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Why do you 'laugh'?

hommefatal

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I often use "haha" or "lol" if I'm insecure about what I'm saying.
Maybe you have heard of this wisdom:
People 'laugh' about themselves because then the other one can only say something better.

A: Let's do [...]! Oh, I'm so stupid for proposing this, haha.
B: No, you're so intelligent.
 

INTJ123

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they say monkeys smile when they are scared/hostile. I see your point cause people do laugh for the same reasons too.
 

digesthisickness

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hm, i was wondering last night why people scream. then it hit me, survival no doubt. i figure the same goes for laughing.
 
P

Phantonym

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I often use "haha" or "lol" if I'm insecure about what I'm saying.
Maybe you have heard of this wisdom:
People 'laugh' about themselves because then the other one can only say something better.

I don't say anything I don't mean, both in the Internet and in real life. But I usually leave some things unsaid. I "laugh" fairly often and it is usually about the things that I do find amusing and I want to emphasize that.

The insecurity part sounds about right. I do that too, sometimes. But I don't think it's actually about fishing for compliments. I believe it's more about self-preservation. Leaving yourself a back door out of the situation if the person you're talking with doesn't come along with your ideas. That way you feel less awkward and can quickly move on.
 
D

Dali

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I laugh when amused, shocked by something and, (something I picked up when living in SE Asia) I give a bit of a chuckle when embarrassed about a particular situation.
 

NewEra

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Because something is funny. If I type in lol or haha, it doesn't mean I'm laughing in real life. It's usually different, I'm either just filling in the blanks, being sarcastic, or just amused.
 

thisGuy

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it takes a certain amount of guts to talk about something you are insecure about or something you are really private about...something that is sure to alter people's opinion of you...so you put it out there and 'lol' to put them and yourself at ease. prolly more for yourself more than others
 

ColonelGadaafi

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they say monkeys smile when they are scared/hostile. I see your point cause people do laugh for the same reasons too.

Bullshit... i smile when i am entertained or when i sense that i have the upper hand in a clash.
 

Saslou

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When i lol or lmao .. it is because i am laughing out loud or chuckling to myself to the amusement of my children who think i am crazy.
 
S

Sniffles

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I often laugh when I'm in need to relax and/or uplift myself when times are down. This especially happened last night when I was trying to recover from a panic attack I had. :(
 

Into It

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hm, i was wondering last night why people scream. then it hit me, survival no doubt. i figure the same goes for laughing.

Yes, screaming is scary. It shocks the enemy. But how do you figure laughter aids survival directly?

People laugh for a number of reasons. The psychic response to the act of laughing is positive, for one reason or another, possibly triggered by lack of oxygen - I figure this because the physiology of laughter is bearing your teeth and tightening your diaphragm, which naturally would result in less oxygen, which makes one euphoric (obviously the bearing of teeth is not related to this.) But even a small lack of oxygen will create a slightly euphoric state I suppose - it may not be enough for you to notice consciously, if for no other reason than that your consciousness is distracted by what you find funny, but your subconscious would surely pick this up, and you would realize that you have the opportunity to focus consciously on this state, continue the diaphragm spasm, and will pleasure upon yourself.

But the question is not answered. Why will pleasure upon yourself? The obvious answer is because there is not an adequate amount of it at the time. Thus, we could come to the conclusion that laughter should come at a time of discomfort. We grieve when an emotional event that we understand rationally disturbs us, but laughter, an immediate response that requires little to no reflection (tickling?), could come at a time of misfortune that is affecting us not on a rational level, but rather on a direct, physiological level, such as when our blood pressure is risen. Siddhartha rolled the dice and lost a large amount of property. In an attempt at good humor and sportsmanship, he laughed - but he laughed a little too loud.

I asked my girlfriend the other day, when I was following a similar train of thought, when did she laugh most passionately?

Her answer was, "When I'm embarrassed." She is an extraordinarilly introverted girl, and this made me realize that laughing normally occurs in groups. I laugh to myself when I come to an intuitive realization that I feel I should have understood earlier. I must laugh because I'm more stupid than I wish I was. Most of the time that people laugh to themselves, it is in this spirit.

One does not laugh without an object. Often the object is a person, or a person's actions. We don't laugh when they say they've solved a tricky problem (unless we are laughing at our own incompetence like I stated a moment ago), we laugh when they try to impress everyone at the table by ordering in French and look foolish because they forgot we were at a Mexican restaurant. In this case, we laugh at their stupidity. Everytime we laugh, it is at something that is wrong - something that is inconsistent.

But why, why, why?!

Let's say that some actor tripped and fell down the stairs during a play, (don't worry, he didn't break a leg) and the auditorium fills with laughter - Why? Here's a suggestion: In this situation, laughing with all of the others, you would feel a comradery with the others in the auditorium, because an event involving a contradiction that you intuitively believe made an impact on the others, just like you. You intuitively know they are just like you, in at least this one way. So you use laughter to grow closer to them.

But what of the object? In an auditorium, you would not feel so sorry for the actor. You would realize his misfortune but it would not affect you emotionally - not in any remarkable way at least. I will suggest a reason for this.

Axioms:

-When laughing at another's misfortune, one is accomplishing two objectives simultaneously.

-One objective is to correct the pain of your empathy with the object.

-One objective is to grow closer to the others who laugh.

-The ratio of the feeling of comradery to the feeling of empathy is directly correlated to the number of people who are present, laughing.

The fourth axiom is affected by your relationship with the object of laughter.
Someone who embarrasses themselves in front of ten laughing people will meet with a wall that is being cemented - the ten people laugh at, with little consideration for her. If the same embarrassing thing happens to her, and the only two people with her can't help but laugh, they would be using it more empathy toward her than closeness to eachother. If they can't help but laugh, they are doing it to overcome the empathy, not to bond with eachother. As I have already noted, in an auditorium filled with people, we feel almost no emotional connection with a tripping actor. To emphasize: this is because the audience has enough people on their side of the equation to avoid personal responsibility. In short, the emotional reaction of the embarrassed person is matched by those who see it - and the fewer people who see it, the more likely the embarrassed person's consciousness is directed toward them, giving them a personal responsibility to be emotionally responsive to the object of embarrassment.
 

Asterion

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I lol less than I actually laugh most of the time, which is surprising really, because I lol quite often sometimes.
 

ceecee

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It's not bad when you type lol. It's only bad when you say lol. Which I do sometimes, usually when I know it's irritating and without any accompanying laughter.
 

Polaris

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I hardly ever use "lol" because it looks weird for some reason. If I laugh at something (and I do fairly often, given the silly world we live in), I usually I either say "That made me laugh," or I keep silent because there's no way to get it across without looking awkward. In real life the only time I laugh is when something amuses me. It always strikes me as surreal, and even inappropriate, when people laugh or smile because they're nervous.
 

Antimony

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If I laugh, normally I am plotting something.
 

Jaguar

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^ Strange cookie.

I laugh when something is funny. Why else would I laugh?
If I type: LOL or HAHA I really am laughing.
There's some funny fuckers in this forum.
Now, say that fast 3 times.

Funny fuckers in this forum
Funny fuckers in this forum
Funny fuckers in this forum
 

Antimony

You're fired. Lol.
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^ Strange cookie.

I laugh when something is funny. Why else would I laugh?
If I type: LOL or HAHA I really am laughing.
There's some funny fuckers in this forum.
Now, say that fast 3 times.

Funny fuckers in this forum
Funny fuckers in this forum
Funny fuckers in this forum


Funny fuckers in this forum
Funny fuckers in this forum
Funny fuckers in this forum

And I might be strange, but at least I have fun!
 

Antimony

You're fired. Lol.
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I got bored with it. It lost it's novelty.
 
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