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Sarcasm Inc.

21:19 / 29.09.03

BREAKING NEWS : GOD FINALLY CANCELS TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL.

(HEAVEN) In a press release today god announced that he was canceling the long time Dela Reese/Roma Downy vehicle "Touched By An Angel". "It was just time." said God. "They had a good run. But come on, it was costing me a fortune just to keep Downy's head died the same color."

21:29 / 29.09.03

That's a really funny website.

21:32 / 29.09.03

Now that is sarcasm folks!

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

07:22 / 01.10.03

I especially liked: "It's best if i just completely erase everyone's memory of the thing.. kind of like George did with that Christmas special."

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08:06 / 01.10.03

Just for the record, I would heartily assert that schadenfreude is the lowest form of humour, and not sarcasm at all.

There is no word for it in English, but from the German it basically means laughing at the misfortune of others. Like the old slipped on a bananaskin gag, or 'You've Been Framed' when a baby slips on wet concrete and cracks its head open, much to the delight of the Saturday night audience. Hahaha.

12:58 / 01.10.03

Hmm, Money $hot, that might be slapstick in English. At least that is what is sounds like to me. Such as, "The Three Stooges" stuff.

10:05 / 03.10.03

I'm not sure that I would agree that schadenfreude is the lowest form of humour, or rather the basis of the lowest humour. I'm not sure if I have fully understood the word, but I have always assumed that schadenfreude had a fairly wide range. At its most basic it just means taking delight in the misfortune of another, but the degree of misfortune is not fixed so far as I know. I think very few people indeed would take pleasure at seeing a baby cracking its skull open and suffering a serious injury, but minor mishaps can be hilarious. I think one of the funniest things I have ever seen was my sister crashing through a deck chair she had just sat on. If it had rendered her paraplegic then I wouldn't have laughed, but were my whole family and I wrong to laugh at the minor bruises on her arse and the major momentary loss of dignity?

Perhaps there is a German speaker who can help: do I have to take malicious pleasure in someone's significant misfortune for it to be schadenfreude? Or if I chuckle at someone treading in dogshit can that be schadenfreude?

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07:30 / 04.10.03

Yes, but regardless of scale, the point is that you are laughing at the misfortune of another. While sarcasm is just biting language, often satirical or ironic, usually directed at an individual. I don't know if there's any point placing these things in a hierarchy, but for my Money, schadenfreude is lower than sarcasm (which seems to require a brain, to me).

13:44 / 04.10.03

scadenfreude is not neccesarily a humour thing, though.
some forms of sadism are schadenfreude, for example.

it means to enjoy the misfortune of others, and this could be being glad your mate lost his job, getting a glimmer of self esteem when simon cowell shouts at another twat on the telly, enjoying boxing that ends in a double KO, or laughing at siegfired and roy being only siegfried for the next wee while.

its a broad thing, really broad.