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21 comments:
OOH, I can't wait to see tomorrow's papers!
:) Apparently it made it to the back page of the Hindu. Heh, my brother was so kicked. All this schadenfreude- I like it! :P
But now she's apologised and claimed it was inadvertent. Am not convinced. Irresponsible. Sloppy.
As a writer, shouldn't you be careful that exactly this sort of thing doesn't happen?
Very very...yeah. Scahdenfreude. Esp. after the hype.
Inadvertent?? Hmm..Harvard must have taken a dip after spawning Dubya.
This isn't sloppy as such, cuz it was just lifted. Was she hoping she'd get away with it?
Yale spawned Dubya, not Harvard (I think).
Agreed, not sloppy as such.
Let's see if she gets away with it or not...
He did a bachelor's in Yale and received an MBA from Harvard.
Well, they aren't going to put her away, but I think her rep has already been tarnished.
Right, forgot all about the MBA.
Public memory is short- a few years down the line who's going to remember? And slimy publishers will take advantage of that. Wouldn't be surprised if she landed another book deal.
True. She's very...packagable.
Prodigy, Harvard student, book deal in mid teens etc. etc.
Writing isn't a requisite.
packageable
Schadenfreude, hmm. I know I shouldn't, but I feel mildly sorry for that girl. The terrible things she has lying ahead (no pun intended) of her -- legal wrangles, unpopularity, upset parents, sceptical professors, Jay Leno... it's more than most people get to experience in a lifetime. Teenagers these days, I tell you...
I think you've forgotten one tiny fact- she's got $500,000. I'm sure that'll ease the way- she can buy expensive therapy for instance :P
Now think about how much money she's made, in a not entirely honest manner and how much you've made in an entirely honest manner. Do you still feel sorry for her?
Ah, Schadenfreude, what a wonderful thing. Doesn't speak very highly of the Germans though- them being the only ones who thought of coining the word. I think I'll go sing An die SCHADENfreude loudly now.
I hope that Kaavya has to give all that money back. And break off the movie contract as well. Otherwise, dammit, she's gone and made me waste a good 5 minutes worth of valuable sympathy on her...
A small protest, purely for the sake of academics: the "Schadenfreude is a German-only thing" is apparently a myth. I remember reading a Wikipedia article on the word some time back, which listed words in at least 8 or 10 other languages that mean the same thing. I'd find the link and post it here, but I'm feeling too lazy for it.
Schadenfreude must be a Nazi thing.
Less laf at ze juice.
Eyefry: Sympathy is rare, I'm not so sure everyone would agree that it's valuable. I'd say it's valuable though!
Ah, that Wiki entry is highly edifying indeed. Many thanks.
I like this one best:
Dutch: leedvermaak (leed, suffering or sorrow, and vermaak, entertainment.
And also the Finnish/Slovak 'Schadenfreude is the only true joy' etc. And Antickpix, same entry says that Hitler's sense of humour was almost entirely Schadenfreude. Yeah, so definitely Nazi.
I can't believe I'm having a discussion on Schadenfreude. So I actually know two out of the five people who know what it means?
Anticlpix: Oh, very packageable indeed. Who needs writing skills when I'm sure Little, Brown has quite a few competent editors on their rolls? And she's not too bad looking either, that's important.
So publishers pick her, identify target audience (or they picked her because they already knew there was a market for desi-teen-chick), get her to write exactly what you want, pay her $500,000- something that's guaranteed to make news, generate enough hype and interest to be anticipated, and take it to the NY Times best-seller list, even it's only for a short while, design a book cover that hints at something 'exotic', pay a couple fo people to write good blurbs... After all that, if the book fails to sell, there's always the movie deal to fall back on.
A good business model, what?
I didn't know what it meant either, until a few months back. Friend of mine suddenly maaro-fies "schadenfreude" from the pillion while I'm negotiating heavy traffic on Mt.Rd. So in the middle of this hectic swirl of ricks, traffic cops, other bikers and jaywalkers, I'm yelling "Any relation to the shrink?" and he's going "you ignorant bufoon", I'm going "why're you telling me this?" and he's going "watch out!", etc. There's a deep meaning to all this, but it eludes me for the moment.
Speaking of sympathy, I'm actually starting to feel bad that our proud Plagiarist of the Month is a South Indian. It's a big blow for our squeaky-clean nice-and-nerdy archetype.
Your friend is no doubt a luftmensch. Heh. I never thought I'd get to use that word. Yippee! While I'm at it, can I also use zeitgeist? And bildungsroman? There. Am inordinately pleased with self now. The Germans invent really useful words, no?
It was a great blow to our nice and nerdy archetype when she got the half a million bucks. How many South Indians do you know who have that kind of money at 18??
What's a luftmensch? But I'm not that bad also. I know what "zeitgeist" and "bildungsroman" mean, so yay!
Oh yes, she's 18 too. I think she's secretly Gujju...
I'd have been
disappointed indeed if you didn't know zeitgeist and bildungsroman.
Luftmensch:
Etymology
luftmensch
Yiddish, from German luft, air, and mensch, person.
[edit]
Noun
luftmensch (plural luftmenschen, or, less commonly, luftmensches)
1. One more concerned with intellectual pursuits than practical matters
My husband is such a luftmensch he missed our anniversary dinner because he was too busy reading his books!
Yeah, she's definitely closet Gujju. Or Marwari.
Ah well. In that case, yes, you're quite right. He is a luftmensch. (I was thinking more along the lines of "man full of hot air", having taken a wild jab at the etymology myself. Close enough.)
Close enough :)
;)
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