WordPlay: Plete

I was thinking of a word I could share today and I thought I'd go back to my roots. I was born in Nueva Vizcaya, Philippines and I grew up with our local Ilocano dialect.But I don't get to interact with many Iloco's from where I live now so I don't get to practice my Ilocano verses that much.

But I still speak Ilocano and still understand Ilocano words. I just remembered a word I want to share, plete.

I asked our house helper, Kailan po uwi ni Gigi? (When is Gigi going home?). I was referring to her daughter who was with her for whole summer vacation. She is from Pangasinan, another northern province that is generally Ilocano speaking and Pangalatot (the local dialect for people in Pangasinan).

She answered Depende ah nu adda pag plete na. Now that was Ilocano. translated, "it depends if she has something to spend for transportation fare".

I haven't heard that word for a long time. Plete means fare, or money you use to pay for your fare.

Like the purpose of this blog, we find the meaning and origin of words. I searched fort he meaning and plete has indeed an english meaning.

Plete\, v. t. & i. To plead. [Obs.] --P. Plowman. Click here for reference

And if you will try to search further, plete is not an Ilocano word afterall.

WordPlay: Schadenfreude

A blogger should have an excellent understanding of words or at least should have a wide array of vocabulary outside the usual antonym and synonym list of a thesaurus. 

I, being a self-confessed blogger, think that blogging gives me the leeway to extract creative juices out of my limited word bank. Simply put, it’s that “putting-words-together-and-having-your-own-made-up-idiom” thing.

I’m starting this thing called WordPlay for this blog. It’s going to be an annotation of totally new words and we’ll discover what it meant and how it came to be.

To kick-off wordplay, we’re starting with “schadenfreude”. I was browsing through some blog advertising sites and was instructed to use the sentence “Why have bread when you can have a schadenfreude”.

So what’s schadenfreude anyway? Wikipedia defines it as “pleasure derived from the misfortunes of others”. It’s a German word Schaden (adversity, harm) and Freude (joy). This is synonymous to the English expression “roman holiday” derived from the ancient gladiator era where Romans finds pleasure watching the gladiators splurge in blood and pain.

Why have bread when you can have schadenfreude? This to me sounds like a sadistic impression. Why do it the good way when its better off done worst? It’s like saying that one can find happiness in pain.

Or may be, it’s a funny off-the-street lingo. Why stick with your wife, when you can cheat on her and not be caught? 

We’ll schadenfeude is a state of mind. It’s that feel good moment not brought by a happy state of mind but by some devilish and gory thoughts.

So why have bread when you can have schadenfreude? C’mon, would you choose it? Your call!!