Talk:Laughter

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Contents 1 The Child 2 Original Research Tag 3 Keke 4 Snicker? 5 Sections 6 Only Humans? 7 Introduction? 8 causes? 9 General Question to laughing 10 Contagious? 11 Orgasm? 12 Death by Laughter 13 Merge with Gelotology 14 Photos 15 Stage laughter 16 Come now people 17 Wooooo 18 Depiction of laughter 19 What about the sound. 20 What about... 21 Lithuanian depictions of laughter

[edit] The Child

The child is very cute but why is it always children in articles like this? --212.247.27.49 12:45, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

I guess it's because children laugh a lot, and adults tend to have less 'pure' laughter, they tend to laugh when it would result in personal gain; young children don't fake it. They just laugh their hearts out. Varnis 10:08, 7 February 2007 (UTC)

Varnis, please don't edit my posts without messaging me. That message was originally mine and was slightly shorter. Varnish1 10:09, 7 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Original Research Tag

There are many complaints about the overly philisophical nature of this article in this talk page - I totally agree and tried to resort the sections to make this artcile start with the facts and then move, as it does, into the theories. Unfortunatly, the (now) later sections on "congnitive models" appear to me to be original research which has no home in Wikipedia. I remember a time when this was a simple, elegant article on laughter, not a stuffy (and punishably not-funny) tretise about what I should and should not laugh at. PaigePhault 12:44, 9 September 2006 (UTC)

Upon further thought - I think this article should dispense with anything related to humor, comedy, jokes etc. and refer to those articles. This article should be quite limited to the description of what laughter is, and, present what is known about how it occurs (physiologically). The fact that laughter is pleasurable, and that societies try to create circumstances that lead to laughter is as far as this article should delve into the philosophical. But... I would like to hear others' opinions in this regard. PaigePhault 17:50, 10 September 2006 (UTC)

Why does the article start out with a quote from Aristotle saying that laughter is confined to the human species, and then end with a paragraph about how other animals laugh too? Guypersonson 05:41, 22 May 2006 (UTC)

Women produce "sing-song" laughter 50% of the time, whereas men grunt or snort as often as they make "sing-song" laughter.

This reads like they are both doing the same thing. Removed until clarification. --Eloquence 13:56 27 May 2003 (UTC)

I think it would read better as-

"Women produce "sing-song" laughter 50% of the time but rarely grunt or snort: men grunt or snort as often as they make "sing-song" laughter."

That should be clearer. -David Stewart 07:11 28 May 2003 (UTC)

It is, but if you are that specific, you should name the source. Great article, BTW. It appears that neither Britannica Concise nor encyclopedia.com nor Columbia have an article about laughter. --Eloquence 07:48 28 May 2003 (UTC)

Thanks. The source is one of the cited articles: I'll try and locate it. - David Stewart 07:52 28 May 2003 (UTC)

[edit] Keke

Keke redirects to this page without explanation. "Keke" is never mentioned in the article. Could someone explain it?

"keke", or "kekeke" (which also redirects here), are both commonly accepted as how koreans say "hahaha". whether that is true or not, i cant say, but i'd bet money many wikipedians who are online gamers have seen that phrase before.

Is that, like, that sound you make when you're cracking up and you make carbonation sounds with air escaping over the tongue pressed against the palate? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 75.72.21.221 (talk) 22:41, 20 March 2007 (UTC).

What I find funny is that "kekekeke" redirects to Laughter, but "kekekekeke" redirects to Korean language. (Myscrnnm 23:05, 19 April 2007 (UTC))

[edit] Snicker?

How come snicker re-directs here but there is no mention of the word snicker in the article?

• Does it need to have such? It basically has the same meaning, if it was necesarry, we'd probably be forced to crack open a thesauras ever time an artical was made. -FallingSkies 19:05, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Sections

The article of laughter said it needed sections inserted and I inserted them. Am i supposed to tell someone i did this? The article still says it needs sections inserted and is still on a lsit of articles needing headings. Ifixmanypages

[edit] Only Humans?

I've read that non-human apes also laugh. I'll try to find sources on this. --George100 11:15, 27 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Introduction?

Why does the introduction to this article sound like a philosophy term paper?

---

[personal attack removed per WP:RPA] 15:32, 9 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] causes?

I just wanted to point out that the word 'reasoning' is used incorrectly in this paragraph. --[Ramsey Affifi] july 28 2006

--Nick

[edit] General Question to laughing

I have for some time resolved to myself that laughing is in response to surprise.. when something happens you don't expect... someone falls over.. a joke that says something you dont expect (against convention), being kidnapped by someone might make you laugh, its something you dont expect, its absurd. Almost all sources of laughter seem to be revolved around this, although sometimes laughter is harder to understand (tickling), though this maybe a lower level unexpected firing of sensative nerves interpreted by your brain, is there any more reserch supporting my ideas? Id hate to think I was wrong about anything ;) I mainly formed this idea when I sat down one afternoon to understand why something is considered funny. It seemed as if it was composed of these basic points.

1) How unexpected the thing you are laughing was (whether it was truely a surprise or just against convention) 2) How disgusted you were by the surprise (the reason you dint find someone having their head cut off compared to them falling over) 3) How precharged you were to being surprised (humored) by what has already happened, its a sort of counter intuative expectation of unexpected. The reason a commedy show gets funnier over time or the reason warmup acts make the main act funnier.

Ive always thought much of human interaction is completely removed from who we interact with, I find it hard to think of many situations where we communicate where dont know what to expect in result, in fact we tend to avoid questions when we dont know the answer or at least dont want to know the answer. Ive always attributed this as an optimization by our brain to reduce its work. If we didnt premedidate the future we would be continually pausing to decide what to do. Its why I think when someone says something truely unexpectided, such as you wife is dead, you dont know what to say, you just stand mute. You didnt expect it and it fails the #2 rule of being too disgusting to find amusing.

It seems like most interactions we undertake are underpined by expectation.. what happens if we push a door, what happens when we touch something hot.. what happens when we tell someone we hate them, its when the result doesnt meet expectation we have emotional responselike laughing and crying.

Anyhow, im ranting now, but just was a bit frustrated to keep hearing that laughter is somehow a positive thing.. much like crying is a negative thing, we do both of these things in opposite situations, crying when happy and laughing when sad / scared.

[edit] Contagious?

Well...First of all, when my friend laughs the others begin softly laughing but I don't? Is it like some laughters are contagious to certain people? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 71.120.0.58 (talk) 14:08, 10 March 2007 (UTC).

That sounds right... Maybe it should be taken out of the article? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.34.71.97 (talk) 18:42, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Orgasm?

I've heard of people sneezing after orgasm, but lately I've been laughing almost psychotically afterwards. Am I messed up or does it just tickle a lot? (Or is orgasm just that funny?) —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 75.72.21.221 (talk) 22:42, 20 March 2007 (UTC).

No that means you have AIDS.58.164.238.147 10:52, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Death by Laughter

There are some accounts of this in the Fatal hilarity article. Might be worth a mention. --130.92.9.58 12:00, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Merge with Gelotology

The Gelotology article is almost identical to parts of this article. I think the Gelotology article should be reduced to a simple explanation that it is the study of the physiology of laughter and any other details can be moved into the Laughter article. Clerks. 19:13, 17 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Photos

We have two photos for the lead, one of a baby that could either be laughing or smiling, that appears to have copyright issues due to it being from a stock exchange website, and one with no copyright restrictions of a child laughing uproariously. Some votes on which the page prefers, please? --David Shankbone 11:53, 21 May 2007 (UTC)

Young child picture is much better, the other one looks like a sufferer of spasticity.

• Unfortunately, the young child is not "free media" per it's license and is to be deleted off the Commons. I also don't know what "sufferer of spasticity" means, but the child is clearly laughing.--David Shankbone 13:36, 22 May 2007 (UTC)

i don't much like the photo of the "child laughing uproariously". he looks like there might be something really wrong with him, or that he is being forced into the photograph. child abuse? 71.112.142.5 05:44, 23 May 2007 (UTC)

• It's a kid being tickled by the photographer, who has one hand on a large DSLR camera. What more can say laughter? It's clearly not a look of horror or upset, but playful laughter. Given the amount of room behind him, he's free to run away and it's doubtful one mhand would be able to keep the kid from running, especially as the others maneuvers with a large camera. It's simply a child being tickled and laughing. --David Shankbone 14:34, 23 May 2007 (UTC)

there are other hands in the picture, you have to look closely. it isn't just the kid and the tickling hand. i don't know what the third person is doing but they might be restraining the boy. zoom in on the face and you'll see what looks liek someone in a lot of pain

They are not restraining the boy. The operator taking the picture is tickling the boy with one hand, as additionally two younger hands are tickling the boy near the kidney. No one is restraining the boy. If you are not in favour of the current picture, you are welcome to find one you find more appropiate, but I see no reason to. Paul 20:41, 13 July 2007 (UTC)

Both pictures are annoying and demonstrate self-evident emotions. --nlitement ^[talk] 23:02, 20 June 2007 (UTC)

The photo is not very aesthetic and should be removed. It also looks strange and may confuse the viewed on what actually is going on. Point blank: it is not a good photo. If people insist on having the photo in the article, a consensus should be open about it. --Thus Spake Anittas 21:28, 24 July 2007 (UTC)

Agreed. This photo honestly makes me think the kid is trying to act like some sort of evil elf that wants to kill people, not to mention the position of the camera is awful. Something that would be almost unmistakable as a laugh, such as this picture from a quick google images search would be better. That said, I do think it would be better to have a picture of a child on this article than anyone else. Can't someone just take their kid outside, have them sit on some grass, tell them a few jokes and take pictures of them laughing? That would work much better than this --L^augh! 16:10, 25 July 2007 (UTC)

I don't think the issue is whether this photo in particular need be there. I think the issue is that decent alternatives have yet to be proposed and the commons doesn't particularly have any. --David Shankbone 16:43, 25 July 2007 (UTC)

Is finding a picture of someone laughing really this hard? I'm pretty sure I can capture one of my friends laughing at some point and GFDL the photo. Or is a photo of a child preferably? Natalie 16:56, 25 July 2007 (UTC)

Anyone would be fine, I just think that a child is easier to distinguish laughing from, usually. Personally, I'd go with either a child, or a group of adults. A single adult would be kinda odd imo. --L^augh! 00:38, 26 July 2007 (UTC)

I'll try and take a photo of children laughing also. --David Shankbone 02:20, 26 July 2007 (UTC)

• I replaced the tickling photo as the lead with a new one of children laughing. --David Shankbone 04:23, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

The photo is rather disturbing. I accept that the child is laughing, but a cropped image might be mistaken for someone writhing in pain. It's horrible.

82.40.163.5 (talk) 14:06, 18 December 2007 (UTC)

Perhaps that's because there isn't much difference between writhing when in pain and laughing when being tickled. Both are emotive/expressive reactions caused by physical stimuli, and both generally look/sound surprisingly similar. Laughing due to a physical stimulus is distinctly different from laughter based on happiness, or humor, just as screaming in pain is distinctly different from screaming in surprise. While this definitely isn't the best image, I think it does a decent job of illustrating that there's a difference. And if you think the photo is disturbing and horrible, maybe that's because tickling can be a rather distrubing and horrifying experience. Calgary (talk) 06:08, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Stage laughter

You must mention stage laughter. The ability to laugh on cue by actors, unlike average people. You must mention it as you have deleted it. Jidanni 18:30, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

Uh, how is that an ability? Fake laughter is very easy, most of us probably do it at least once or twice a day to move the conversation past a crappy pun --lucid 18:33, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

Then mention the dynamics of fake laughter, and that actors train on how to do it especially well. Jidanni 18:47, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

Do you have citations you can provide here of this phenomenon? And, if so, why does this belong on the laughter page and not the Acting page? --David Shankbone 18:50, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

OK all laughter is real and none is faked or staged and therefore that is all irrelevant and should not be mentioned and I give up. Jidanni 18:53, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

Really, it comes down to that this is unnotable. If we began listing on every page that actors "fake" whatever it is they are doing, we'll have an acting section for every emotion and action on Wikipedia. I don't see why Laughter is more notable than Crying or Dying. --David Shankbone 19:19, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Come now people

"(though such citations may only lay credit to accounts such as Reefer Madness)"

I removed the above. This has nothing to do with Laughter as a topic, and certainly doesn't belong in the introduction to the article.Harley peters 05:59, 29 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Wooooo

I love this website. All of these really bored people arguing about laughter and a stupid picture of a kid laughing.

And yes I am just anoher extremely bored person posting fairly random things on Wikipedia.

- BoredOutOfTheirSkull —Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.102.82.68 (talk) 17:34, 26 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Depiction of laughter

This section of the article lacks information about how laughter is depicted in English. Max Sánchez 04:45, 3 December 2007 (UTC)

Agreed, I just noticed that myself. Someone should definitely add it. Calgary (talk) 05:50, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] What about the sound.

What determines the sound of laughing? How many different kinds of laughs are there? Is it just the pitch of the voice, that makes our laugh unique?--Hhielscher (talk) 21:01, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] What about...

You also laugh when you're really happy about something of for someone... --Knowlege: Life's greatest gift, or terrible curse, how do you use it...? (talk) 02:51, 1 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Lithuanian depictions of laughter

Che che che could be added as sneering. Sneering was added to Japanese, so I see no reason why it shouldn't be in Lithuanian, though it's not important. --195.22.191.4 (talk) 19:51, 20 March 2008 (UTC)