> “Mankind has ah only one mm-m-m science,” the Count said as they
picked up their parade of followers and emerged from the hall into the
waiting room—a narrow space with high windows and floor of patterned
white and purple tile.
> “And what science is that?” the Baron asked.
> “It’s the um-m-m-ah-h science of ah-h-h discontent,” the Count said.
-- Dune (1965)
P.S.: That said, I think the author extended "science of discontent" to mean a future-directed practice of making people unhappy to "toughen mankind up", but IMO it works fine as a general observation of past trends.
Great fan of John Koenig's work. Honestly, to me, this video of his, I watched 10 years ago, it's one of those things you take with you for life. Beautiful and so true.
> n. the dread of finally pursuing a lifelong dream, which requires you to put your true abilities out there to be tested on the open savannah, no longer protected inside the terrarium of hopes and delusions that you started up in kindergarten and kept sealed as long as you could.
God I hope I don't fuck it up. But at least I tried.
This looks like it's a compound noun derived from the German words Ziel (meaning "goal" in English) and Schmerz (meaning "pain" in English). A raw translation could possibly be "goal-pain," though the true definition has a deeper meaning.
The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32676647 - Sept 2022 (2 comments)
The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30476541 - Feb 2022 (1 comment)
The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10140539 - Aug 2015 (23 comments)