When to Laugh and When not to Laugh
I started noticing something very annoying about people. When you tell them about a problem you have, they seem to smile from ear to ear. Now I don’t expect them to be crying about it because, of course, they probably couldn’t care less. But surely there has to be some common courtesy where you show some concern on your face instead of grinning. When they do I think they are either laughing at me or finding my situation amusing to them because who doesn’t love it when someone else is in distress to make your life seem a whole lot better?I could be wrong in that their smile could be a way of showing disdain about my situation but if someone can misinterpret that reaction then I feel it’s important to work on your expressions. On the other hand, it might just be something they can’t help but it is odd when they are quite capable of displaying other facial expressions.Is smiling contagious? It’s not. Is laughing contagious? Apparently it is and there is a problem with that depending upon when and where the laughter is taking place. Because, you see, laughing at the wrong moment can be a disaster for the person doing the laughing. Wrong moments include meetings, talking to someone about a serious issue, whether in person or on the phone, or laughing in public when you’re alone or while talking to someone you have a sudden burst of laughter.Laughing at the wrong moments can be triggered by many things. Inappropriate laughter is when a doctor might tell you about a serious health issue you have and then burst out laughing, not because he finds your health issue funny but because he suddenly got the joke someone told him earlier or because he remembered something funny. Other reasons include seeing something funny in a meeting or hearing a funny sound or smelling something that triggers a laughing response. Sometimes it’s because someone says something funny unintentionally, such as a pun. It seems some culprits include puns such as, ‘My wife blocked me on Facebook because I post too many bird puns. Well, toucan play at that game’, or ‘I used to make loads of money clearing leaves from gardens. I was raking it in!’ and ‘I went to the Doctor with hearing problems. He asked 'Can you describe the symptoms?' I said: 'Homer's a fat guy and Marge has blue hair.' Yes these are amusing but not ones that could cause uncontrollable laughter, except perhaps for the last pun about the Simpsons. In reality, people can’t control their laughter when they hear a sound, smell something or, and this is highly inconsiderate, when someone trips, slips or falls on the ground. Honestly speaking, I cannot fathom what’s funny about someone nearly hurting themselves. Or perhaps they did hurt themselves but people were too busy laughing at it to notice.Then there are times when not laughing is equally inconsiderate. The most obvious one is when someone tells a joke that they think is hilarious but meet with a room full of silent people because no one else did.Therefore, the most important reason to even ‘force’ a laugh is when a parent tells a joke that he or she thinks is funny. If you don’t you’re going to hurt their feelings and you don’t want to do that. Another is when your boss tells a joke. Imagine not laughing then. In this instance it’s not about hurting his feelings but about not offending him. Remember that episode in Friends when Chandler used to laugh at his boss’ jokes. It was a fake laugh to keep his boss happy with him.And finally, we’re supposed to laugh at clowns. I personally never thought any clown was funny. Creepy? Yes. But funny? Never! We’re supposed to laugh at their costumes and when they trip or slip but it’s not funny because it’s all contrived. To be fair clowns were made sinister after the movie ‘Joker’ and ‘It’ when they were anything but nice or funny. Laughter is indeed contagious but knowing when to and when not to laugh is the key.
I started noticing something very annoying about people. When you tell them about a problem you have, they seem to smile from ear to ear. Now I don’t expect them to be crying about it because, of course, they probably couldn’t care less. But surely there has to be some common courtesy where you show some concern on your face instead of grinning. When they do I think they are either laughing at me or finding my situation amusing to them because who doesn’t love it when someone else is in distress to make your life seem a whole lot better?I could be wrong in that their smile could be a way of showing disdain about my situation but if someone can misinterpret that reaction then I feel it’s important to work on your expressions. On the other hand, it might just be something they can’t help but it is odd when they are quite capable of displaying other facial expressions.Is smiling contagious? It’s not. Is laughing contagious? Apparently it is and there is a problem with that depending upon when and where the laughter is taking place. Because, you see, laughing at the wrong moment can be a disaster for the person doing the laughing. Wrong moments include meetings, talking to someone about a serious issue, whether in person or on the phone, or laughing in public when you’re alone or while talking to someone you have a sudden burst of laughter.Laughing at the wrong moments can be triggered by many things. Inappropriate laughter is when a doctor might tell you about a serious health issue you have and then burst out laughing, not because he finds your health issue funny but because he suddenly got the joke someone told him earlier or because he remembered something funny. Other reasons include seeing something funny in a meeting or hearing a funny sound or smelling something that triggers a laughing response. Sometimes it’s because someone says something funny unintentionally, such as a pun. It seems some culprits include puns such as, ‘My wife blocked me on Facebook because I post too many bird puns. Well, toucan play at that game’, or ‘I used to make loads of money clearing leaves from gardens. I was raking it in!’ and ‘I went to the Doctor with hearing problems. He asked 'Can you describe the symptoms?' I said: 'Homer's a fat guy and Marge has blue hair.' Yes these are amusing but not ones that could cause uncontrollable laughter, except perhaps for the last pun about the Simpsons. In reality, people can’t control their laughter when they hear a sound, smell something or, and this is highly inconsiderate, when someone trips, slips or falls on the ground. Honestly speaking, I cannot fathom what’s funny about someone nearly hurting themselves. Or perhaps they did hurt themselves but people were too busy laughing at it to notice.Then there are times when not laughing is equally inconsiderate. The most obvious one is when someone tells a joke that they think is hilarious but meet with a room full of silent people because no one else did.Therefore, the most important reason to even ‘force’ a laugh is when a parent tells a joke that he or she thinks is funny. If you don’t you’re going to hurt their feelings and you don’t want to do that. Another is when your boss tells a joke. Imagine not laughing then. In this instance it’s not about hurting his feelings but about not offending him. Remember that episode in Friends when Chandler used to laugh at his boss’ jokes. It was a fake laugh to keep his boss happy with him.And finally, we’re supposed to laugh at clowns. I personally never thought any clown was funny. Creepy? Yes. But funny? Never! We’re supposed to laugh at their costumes and when they trip or slip but it’s not funny because it’s all contrived. To be fair clowns were made sinister after the movie ‘Joker’ and ‘It’ when they were anything but nice or funny. Laughter is indeed contagious but knowing when to and when not to laugh is the key.
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