27 Blog Tips, Word Fun, & More by da-AL

Are you sprouting something new under your mask?

1. Grooming or the lack of it under our anti-COVID masks.
2. Words so special to a country that we borrow theirs, such as “Schadenfreude.”
3. Blogging tips.

What do they have in common? They’re among the activities that have unexpectedly cropped up since we’ve been sheltering-in-place.

• Hair: Some friends are letting theirs grow. Others have shaved their scalps. A bunch are letting their color and texture go natural.

Working from home, my once clean-shaven friend now sports a mustache!

• Authors are digging into writing and stats show that readers are reading for fun again. That’s how I discovered “Schadenfreude.” It’s an English noun borrowed from two German words, Schaden ‘harm’ and Freude ‘joy.’ Combined, they refer to pleasure derived by someone from another person’s misfortune.

On my Facebook page, I invited friends to riff on “Schadenfreude”…

Pam Christmas: I enjoy singing it to the tune of Danke Schoen. Schadenfreude, darling, schadenfreude. A favorite word and feeling.

Angela L Brown: Holy crap! Did that dude who keeps yelling about my dogs just get bit by his own?! Schadenfreude, sucka!