Can you help me with my linguistic/vocabulary skills?

Asked by josie (30934

) September 12th, 2013

The German language has a word, Schadenfreude, which means satisfaction from the misfortune of others.
English does not really have a single word to express the same concept.

Is there a word, in any language, that describes the circumstance in which one really dislikes something, but simply is not able to disengage from it.

There are many examples of this. Reality TV is one for some people. It happens to me when Al Sharpton is on TV. I am sure there are others…

Anyway. Is there such a word?

language

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17 Answers

Entangled

drhat77 (6197

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Sour grapes.

talljasperman (21919

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I don’t know that there is a single word, but the phrase “like watching a train wreck” is used in this way.

augustlan (47745

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Possessed.

RealEyesRealizeRealLies (30960

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Addiction.

However, now that I read your details more completely, it seems to me that watching Al Sharpton is more like watching races – not NASCAR, but more like oxcarts – to watch the wrecks.

CWOTUS (26102

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masochism?

tom_g (16638

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@tom_g That’s better than my answer.

talljasperman (21919

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Epicaricacy is a English word that means the same thing,

1TubeGuru (2880

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The phrases “guilty pleasure”, “love/hate” and “love to hate” come to mind but none of them are quite what you describe. It’s interesting how positive and negative responses can get so tangled up.

fundevogel (15511

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How about Sicko?

talljasperman (21919

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Gloating will do in a pinch.

1TubeGuru (2880

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