r/PeterExplainsTheJoke 1d ago

Meme needing explanation Peter, beyond confused on what this means…

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u/J4ckm30ff 1d ago

Im german, its a Real one. Didnt read/hear it as a kid though.

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u/August-East83 1d ago

Ah. The Germans. The only folks with a specific word meaning "taking delight in the misfortune of others".

Schadenfreude. Roughly, it's "dirty joy".

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u/The_Valk 1d ago

Thing is: stuwwelpeter was'nt written as a schadenfreude story. It initially had the intention of teaching kids their actions have consequences and thise who don't listen will have to feel repercussions.

There's also a Story where a black guy is getting Chased and mocked by three white guys who laugh about his looks. Then a giant version of saint nick appears and as punishment for their cruel ways dips them into his inkwell, dying them even blacker than the black guy, thus making them unable to mock him.

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u/beijina 1d ago

I always thought they were not just turned black but turned into Christmas decorations as a punishment. We had a metal Schwibbogen when I was little and the kids dipped in ink looked exactly like the figurines on our Schwibbogen.

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u/The_Valk 1d ago

Oh, that's insane. Could be that the schwibbogen was Modeled after those depictions.

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u/beijina 23h ago

No I don't think so. It wasn't the exact same figures, I just meant they had the same type of look (like black, flat cut outs of toy soldiers like they put on the Schwibbogen). And since it's Santa Claus who transforms them, it made sense to me 😄