schadenfreude, schlemiel, schuck, schmo, schlepp, schtick, shiksa, satyriasis, satyr, saxophone, sedan

Schadenfreude:  [German  schaden shattered,  freude joy, pleasure]  

\shah' den froid ah\   Shattered joy.  Taking pleasure in other's misfortunes

     Ironic to think that Sigmund Freud’s name means joy or pleasure although not really surprising when you think of all the urges of the Id, all unconscious and suppressed by the superego.  Is there a happy medium or does it all boil down to his essay Civilization and It’s Discontents?  See satyriasis below… 

    There was a recent New Yorker cartoon with a sign on the window of a bar with happy musical notes surrounding the lettering, saying “Schadenfreude Hour: 4-6!”

Yiddish words:

     schlemiel: a bungler, chump

     schmuck, schmo: [Yiddish shmok a fool, a penis]

     schlepp: to move or drag from one place to another

     schnozzle: nose

     schtick:  

     shiksa: a non-Jewish girl, or a Jewish girl who does not follow Jewish precepts

     I miss hearing the humorous, pithy Yiddishisms from my friends and patients in Connecticut.  Once my wife asked a Jewish doctor if she should come back for a follow-up visit in 2 months, as he had mentioned earlier.  He paused, a noncommittal look on his face, lifted his hands and said, “ish.”  Less is more; the humor of the vagaries of life.  

     

satyriasis: being lecherous.  The Satyrs were Greek sylvan deities, half goat, 

who were fond of Dionysian revelry.  

     synonym: nympholeptic

saxophone: invented by Adolphe Sax, from Belgium

sedan [origin unknown]

    To be added to the mysterious  ‘origin unknown’ list under the introduction.