I was standing on my balcony having a cup of coffee this morning when I noticed two twenty-something year old women jogging down the street. They were dressed nicely, had their hair in perky little ponytails, and didn’t appear to be sweating at all. Nor did they appear to have an ounce of body fat at all. Not fair. I took an immediate dislike to them. Then the most amazing thing happened. One of them tripped and fell into the drainage ditch on the side of the road. And I felt all warm and cozy inside.

Schadenfreude (pronounced shodden-froid-uh) – a German word that means “the spiteful, malicious delight in the misfortune of others.” It’s more than dislike, and more than envy. It’s more than simply being glad that bad things aren’t happening to us. It’s spiteful, malicious delight in watching the pain of others. And it’s human nature. Tell me you haven’t felt it, but I won’t believe you. We all do it, we all have it, and we just usually don’t tell others.

But that doesn’t make it any less real. Researchers have recently been able to actually capture schadenfreude on a brain scan. When the subjects were shown images or videos of people experiencing misfortune, like slipping on a banana peel, a chemical was released in their brains that gave them pleasure. Scientists were actually able to see and document it in the brain of dozens of people. Both men and women experienced brain activity similar to what is produced when eating good food, taking drugs, or winning money. It’s real. I felt it today, I’m ashamed to say.

OK, so I’m not really that ashamed. I think schadenfreude is a great word. It’s interesting to note that the Germans are the only ones to have a word for this rather complex emotional response. If I didn’t know better, I’d think the concept was American. It’s why we were all glued to the television and the tabloids when Britney Spears shaved her head and started acting stupid. It’s why we watch that YouTube video of the runway model falling on her face in front of hundreds of people. And speaking of falls, let’s not forget J. Lo’s fall on her most famous asset during the AMAs that played over and over on every news station the next day. Why do we enjoy it so much? We don’t know these people. They’ve never done anything harmful to us. There’s no reason to feel that their misfortunes are justified. But it sure is fun to watch their pain, isn’t it?

And I really can’t feel too badly about it now that I know it’s a completely normal chemical reaction to feel that way. It might be the only normal thing about me, after all. Don’t say it’s not true; we all know it’s so. But I’m not the only one. As a matter of fact, I’m pretty sure one doesn’t have to witness it or even see pictures to experience this warm, cozy feeling. Want proof? Enjoy reading the following that was sent to me by a very dear friend:

“I have to tell you that when the woman in front of me at Starbucks who was dressed to the nines down to the Fendi purse in her hands tripped over her 4 inch Chanel boots and spilled her one minute long named coffee concoction all down the front of her off- white sweater dress that was belted at the waist….well…..I smirked.”

Did you smile? Even just a little? Me, too. It’s not bad, and it’s not wrong. It’s schadenfreude, baby. And it’s my new favorite word.