I have just asked chatgpt how many people in the United States know the word Schadenfreude. Chatgpt informs me that approximately 50 to 70 percent of Americans have heard the word “schadenfreude” at some time or other – in the newspaper, on television, or on social media. AI informs me that people with a bacherlor’s degree or higher are more likely to understand it than people without. Particularly people with degrees in psychology or literature. And AI estimates that about 10 to 25 percent of the population might understand its meaning: joy when an enemy comes a cropper.
Actually AI said: “pleasure taken from someone else’s misfortune.” Joy when an enemy comes a cropper is my interpretation. I wrote a poem about it many years ago which I published for my 55h birthday in a little book with the title After the Burning. (Bet you didn’t know I am a poet?) The title is Not Entirely Stainless, and the last lines are: “I have patiently watched and waited/ till others somewhat/ more forceful/ took their/ sweet revenge/ and I must admit I have/ enjoyed that.”
But today I prefer to focus on another wonderful German addition to the English vocabulary: Rampensau. For your benefit, I have consulted chatgpt once again with a question: how many people in the USA know the word Rampensau? Unfortunately chatgpt doesn’t have any “solid data that estimates how many people in the USA know the German word Rampensau.” It does, however, make some relevant observations. It’s a colloquial noun, is not common even in German, and has not crossed over into English like kindergarten, schadenfreude, and zeitgeist.
While the German word sau does indeed refer to the English sow (no offense to the venerable sow), the German word Ramp refers to a stage. A Rampensau is someone who loves the limelight, who always wants to be center stage.
Did you happen to notice that the moment dying children in Gaza got too much attention, Donald Trump had to do something to turn the spotlight back onto himself? The rebrand of the Pentagon as the Department of War may well cost American taxpayers over $1 billion dollars (according to Fox23 and the Independent). Never mind. It’s great clickbait for Donald. End of dying children in Gaza.
And did you notice how Donald upstaged Erika Kirk at Charlie Kirk’s memorial service? If you didn’t know better you would think that Donald is more affected by Charlie’s death than Erika, who lost her beloved husband and the father of her children in tragic circumstances.
Photo op. Photo op. Photo op. For Donald J.