Schadenfreude: pleasure derived from the misfortune of others. Whether we’d like to admit it or not, it is sometimes really funny to watch someone else get hurt, especially if they were in the middle of doing something remarkably stupid. Whether it was called slapstick or physical comedy, Schadenfreude has been a part of humor since the dawn of humanity. Comedians are great at faking it, but the funniest Schadenfreude has always been watching real people make really dumb decisions. In the old days, the only place you could watch videos like this were on America’s Funniest Home Videos. Nowadays, anyone with a smart phone can upload your humiliation to YouTube within seconds, and let the whole world laugh at you. On the Internet, we don’t call them Schadenfreude ; we just call them fail videos. Here’s a few examples of the funniest fails of 2012. Caution, contains some strong language, and plenty of painful falls.

This one will definitely crack you up. Sometimes when you have a stupid idea, you don’t realize how stupid the idea truly is until you implement it. At least he didn’t have to go far to find ice to apply to the injury to help reduce the swelling!

WARNING EXPLICIT LANGUAGE: Even though the video is in German, there is some very strong, explicit language in English. Turn the volume off if explicit language offends you. It’s still hilarious on mute.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zd7c5tQCs1I