Schadenfreude seems to be a lot of people’s favourite German word.
It sounds great rolling off the tongue and the definition is one full of mischief, translating as “pleasure derived by someone from another person’s misfortune.”
Former Dundee United manager Jackie McNamara may or may not know what it means and probably doesn’t care one way or the other.
However, schadenfreude is exactly what some United supporters have been feeling every time they have checked York City’s results of late.
It is no secret that, by the end of his time with the Tangerines, there was little love lost between McNamara and the vast majority of fans.
They feel, with no little justification, that he left behind a squad that was always going to struggle this season.
While United have slumped to bottom spot in the Scottish Premiership and are striving to turn things around under new head coach Mixu Paatelainen, McNamara has found himself a new challenge.
Only 37 days separated his sacking by United on September 28 and his appointment by Sky Bet League 2 side York in England on November 4 not a long time to be out of the game.
He obviously persuaded the Minstermen’s board that he still had a lot to offer even though his tenure ended as sourly as it did at Tannadice.
Also, it is proper to remember that the McNamara era did provide plenty of good times for United fans before it all went wrong.
Sadly for him, though, it is already going badly at his new club.
His first match was a trip to Accrington Stanley in the FA Cup on November 7.
A 3-2 defeat doesn’t look too bad on paper but it was still not the winning start he would have craved.
Just three days later and York were knocked out of another cup – the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy thanks to a 2-1 loss away to Barnsley.
Next up was McNamara’s first home game, a league clash against fellow Scot Derek Adams’ high-flying Plymouth Argyle team. The outcome was another 2-1 defeat.
McNamara then took his players to London to face Leyton Orient only for them to be beaten 3-2 to make it four defeats out of four.
The worst was yet to come, though.
There were two teams who hit their opposition for six on Tuesday night.
One was the mighty Barcelona, who hammered Roma 6-1 at the Nou Camp in the Champions League.
The other was Portsmouth, who found the back of York’s net six times wihtout reply at the rather more modest Fratton Park.
The visitors had kept it goalless until the 50th minute. However, with Jonathan Greening having been sent off just before the break, York collapsed and Pompey ran riot.
McNamara said: “The first half I thought we were fine.
“Obviously the sending off kills us a bit but at half-time you get in there and obviously want to galvanise and make sure we don’t give anything away easily or quickly.
“We lost a couple of early goals and we folded after that. I thought we crumbled.
“I thought we were individuals who felt sorry for ourselves and it turned out an embarrassing scoreline.”
McNamara’s team, who haven’t won in the league for almost three months, now sit second-bottom of England’s fourth tier and are in danger of dropping into the Conference at the end of the season.
Revelling in schadenfreude may not the healthiest of hobbies but even those who feel some sympathy for McNamara will be tempted to track York’s results in the coming weeks just to see what happens.
If he can’t turn it around quickly then it will be a Latin term fit for a queen – not a German word – that will best describe McNamara’s 2015 annus horribilis.