Lookups for 'schadenfreude' spike after Donald Trump's COVID-19 diagnosis; here's what it means

The search for the term 'schadenfreude' increased by 30,500 percent after several news reports used the word while referring to Trump's COVID-19 diagnosis.

Moneycontrol News

October 04, 2020 / 21:05 IST

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Searches for the meaning of the word 'schadenfreude' spiked by a whopping 30,500 percent after United States President Donald Trump announced that he and First Lady Melania Trump tested positive for COVID-19. Schadenfreude was the top lookup on October 2 by a very considerable margin, said Merriam-Webster.

"Lookups for 'schadenfreude' have spiked 30,500%," Merriam-Webster tweeted.

Lookups for 'schadenfreude' have spiked 30,500% https://t.co/nWRnJzKUPd
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— Merriam-Webster (@MerriamWebster) October 2, 2020

What does schadenfreude mean?

Schadenfreude, derived from the German words for 'damage' (schaden) and 'joy' (freude), is defined as 'enjoyment obtained from the troubles of others'.

The search for the term spiked after several news reports used the term while referring to Trump's COVID-19 diagnosis. USA Today ran a headline 'President Donald Trump's coronavirus infection draws international sympathy and a degree of schadenfreude'.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

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