Jouissance is a French word that does not translate well into English, but the usual way it’s translated is as "enjoyment." The idea is that people have needs, and meeting our needs is good. We can't enjoy until after our needs are met, but meeting our needs is, in and of itself, is something we have to do, or else we die. Thus, getting what we need is great, but it is not something we enjoy. The theory of surplus jouissance suggests that to enjoy something, it has to be something that we don’t need, something that goes beyond our needs, something extra, unnecessary, a surplus.