wants the rich to pay their fair share, but not HIM - he doesn't own anything himself (his corporation owns his homes so he doesn't have to pay personal taxes), and hides behind tax law for his personal gain while the rest of us support the government. He touts how he returned the presidential salary as a donation to the government, but you bet your bottom dollar this 'donation' was written off his taxes. He talks about scofflaws as if he wasn't one of them, so we're glad to see him finally have to pay for his transgressions.
And, of course, he says that voting by mail is somehow suspicious, but not when HE does it, as he routinely does.
Hi Gene, just stopping in to pay you a compliment… I’m a former teacher and for years I’ve been working on a prototype for an educational reading tool. I’ve scoured the entirety of the English language for source material to the point where, in order to wring any more words out of it, I have to read the works of true “logophiles” - a word that I just went to one such extreme in order to learn it exists! Anyway, I wanted to compliment you on your vocabulary and “logophilia,” as your chats - especially lengthy ones like today’s - are not only a constant resource for interesting words to add to the mix, but a joy to read. Thank you!
The mentions of Sam Houston Institute of Technology and Antonin Scalia School Of Law remind me:
I went to undergrad school in Denton, Texas at what was then called "North Texas State University."
A few years after I graduated the dean announced that the school was changing its name to "University of North Texas" to align with the other state U's.
There was no pause for breath before he added, not without a note of urgency, "But the campus radio station will still be called 'KNTU'."
When they first built it, the geniuses behind the trolley that runs between downtown Seattle and the newer tech hub (now home of Amazon) was the South Lake Union Trolley. They backtracked, but locals still talk about riding the SLUT. I honestly can’t remember the approved nomenclature.
I always thought that Toyota Racing Development had an interesting set of initials to be slapped on the sides of cars.
I too remember that. I was at Texas Woman's University at the time but took a course over at NTSU. Noted with some regret that when they changed the name of the University, they retained the old call letters.
As might be expected (after all we're all more or less human...), Germans aren't the only ones who revel in the misfortunes of others; it's just that they are able to put an entire expression or emotion in one word --- frugal lingo that German is. The Japanese prefer, “The misfortunes of others taste like honey,” while the French speak of" joie maligne," a diabolical delight in other people’s suffering. And, of course, you just know that great nihilist, Fred Nietzsche, would have something heartwarming to say about it: “To see others suffer does one good," he wrote, “To make others suffer even more so." The best we can come up with (so far) in English is "epicaricacy," (from the Greek) which means the same, more or less. Btw --- in all fairness, I should point out that it's not all sadistic delight for the Germans, bless their hearts. There's also "freudenfreude," or the enjoyment of the success of others --- at least made up of German words --- if not yet part of the vernacular.. Something those who participate in the Invitational regularly experience. And a rolling of eyes is heard in the land.
According to the NYT in November 2022, freudenfreude is a made up term that doesn't actually exist in German.
That is true. But, technically, it does "exist" in German, just not the formal language or vernacular. At least not yet.
Gene has this long list of invective modifiers describing Trump, and you get no argument from me regarding any of them. This guy is definitely an outlier on the decency scattergram. BUT, Thomas Jefferson “ owned” a woman he repeatedly impregnated. She was in no position to refuse his carnal demands…she was raped, no other word. He then enslaved his own children by her. Who the hell locks their own kids in the slaves’ quarters? He also “purchased” from the King of France 530 million acres of land without any regard to the rights of the indigenous peoples and to which he and the King had no more real proprietary claims than I do to Montecello or Versailles . Jefferson was the most well read, enlightened man of his time so don’t speak of moral relativism, he knew he was being a shit. A bigger shit than Trump? The invectives generally reserved for Andrew Jackson are slaver, ethnic cleanser and tyrant. Trump worse? Polk captured through pro-active military conquest far more territory than Putin could dream of in his wettest wet dream. Trump wanted to buy Greenland. IMHO, Trump wasn’t even the worst president of the 21st century. That would be W, whose hubris and arrogance led to 9/11 and to the useless death and maiming of 10,000s of Americans and 100,000s of civilians, generally folks of color. And the financial collapse and Great Recession. Hating Trump, sometimes, is just too damn easy.
Nothing wrong with co-hate. But, don't quite get your distinction: less terrible is not as bad ? That what you're saying ? Evil is relative ? Fact is, however, he and his brand of neo-fascism are directly in our view and occupy share of mind. And he is particularly adept at generating visceral hate to keep it there. We can hate the others in hindsight --- in spare moments.
I think the underlying truth here is that our hatred for Trump has a heaping portion of fear baked in. You could argue that all hate is fear. We don't announce hate for because he also had many positive qualities and achievements. Were they enough to balance out his appalling actions? Even if we agree no, at least he had something on the other side. What does Trump have as a positive?
As reprehensible as Jackson was, at least he is in the past.
We hate Trump because not only is he awful, but because we fear him, with good reason.
He is a very present danger.
I am afraid for our country, and afraid for my fellow citizens, and by extension, afraid for myself because of his influence. That translates to hate pretty easily.
I hate the argument you make, but I’m afraid you have a point.
Took me awhile, but I see what you did there.
Oh good. I thought it had just fallen flat.
I don’t disagree with you. We’re allowed to hate those who pose a real danger to us and ours. But I think professional historians, in making these subjective lists, need to limit their biases to the objective record. Twelve presidents owned slaves, two of them who owned hundreds are on Mt. Rushmore. Would anyone seriously consider putting them up there today? Was January 6th really worse than slavery, or the Trail of Tears? I wonder if historians 100 years from now will think so.
And yet somehow "W" Kris climbing up this list each year. He was once in last place himself. It's crazy to think that Trump could somehow creep up from the bottom as quickly.
It is true that W is right up there as the worst for all the lives he took, the intelligence he ignored, the lies he told, and the games he played. But he had plenty of help from at least every President since 1948 (and of course Britain and France before that) in creating the horror show that is now the "middle east." Without our trillions and our thumb on the scales of UN votes, the Israelis would have had to sink or swim on their own as our Repub friends are asking Ukraine to do now.
Gene, why does it bug you that some people don't pronounce the "t" in important, but some do pronounce it in often? Lack of parallel grouchiness.
Many students still call it ASS LAW
Texas Institute Technology & Science and Advanced Social Studies
When I was in grad school working on my MA in Sociology, the American Sociological Society was, maybe for obvious reasons, trying to get the membership to approve a name change to The American Sociological Association, which gave all of us students the opportunity to walk around in opposition wearing buttons that said, We Want ASS.
I couldn't help notice you managed to leave out a mention of the new footwear sensation, introduced by Donald "Shoes of the Fisherman" Trump over the weekend --- the Trump Sneakers (sound of gagging is heard) for only $399/pair. Although I suppose if you were able to fork over $450MM, you would also get your own NBA player. No word yet on what the slogan will be, other than, "Buy My Shoes or I'll Have Someone Burn a Star of David on Your Lawn." Some that come immediately to mind: "Trump Sneakers: Sneak with the Best," "Trump Sneakers: When Taste is Not a Consideration." No doubt there will also be snarky comparisons like: "Hair Trump" or "Conworse." I also imagine a conversation at "Sneakercon" in Philly, where the shock and awe unveiling took place, went something like:
"Hey bruh, who's the old, funny lookin' dude with the lame kicks ?"
"I think that's called lamé and he's runnin' for president."
"Ain't gonna get very far in those."
Some of them booed him at Sneakercon. He seemed taken aback.
He would, wouldn't he --- considering the paid cheers from the gatherings he's used to.
Re: the dream about renting another apartment, I've often dreamt of finding a door in my apartment that I've never noticed before. I open it -- and there's whole other room! Obviously, this is because I'm always looking for more storage space.
One odd offshoot of this dream is that one day, I went into my local drugstore (for real, not in a dream), went to the back of the store -- and there was a whole new room! It turned out that they had expanded the store by acquiring the space next door, which they quietly renovated BEFORE removing the wall that separated the two spaces. Despite my frequent visits, I had never noticed anything going on.
I have the suddenly finding an extra room dream a lot. I don't think it "means" anything about storage space.
I have always assumed it does. I'm forever finding extra rooms, secret passages, hidden staircases (to a blessedly empty attic), and closets full of forgotten clothing.
the dream interpretation sites say it means something along the lines of, you have undiscovered depths. But since i honestly don't put any faith in any of that, i suppose you can interpret it however you like! Like, say, your house will magically increase in size the way Trump's did when it went from being a place to being a real estate assessment.
I agree with your disgust of the mispronunciation of "impor-ent". Kudos for her basketball skill, but Rebecca Lobo, reporter and color analyst for ESPN, is the worst offender.
I believe "epicaricacy" is pronounced EH-pih-KA-rih-kuh-see, so it doesn't rhyme with "fricassee."
Hmm. Wiktionary was my source for the pronunciation I used. But I just found this lim in the OEDILF:
Epicaricacy is a word
That is currently used by a nerd:
"Taking joy in misfortune."
The word that I'm torchin',
Schadenfreude, will soon be interred!
Whether epicaricacy is really an English word or not has been debated. It was first cited in Nathaniel Bailey's Universal Etymological English Dictionary in 1727, spelled as epicharikaky, though the subsequent Oxford English Dictionary has not cited it. It is cited in specialty dictionaries, however. The pronunciation of epicaricacy has been debated as well. The pronunciation I am using, ep-ih-KARE-ih-kuh-SEE, is the most often spoken one. However, Mrs. Byrne's Dictionary uses EP-i-kar-IK-i-see. Without epicaricacy we only have a German word, Schadenfreude (pronounced shah-den-FROY-duh in this limerick), to mean "taking joy in another's misery."