fremdschämen

[prettygoodword]

fremdschämen (FREMD-shah-men) - n., vicarious embarrassment; feeling ashamed because someone else has embarrassed themselves (and doesn't notice).


One of those words another language has that English needs and so stole -- or in this case, is in the process of stealing, as it seems to have been noticed this German word only in the last few years. In German, it literally means external-shame.

---L.

Comments

[taigerchily.livejournal.com]

The question is, do you need a word for fremdschämen, because you already do, just without having a word for it, or do you started to fremdschäm because you know have a word for it?

(uh, oh, mixing German and English grammar... Is it "to fremdschämen"? That sounds so weird...)

[prettygoodword.livejournal.com]

It sounds weird in either language. English-speakers seem to have taken only a noun sense (despite the lower-case spelling), rather than the verb: I feel fremdschämen, rather than I fremdschämen. It's certainly something that existed well before the word was noticed -- just look at all the 13-year-old girls who could just die of shame because of their parents.

---L.