Glückschmerz

I have known the word Schadenfreude for a long time—perhaps because I indulged in it so often, that I never forgot it? And I have often joked that this is my favorite German word. It does not have an exact English translation; gloating may be close, but not quite. Chinese has a similar saying, only double the dose: xing4 zai1 le4 huo4.

Yet I have never thought about its opposite, and today I encountered this word, Glückschmerz, in Rich Lowry’s article at National Review Online, about the suffering of the Leftists from good news for President George W. Bush. Knowning a little German, I immediately recognized its meaning and just laughed, though I think it was misspelt—the umlaut should be retained for maximum German flavor.