[Lexicog] words for different kinds of laughter

[Hayim Sheynin]

I think this old joke was created in Stalin labor camps (GULAG). At least I heard it in Leningrad after release of the inmates in the 50s after the death of Stalin.

Hayim Sheynin

Fritz Goerling <Fritz_Goerling at sil.org> wrote:                                          
  John,
   
  Good analysis!
   
  I hope one day we don’t have to communicate with acronyms like:
  BWL = bursting with laughter
  FOFL = falling on the floor laughing
  LMSO = laughing my socks off
  LOL = laugh out loud 
  LSHTTARDML = laughing so hard that tears are running down my leg
   
  That reminds me of a joke: 
  A new prisoner joins the group of other prisoners who sit in a circle in the evening and obviously have a good time.
  One of them shouts “12”, everybody laughs. Another shouts, all men guffaw. One shouts 112, they all slap their thighs.
  The new prisoner wonders what is happening and asks his neighbor in the circle why they all laugh when someone calls out a number.
  The other guy says: “We are telling jokes and have given a number to each joke. As we have already heard all of these jokes, it is enough just to call out the number.” The new prisoner thinks “That is easy, I can do that myself.” So he shouts “71.” Noone laughs.
  So he turns to his neighbour asking “Why does noone laugh?” His neighbour answers: “one has to know how to tell jokes.”
   
  I wonder what kind of “laughter” (smile) this provokes with you. I hope I havn’t spoilt the joke by the way I told it.
   
  Fritz
        Fritz,
 
 I would say the English vocabulary describing laughing has about 2 or 3 
 levels of intensity with 'laugh' itself describing the 'norm':
 
 Describing a restrained laugh: chortle, chuckle, crease up, giggle, 
 snicker, snigger, titter,
 Norm: laugh, bubble/cackle with laughter
 Describing an unrestrained laugh: guffaw, 
 hoot/howl/roar/scream/shake/shriek/snort with laughter
 Completely uncontrolled laughter: fall about/ split one's sides/ have 
 hysterics/ piss oneself laughing.
 
 The pattern seems to be the more unrestrained the laughing, the more 
 unrestrained the descriptive vocabulary. :-) I think the terms 'giggle' 
 and 'titter' would typically have female agents and 'guffaw' would 
 typically have a male agent, but I don't think the other expressions 
 have this restriction.
 
 John Roberts
 
 -- 
 ********************
 John R Roberts
 SIL International Linguistics Consultant
 dr_john_roberts at sil.org
 ********************
  
  

      


     
                       

 
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