I had a chance...and blew it!

I could have used the word epicaricacy today. The time was right. As I began to say it, Schadenfreude creeped out of my mouth.

Background: We are starting a publication. When we approached a reputable publisher, they refused us. "We already have a journal on that subject," they said. We didn't agree because we thought we had a different audience. But what can you do? We went ahead with our plan and are going to publish it ourselves.

So today I received a copy of the reputable publisher's rival journal. It had precisely 5 articles: One by me; one by another author; and three by the editor-in-chief. That's it. Might one think they aren't doing that well? I told my colleague..."I am feeling Schadenfreude!" Not epicaricacy. I suppose I didn't want to sound arrogant with a word that surely he'd not understand. However, I had the chance and blew it.