Laughter---it can mean almost anything, so how do you know?

[smith2267]

How can you know what people mean when they laugh??

 

[King_Oni]

To be honest, I have no clue... but then again, I don't tend to get into the social argument where I ask "why are you laughing?". Emotions like that go past me, as well as that I don't care about them that much.

I've found myself quite often wondering why someone is crying on a similar note and I didn't relate to why they cried either. People look at me weird if I ask it, so I stopped caring about whatever emotion people express in general.

 

[Soup]

Baffling business-people & their complex emotions. Some people laugh at funerals, cry at weddings, laugh when embarrassed, laugh when they've gotten revenge or done something bad, some laugh when they're nervous & some particularly flaky types seem to use short spurts of laughter as a form of punctuation! I can never make sense of it at the time when a person laughs, what the heck they're laughing at & what I'm supposed to do. Usually, I let them get it out of their system & ignore it like hiccups or someone with a facial twitch. They can't laugh forever so eventually, they stop. Practise a Mona Lisa smile. NOT a skeletal smiley button grin: no need to look like a Jack O'Lantern. Whenever someone suddenly begins laughing, arrange your face into your small polite Mona Lisa grin. When the person's condition improves, you can ask them what got them laughing like that.

 

[Arashi222]

You know that is a really good question I learn from people I am close to what their different laughs mean. But i have a hard time knowing when its people I don't know as well. Or for example I have been told that I have a laugh sometimes that people tell me means I totally don't understand but I am smiling nad nodding as if I do. So I don't know

 

[Christian T]

Soup just gave some very good advice, and I'll add, quite cynically, that a lot of the time laughter is a desperate injection of endorphins to chase away any discomfort, whether it be from nerves, guilt, fear or anything else that the person is ashamed of. It's quite pathetic really, but it is an effective coping mechanism, unless someone's sharp enough to spot that you don't actually find your mistakes hilarious.

It's also interesting how much of a social thing laughter is, and how unlikely it is that someone will show outward signs of amusement, no matter how funny something may be, if nobody's around to see those signs. It's a little like that old "if a tree falls over in the forest, and there are no people around, does it make a sound?" riddle. To which I normally answer, "the forest wildlife are not deaf, so it will definitely make a sound."

 

[kasmanaft08]

I can't always tell either, to be honest. The only way I can tell would be clues from the situation or person. Sometimes I get it wrong, mostly in situations where you can't tell if they're laughing with you or at you.

I also never understood being so happy you cry. That makes no sense to me? Maybe it just hasn't happened to me yet.

 

[Soup]

Just wear your Mona Lisa smile & be very very glad they're not freaked-out & CRYING instead!!! Nts & tears: talk about trying to tap dance blindfolded through a mine-field!!!!!

 

[Bay]

I often have trouble telling whether someone is laughing at me or with me, and if I ask, the other person always tells me they are laughing with me. Then I have to wonder what else they might be lying about, etc. Those "polite" answers can be devastating, because it opens up the honesty question.

 

[Christian T]

I often have trouble telling whether someone is laughing at me or with me, and if I ask, the other person always tells me they are laughing with me. Then I have to wonder what else they might be lying about, etc. Those "polite" answers can be devastating, because it opens up the honesty question.

I'm surprised that they would even answer you. Whenever I ask, they just go silent. I learn to just ignore these people now and put up an effective shield. It's usually just stupidity that's causing the laughter.

 

[smith2267]

I'm sure NT's can decipher laughter. And anything they can do intuitively, we can do intellectually if we try hard enough.

 

[Christian T]

I'm sure NT's can decipher laughter. And anything they can do intuitively, we can do intellectually if we try hard enough.

Looks like you answered your own question - impressive.

So, now we have our challenge, but that's not what's worrying me, it's how to do it. These things must be done delicately, or you'll hurt the spell.



In all seriousness though, how would we learn to decipher laughter intellectually, do you think?

 

[smith2267]

Looks like you answered your own question - impressive.

So, now we have our challenge, but that's not what's worrying me, it's how to do it. These things must be done delicately, or you'll hurt the spell.

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In all seriousness though, how would we learn to decipher laughter intellectually, do you think?

It's a sound. sounds have qualities like pitch. These things can be analyzed

 

[Christian T]

It's a sound. sounds have qualities like pitch. These things can be analyzed

Right, forgive me if these things don't automatically spring to my mind, I was more thinking of the body language that accompanies it actually.

I do understand that it's possible to analyse pitch, timbre, volume and duration, but I'm not very good at it. Although, for those of you who are more aurally skilled, go for it. However, would there really be much of a correlation between the quality of the sound and the intent behind it? I could see the evolutionary advantages, but not all of these translate well into human civilisation.

Still, if that works, it would be quite an innovation.

 

[Ylva]

I go by context. If the laughing person/people are staring at me while laughing, my middle finger gets twitchy. If not I'll assume it has nothing to do with me.