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When it comes to getting pleasure from someone else's misfortune, men seem to enjoy it more than women. So say the researchers at University College London who claim to have neuroscientific evidence of this.
I don't know if I buy this theory though. I know plenty of females who seem to find great joy in laughing at my hardships and misadventures. Then again, it's usually laughs I'm going for. I've practically made a career out of letting others chuckle at my pain.
During one of my first dates, I turned a slight trip on some steps into an intentionally full blown tumble down the staircase. Just so I could say, "I meant to do that." Ya know... make them laugh with you, before they can laugh at you. Looking back on it, that wasn't my smoothest moment. But at least she giggled.
My potential career as a stunt man goes back even further. During my adolescent days, I often walked into things for a laugh. Pretending to not look where I was going, I'd slam my body into garbage cans and open lockers. I'd run headfirst into stop signs and get clotheslined. Man, I was a weird kid.
In fact, when I was a little tyke I used to eat dirt. Not because I was double-dog-dared or because some bully forced me to. I just knew it would get a laugh out of my friends, so I did it. But after asking me to repeat my dirt eating performances so many times... could I really call these kids "friends"?
Hmm. Hitting my head on hard metal objects and dining on dirt. This explains a lot about my current state, now that I think about it. But these days I try to get my humor across with words, rather than physical slapstick. Maybe I'm getting older. Or maybe my lack of health insurance is enough to repress the pratfalls. Either way, I think it's a smart move on my part. I guess I didn't cause that much brain damage after all.
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| Alpha said: | January 23, 2006, 09:21 AM |
| S.T. Pratt said: | January 23, 2006, 09:36 AM |
I'll have you know that there's nothing wrong with a good pratfall. In fact, simply based on my last name, one could argue that everytime I fall down, I have a Pratt-fall. ha. ha-ha... Eh...
| JPT said: | January 24, 2006, 12:36 PM |
Good to have you back.
| Liz said: | January 24, 2006, 06:57 PM |
IF I had seen you fall down a flight of stairs I would have first checked to make sure you were ok, then LAUGHED for a long time. I like seeing ppl fall, its a dirty pleasure of mine.
| Krish said: | January 25, 2006, 08:57 PM |
When I was really young while living in Hawaii, I used to try to eat centipedes. I hope I didn't succeed.
| Deanna said: | December 03, 2006, 10:19 PM |
Schadenfreude is my all time favorite word. There's even a song about it...
Were we in the same photography class? Looking at your site makes me want to take it up as a hobby again.
(off topic: ) another german word is "Besserwisserei" ...
Schadenfreude is a noun, and those are typed with a uppercase letter first.
divided into its single parts the two words mean:
damage (Schaden) and pleasure (Freude) ... so this word gains some more sadisdic sound, doesn't it?
^_^ Grüße aus Deutschland