Schadenfreude

[Jenny A]

I'm surprised any part of 'schadenfreude' means 'joy'. Are there any happy sounding German words?

I don't think it's always immoral; it depends on the format, the severity of the misfortune, and where the fault lands . When watching a show like Tosh.0 or AFV, there's an understanding that you aren't going to witness death, and since its in the past there's the assumption that there has been recovery. So we laugh. Or I do, anyway. It's the same with telling a story. You could be describing some horrible luck that happened to you in the past, but because you are standing there now, you must be ok, so it's ok to laugh. You could witness some extremely terrible things and react appropriately, and have a good laugh later on recalling.

Of course, getting joy from watching a person die is immoral, at least according to my morals.

Mostly German sounds angry to me, but that doesn't mean it is angry.

I agree with you it's okay to laugh, at least I hope so because I sure do. The laugh is in part relief it's not us. Schadenfreude is the cousin of sick humor. But there's a point where it's too horrific or too undeserved and it's not funny anymore. When it's your past self it's always okay to laugh.