How People Laugh
What is laughter? Can we really define what laughter is – except for some abstract notions like “expression of merriment or amusement”? Nobody knows how we have learnt to laugh. Did we copy our parents at a very young age? But then we had to know how to differentiate various emotions. Anyway, everybody knows how to laugh, though nobody is identical to another in his or her laughing-style.
Different people laugh differently. But we can hardly notice the peculiarity of their laughing consciously: only in those cases when somebody produces something extraordinary – it may be too loud, too hoarse, too quiet, too coarse and so on.
I know a girl, a friend of mine, whose laughing makes people stop laughing and listen to her. It is as if she were singing, so musical and unusual are the sounds she produces. Her laugh is hearty and shrill at the same time.
Sometimes laughing has the opposite effect. Suppose you are chatting with your chums. But there’s something you don’t like about one of them. You don’t even think about it, but prefer talking to the others. Sometimes you realise what you don’t like about the way somebody laughs: the sound may be too coarse and it is unpleasant to hear, or too loud, so that you are even frightened a bit.
Some people are so sincere in expressing their positive emotions that those around them can’t help laughing as well. And they say: “His laughter is infectious!”
There are people whose laughing resembles crying, so that you can’t even guess if the person is upset or happy until you can see it in his or her eyes.
Many people may keep silent when laughing, they just open wide their mouths and shake with laughter, but don’t utter a sound. You’ve certainly met people who can’t laugh without covering their mouths with their hands, so that you may be a little more careful in examining how self-conscious they are.
Watching the gestures and motions of the bodies of laughing people can be great fun. You can try yourself and you’ll certainly notice several typical movements, like doubling up with laughter or throwing back one’s head; you’ll see people trying to hide their faces not only behind their hands, but in the neighbour’s shoulder. Some people roar with laughter, opening wide their mouth, showing their teeth and tongue, others giggle with their mouths closed because they probably feel embarrassed about their teeth. In the latter case we can hear subdued laughter, which can be characterized as “not loud, lacking in vitality”.
According to the object that caused the reaction, laughter can be derisive or even sardonic. You can easily find examples in the speech of some “baddies” in American movies.
Unfortunately, there are people who don’t laugh at all; I mean that you can never hear their laughter. Moreover you can hardly notice their rare smile. Actually that’s not OK, because you probably know that when we laugh special hormones are formed (endorphins) in our blood; they are commonly called “hormones of pleasure”, and that’s why we feel relaxed and happy. That’s why we like so much to watch comedies after a long, hard day. Laugh to your heart’s content every moment you have the opportunity for it.