Tuesday, August 07, 2007

Laughter

LAUGHTER, n.  An interior convulsion, producing a distortion of the features and accompanied by inarticulate noises. It is infectious and, though intermittent, incurable. Liability to attacks of laughter is one of the characteristics distinguishing man from the animals — these being not only inaccessible to the provocation of his example, but impregnable to the microbes having original jurisdiction in bestowal of the disease. Whether laughter could be imparted to animals by inoculation from the human patient is a question that has not been answered by experimentation. Dr. Meir Witchell holds that the infection character of laughter is due to the instantaneous fermentation of sputa diffused in a spray. From this peculiarity he names the disorder Convulsio spargens.

2007 Update:  The sword of a bore, shield of a ninny, the dagger in a lover's hand and the horn of a hippopotamus.  "Eureka," at the discovery of fool's gold.

A stranger laughed beneath my wall
So I asked him tell his story
He said he'd taken Adam's fall
And that same path to glory

"My pride, it got the best of me
and my wisdom left me dry
Moved by curiosity,
I took to drink, wander and lie.

"I've lost my home and my direction
My job, my love, my bearing.
Where my fist once held insurrection
It's empty now of all but caring.

"The Earth's a swamp and I am mired
No rope to climb nor room to wiggle."
"Then why do you laugh?" I inquired.
"Because otherwise, I'd giggle." 
-Hashan

23 comments:

Miz BoheMia said...

I AM FIRSTTTT!!!! AAAAAHHHHH!!!!

TLP said...

Easy for Miz Bohemia to laugh. She got to be first. grumble. grouse.

TLP said...

But wait! Do I hear bitter laughter coming from across the ocean? 'Tis teh Penquin me thinks. Get in here girl and tell us what laughter means.

Anonymous said...

as Woody Allen once said:

I am thankful for laughter, except when milk comes out of my nose.

...or, i might add, a TGSNWM (nothing like a soy/mocha/coffee mixture spray to clean out those sinuses) ; )

Anonymous said...

i Googled "Hashan", and found one reference in "Wookieepedia". but i'm guesing the Hashan you're pretending to be has less to do with Wookies and more to do with Dark Forces of Evil. or not...

that said, discovering there was such a thing as a "Wookieepedia" totally cracked me up. ; )

The Old Mule said...

laughter: the blather of a moment away from news.

Anonymous said...

Laughter: During coitus, this is a 100% reliable cause of an interruptus. (Except in the hyena?)

Unknown said...

powdered horn of hippo is allegedly an aphrodisiac. does that make sex funny? *giggles*

Mutha said...

Ha

Anonymous said...

laughter my weapon of choice

Anonymous said...

GIGGLE, n. A little gig, such as in a coffee house, small club, etc. The pay for such gigs was often laughable - the stifled guffaws of performers and agents that could be heard when they saw their paychecks resulted in this word becoming associated with the more general response to humor. Or to tickling. I'm not naming names, Quilly ...

Being myself ignorant of such things, I'll have to ask the Dudes about any link between laughter and weed. Hashan. Really.

Miz BoheMia said...

'Tis said to be the antidote to misfortune and the driving force behind a joyful-destiny-to-be though I would add that geographic location plays a great part in it all...

For example, in Spain it is advised to laugh as it is the only way to fight the urge to blow a hole in one's head or in that of others and in San Francisco, well, hysterical OH-MY-GOD-I-CANNOT-BELIEVE-I-AM-FREE-FROM-THAT-MORONIC-WORLD-THAT-STILL-HAUNTS-ME-CALLED-SPAIN-AND-I-MEAN-NOT-FIGURATIVELY-BUT-LITERALLY-AS-THE-MOVING-COMPANY-THAT-OVERCHARGED-US-$4000-MIGHT-STICK-IT-TO-US-YET-AGAIN-SO-WHERE-THE-HELL-IS-MY-SHOTGUN-I-ASK-WHERE laughter whilst throwing oneself on the floor, embracing it, checking and double checking that one is indeed free from the clutches of a former psychotic world that refuses to let go and that is indeed the case, YES INDEED IT IS and so there is more laughter of joy and mirth and of FREEDOM, FREEDOM I SAY though Spain still won't let go but BAH to them I say, BAH and so there is even MORE laughter and...

Although the appearance of people holding a tight white coat, and I ain't talking Channel, is not a good sign and then you are perhaps dealing with laughter gone wrong and... why are they headed this way?

Um, gotta go!

Logophile said...

laughter~ The knot in the rope of the clinging, balm to the soul of the suffering, a means of creating saftely for the deliberately distant.

G said...

"Does anybody remember laughter?"

"cause otherwise I'd giggle" - good one.

Doug The Una said...

Morning, Miz B!

TLP, I just hear peeping.

Neva, TGSWNOMONYM is the best medicine, taken nasally. And can I be a wookiepidiot now? (that is great.)

Mule, the news has been funnier than the sitcoms for some time now.

Al, I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about.

Karma, I think you mean the rhinoceros. But I'm pretty sure they're funny in bed, so, yes.

Heh, Mutha.

Quilly, I've learned to watch my back.

Amoeba, if it helps, I typoed Hassan. Yes, there's a connection.

Slew that dragon, did you, hermana?

Logo, I prefer "Curmudgeonly American" to "deliberately distant," thanks very much.

G, I remember laughter from when the forests echoed with it and no one was there to hear.

Mo'a said...

An of course laughter is the best medicine...or so they say, but what have you heard about the giggle.

TLP said...

I think teh Penquin is resting. No idea why. She wore herself out laughing over here I guess.

Minka said...

Well, TLP, I met you guys. Laughter was pretty much infectious!

“In the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures. For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed.”

Kahil Gibran

(also uttered by Tom Selleck in an episode of FRIENDS, just FYI!)

tsduff said...

You know, Hashan is quite right.

Mirth is a mystery. One time I'm not so proud to say when at my grandmother's funeral service, my sisters and I were overcome with the giggles. It was horrible - no amount of self control could make it stop - my stomach hurt, our eyes were blinded with tears, but we just could not stop!

Unknown said...

laughter: used for both recreational and medicinal purposes

Doug The Una said...

Mo'a, giggles cause spontaneous human combustion in children and the elderly. They did a study.

TLP, that's easy to do.

Minka, only you could make Gibran a laugh line.

Isn't that funny, Terry. My Uncle Jimmy tells a story of an uncle of his who used to tell jokes just outside family funerals and when everyone was laughing, interrupt and say "isn't this sad. Here we are laughing and cousin X is in there lying dead."

Actonbell, that's a great joke and excellent use of the geometric sequence. I bet when you tell that joke that way, Ekim remembers why he fell for you.

Nice, wombat. Do not take with milk.

Tom & Icy said...

My wag

Anonymous said...

Laughter: A form of approval and even affection one can recieve from anyone, even strangers. As such, it is a perfectly adequate substitute for love.