According to a blogpost from the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, "Schadenfreude" was the most popular word look-up on October 2, following the news that both President Trump and the First Lady had been diagnosed with COVID-19. The word, means refers to "enjoyment obtained from the troubles of others," spiked a whopping 30,500% in searches that day, compared to average lookups.
(Etymologically speaking, I've also now learned that "Schadenfreude" is literally derived from the German words for "damage" and "joy," which, well, makes perfect sense.)
To be clear: correlation is not causation. And the fact that people were searching for damage-joy upon learning that the racist Authoritarian con-artist in the White House had succumbed to the same disease that he has frequently flouted over the last 7 months while abdicating his leadership responsibilities and allowing hundreds of thousands of Americans to die while millions of survivors continue to suffer lasting heart damage and other negative long-term effects — this may all just be coincidental.
Trending: 'schadenfreude' Lookups spiked 30,500% on October 2, 2020 [Merriam-Webster Dictionary]
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