I also laugh a lot; but laugh is not equal to laugh. A smile is different to laughter. I like to laugh heartily, very open. An espritfull laughing I like most; a clever remark, a double minded sentense, a thoughtfull joke.

Here an example: see file

Peter

Dear Liliana. I laugh a lot.

We laugh to relief stress, when we don't fully understand but we perceive that it is not too important.

Best regards, from laughable laughing Maria !

 Is quite interesting this approach: Gervais M, & Wilson DS (2005). The evolution and functions of laughter and humor: a synthetic approach. The Quarterly review of biology, 80 (4), 395-430 

..... is the action or sound of laughing!

Laughter is the physiological respo­nse to humor. Laughter consists of two parts -- a set of gestures and the production of a sound. When we laugh, the brain pressures us to conduct both those activities simultaneously. When we laugh heartily, changes occur in many parts of the body, even the arm, leg and trunk muscles.

http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/inside-the-mind/emotions/laughter1.htm

I also laugh a lot; but laugh is not equal to laugh. A smile is different to laughter. I like to laugh heartily, very open. An espritfull laughing I like most; a clever remark, a double minded sentense, a thoughtfull joke.

Here an example: see file

Peter

Laughter spans the range of emotional and cognitive function. Laughter is a complex animal: part survival, part defense, part denial, part celebration, part expression. We laugh joyously, we laugh sadly, we laugh nervously, we laugh maniacally, we laugh triumphantly, we laugh tenderly, we laugh self-consciously, we laugh because we are human. Laughter transcends time and space (i.e., borders, cultures, ethnicity).

Considering the seriousness of many situations in the world today, I find myself laughing less than I did in my youth or even a decade or two ago. However, I am often surprised when something spontaneously triggers true, deep laughter: the kind of laughter that cleanses the soul like a good cry.

Ja wohl, Herr Eyerer !  Der Einstein hatte Recht.

 Herr Eyerer, after going through the attached presentation from your side, I could not  desist from making the above exclamation in German, - which means in English   " Yes of course Mr. Eyerer, Einstein was right "

Dear Lilliana

In my case, smile is something that, according to my mother, I never ceased to be since I started to make gestures. For me, smile means a gift I give life and others for everything that life and others, without they knowing it, give me every day. Very good question, as always !!! Big hugs!

In our culture (Iraq), laughter without cause demonstrates a lack of ethics. A  smile means happiness and hope.

Ah, all of you have made me laugh!!! This is me laughing my heart out a couple of years back. I had such a great time!

Lilliana

Dear friends:

In my culture most people laugh at others, which I do not like or do. It's a mean way to act as if they were superior to others. I would have liked to be a standup comedian because I feel I have the talent, and I am short and funny, and I can have a lot of fun poking fun at myself because, anyway, I am naturally clumsy and weird. But it seems most people I know laugh out of cruelty or out of spite, not that much as to seem satanic, as dear Barbara wisely suggests, but enough to be deemed unkind. I sometimes wonder why people refuse the joy laughter brings. I will have to content myself with "standup teaching". My students like a joyful class. We never get bored in my classroom, whether we are talking about Alberti's De re aedificatoria, or about the mathematics of Tiepolo's trompe-l'oeil in German churches, or about Terra Amata's possible floor plans, if any. 

A good laugh is so good! Lilliana

Querida Maria, I have always had the impression that you laugh a lot, ever since I was asked by RG to approve "humor" as one of your skills. I laughed so hard when I approved that skill for you that I added "humor" to my own skills. Thank you for your friendship. :-)

Laughing, Lilliana

What is laughter? Why do YOU laugh?

Laughter is part of human beings' behavior that provide physical & emotional responses to some stimuli that we feel interesting, happy, funny etc.  I find positive laughter can promote interaction & socialization with people surrounding us that we can easily build up the rapport.  Albeit laughter can be faked but it also can be detected easily by others. 

When we laugh, there are many positive impacts to our body & soul i.e. our muscles on the face will be exercised, dilation of blood vessels that increase blood flow, provide relief for pain as the brain is releasing endorphins, strengthen our immune system due to increase of antibody-producing cells etc. in which some people claim that "laughter is the best medicine".

Does laughter have the same purpose and meaning in all cultures and throughout history?

Generally I think laughter have the same purpose & meaning across cultures & throughout history albeit some cultures or people might laugh more or will respond with different laughter with different degree of stimuli etc.  Time changes & new history born might cause laughter to occur at different degree due to the different degree of stimuli.

There are many shades between laughter and derision.

And it is not always easy to distinguish these shades.

I like to laugh friendly, cheerful and liberating.

Dear Lilliana,

Every time I feel the need to empty mental trash from own head, filled with redundant information I try to watch, read or listen to good jokes or humorous books. This adds distance to reality, kind of serioussness at work and own affairs. I like the Czech sense of humor: warm, poetic and reflective. Besides vigorus and crazy French sense of humor as well as Scandinavian subtle, restrained full of absurdities. 

Ah, Beata! I do that too! Thanks for sharing!!!

Best regards, Lilliana

The reference to Bergson is important. His "Le rire" as been a companion for me for years.  Read the subtitle "Essai sur la signification du comique". It actually is about meaning and deep meaning of laughing. in the 1924 edition bergson explicitly refers to Freud's "Der Witz und die Beziehung zum Unbewussten".Begrson finishes his book with a rather poetic vision. Hecompares laughter to foam:

"Le rire naît ainsi que cette écume. Il signale, à l'extérieur de la vie sociale, les revoltes superficielles. Il dessine instantanément la forme moble de ces ébranlements. Il est lui aussi un de mousse à bas de sel. Comme la mousse il pétiille. C'est de la gaîté. Le philosophe qui en ramasse pour goûter y trouvera d'ailleurs quelquefois, pour une petite quantité de matière, une certaine dose d'amertume."

(Laughter is born like this foam. It shows, outside social life, superficial revolts. It instantly draws the mobile form of these shocks. It is also a salt based foam. Like foam it sparkles. It is joy. The philosopher who picks it up to taste will, sometimes by the way, find in a small quantity of matter a certain dose of bitterness.)

I normally talk to people with a smiling face. I smile a lot and under exceptional situations bursting into laughter takes place from my side. This happens  rarely and for this, an extreme trigger , such as a very funny situation / joke is required.

As expressed by Kundu in this discussion, laughter is manifestation of various feelings and emotions of man kind. These feelings could be happiness, joy, satisfaction, surprise etc. Sometimes we may indulge in hiding our feelings in the form of laugh. Examples could be embarrassment, sorrow, lack of interest / appreciation of a joke or humour, lack of agreement etc.  

I agree with Green completely in the matter of transcendence of laughter with respect to time and space. Being essentially an expression of emotion, it should normally be beyond any man made borders,  such as country, culture or ethnicity, religion etc. The degree may of course vary.

As expressed earlier by many people in this discussion, laughter is definitely a very good way / tool to counter stress.  

Laughter is a powerful antidote to stress, pain, and conflict. Nothing works faster or more dependably to bring your mind and body back into balance than a good laugh. Humor lightens your burdens, inspires hopes, connects you to others, and keeps you grounded, focused, and alert.

Laughter occurs when people are comfortable with one another, when they feel open and free. And the more laughter [there is], the more bonding within the group.

Thank you for your comment, dear D. Katherine. I have also studied Bergson in class for many years. It is quite challenging to make Le rire converse with his Matière et mémoire on issues regarding the body. In fact, in my classes on the history of architecture, I have used Bergson's categories to talk about humor in architecture. I have also linked Bergson's view on repetition and caricature to Christine Buci-Glucksmann's arguments concerning ornament. Playing Bergson against Freud makes me think that Bergson has more to teach us about laughter's link to societal controls and about human intelligence than Freud.

Thank you for sharing with me your summary on Bergson's Le rire. It is very good. I love that you wrap up your splendid summary with this: "A situation is invariably comic when it belongs simultaneously to two altogether independent series of events and is capable of being interpreted in two entirely different meanings at the same time." Freud makes a similar claim a few years latter, but I find Bergson's more concise and to the point. Do you mind if I share your summary with my architecture students? I will add your name as author because it does not appear on the document. Let me know if this is ok with you. 

Delighted to read your comment, D. Katherine!

Best regards, Lilliana

Dear Deborah, thank you for sharing! I have a blog where I re-publish most of my essays and articles. You are invited to visit. It is titled Bodegón con Teclado (Still Life with Keyboard):

https://bodegonconteclado.wordpress.com

Warm regards, Lilliana

Many, many years ago I read a study that talked about scatological humor primarily in the form of jokes written for newspapers. The writer showed that the same joke was told in very different ways according to the social class each newspaper targeted. However, these kinds of jokes slowly dropped out of the upper class papers, then the upper middle class papers, then the middle class papers, and eventually only remained in the lower class newspapers. The author then argued that two technological/cultural changes helped to explain this phenomenon: indoor plumbing, which moved the outhouse indoor, and the automobile, which displaced many draft animals and transportation animals. S/he maintained that one might keep private space as clean as one wished, but not public space. Scatology, in the form of human and animal waste, was apparent all over the landscape, and one way to deal with it was to diminish it with humor. The first groups to remove the ordure from their landscape were the upper classes, followed by the upper middle, and so on, thereby no longer needing to resort to scatological humor for comfort. So, I guess, the laughing was a way of controlling something for which they did not have enough control. I think I use it that way sometimes.

"According to Aristophanes, we laugh in order to restore order."

According to Larry Boatswain and others we have to laugh to keep from crying.

I'm not so sure of the class orientation of Carlos' response. I have experienced scatalogical humour (which I personally don't find at all funny) from the best bred scions of US "old money". They were all fond of this type of humour. The fact that they were practicing male homosexuals might explain that tho.

Benefits of smiling and laughter with patients can boost the mood and even immune system

http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/15-fascinating-facts-about-smiling/

Thank you, Krishnan!!! :-D

Lilliana

Take a look on this magazin from Argentina

According to Steven Pinker laughter is a form of involuntary communication of an emotional state.  He includes anger, sympathy, sham and fear in this category and describes it as the "brain going to some effort to convince an audience that an internal state is heartfelt rather than a sham"

Pinker describes well the concept of humor as a form of aggression, of how it is used against people in the most hideous way.  

Laughter has frequently been seen as sinful or irreverent.  It is almost entirely absent from the Bible and where it does get a mention it is mentioned negatively.

Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep.

                                     Luke 6:21-25

Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better.

                                    Ecclesiastes 7:3

Aristotle’s 2nd book of Poetics, on comedy is rumored to have been ‘lost’ because medieval Christians could not accept that Christ ever laughed.  A story described excellent in fiction by Umberto Eco in The Name of the Rose.

All in all laughter is very powerful which is why many would try to suppress it.

Dear Barry, there is what we call "the good laugh" which expresses delight, happiness and wellbeing. There is also "good humor" where we can talk about a state of mind that is open, optimistic, caring. Freud gives a few examples of this "good humor": word games, for one; also Wittgenstein considers humor in his "mental experiments". Even Bertrand Russell explores humor. I think it is a pity that so many intelligent scientists, philosophers, psychologists, sociologists and other intellectuals tend to resist humor, Pessimism has become the trademark of modernity reducing humor to vitriolic attack.

I derive a great pleasure of wit, and believe it is a mark of joyful intelligence, which is what Eco had in mind in his first novel, Eco being a splendid wit himself. I had the honor of translating his lecture into Spanish when he came to my university to receive a Doctorate Honoris Causa. We spent a few days together and we laughed a lot. His humor was brilliant! I was very sad when he died.

Thank you for your comments on the Bible. I was not aware of the Bible's tragic stance! And, yes, there must be something irreverent and wayward, carefree and disobedient in laughter if so many want to suppress it!!!

Best regards, Lilliana

Jorge, me ha encantado lo que me enviaste. He seguido el rock argentino con cierta intermitencia pero siempre con mucho interés. Y esto que me has enviado me ha hecho reír como una loca. Gracias!!!!!!!!

Un abrazo, Lilliana

Con el mayor gusto, Liliana.

There are many passages in the King James version of the  Bible that speak of laughter. It is true that most of these instances use laughter in its derisive form: mocking another's plight or laughing in scorn. However, there are many times when it is used otherwise. Then do not forget other words, in their many forms, that might have been used in the place of laughter, like joyful, mirth, merry, happy, rejoice, gladness, etc.

 Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear? Genesis 17:17

 And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me. Genesis 21:6

 At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh: neither shalt thou be afraid of the beasts of the earth. Job 5:22

Till he fill thy mouth with laughing, and thy lips with rejoicing. Job 8:21

 If I laughed on them, they believed it not; and the light of my countenance they cast not down. Job 29:24

 But thou, O Lord, shalt laugh at them; thou shalt have all the heathen in derision. Psalms 59:8

 Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: then said they among the heathen, The Lord hath done great things for them. Psalms 126:2

 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance. Ecclesiastes 3:4

 Then I commended mirth, because a man hath no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry: for that shall abide with him of his labour the days of his life, which God giveth him under the sun. Ecclesiastes 8:15

Wow, James! Thank you!!!!!!!

Best regards, Lilliana

Dear Lilliana,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laughter_in_animals

''In one study, 120 dogs in a mid-size county animal shelter were observed. Dogs ranging from 4 months to 10 years-of-age were compared with and without exposure to a recorded "dog-laugh" . This recording significantly reduced stress behaviors, increased tail wagging, the display of a "play-face" when playing was initiated, and pro-social behavior such as approaching and lip licking.''

Louis! !!!!!!!!!!

Lilliana

Laughter in various situations such as display of Understanding, through Laughter in Complaint Sequences and also through casual interactions.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://www.sdu.dk/-/media/files/forskning/phd/phd_hum/afhandlinger/2009/monikavoge.pdf&ved=0ahUKEwiIpquwnOTLAhUGkI4KHUNaDGg4PBAWCCswBA&usg=AFQjCNHk7tBPd4xrOzYYZqMzqoudP_APBA

Oppressed social groups very often discuss their social situation with a lot of humour and laughing.  I remembered all these foreigh african students at the university of Montreal constantly laughing about story of dictators in Africa.  One of them was my friend and he told me the story that in his high school there was no food in the cafeteria in spite of the fact that their school fees was supposed to include meals.  He explained to me that it was the school director that was corrupted.  The story was narrated in a very humourous tone.  I guess that it allowed him to protect himself or distance itself from the situation and not take the role of a sad victim.  I guess it is a way to fight back.  

In Canada there are Newfie jokes.  A Newfie is someone living in the province of Newfoundland.  For reasons I totally ignore ''Newfie'' in newfie joke are complete dummy.  I had a friend from Bengal (india) and he had a lot of similar jokes but with Penjabies.

Although we laugh all our life , we seem to spend much more time in laughing when we are babies and in our teenage years.  

It is not only humans that laugh, other primates do too.  Monkeys appear to employ a collective rhythmic signal resembling laughter, i.e. explosive vocal sounds emanating from a rapid contraction of the diaphragm when they gang up to threaten other animals.  Chimps 'laugh' when engaged in group aggression against rivals or when hunting other animals.  They appear to get pleasure from the kill just like some humans do.  In chimps laughter has also been observed in infant play.

It is possible that this spontaneous expression of pleasure in primate groups is an evolutionary precursor to laughter and that might explain the phenomenon of laughter causing positive feedback or being 'contagious' in human groups.

The startling human predilection for laughing in triumph or at the misfortunes of others may also be an evolutionary phenomenon.  It is well documented that a human group will laugh at the misfortunes of an individual. Sometimes even when that individual is clearly hurt or distressed.  We even employ this in TV ‘humor’ where members of the public send in home movie clips of accidents such as someone falling of their bike.  The studio audience will howl in merriment as the poor victim lands painfully on their head or other part of their anatomy.  It is notable that this behaviour has been recorded in virtually every cultural grouping in human societies.

This kind of behaviour reinforces the group identity and is most likely a primitive evolutionary vocalization that predates human language proper.  Early hominids were probably laughing at each other well before they developed complex language.

Dear all:

If laughter is a signal of aggression, should we turn to tears as a signal of happiness and delight? It seems that we are short on gestures for wellbeing and joy...

Lilliana

Dear all,

Laughing is contagious.  It focus the group attention and promote group bonding.  It also sometime exclude one from the group when that person is the focus of the laughing.  This shame the person. We fear being laugh.  So laughing can establish a group discipline.  There are certain behavior that will not be tolerated and lauhing will be the way to shame those having these behavior.  Teenagers are particularly fearfull of ridicule.

As teenager I received many puches in physical fights but those did not hurt as much as those inflincted through laughing.  We should not understimate the use of laughing as a weapon of group inclusion and exclusion.

I laugh because im happy :D

Dear Husni, me too. :-D

Lilliana

Deart Lilliana,

To return to the happy side to laughging, here is a video about 

Laughter Yoga:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0K-Fq0Nn28U

The opposite word of LAUGHTER is CRYING & by removing the word laughter in a light of human being ,you desire to establish the environment in said of TEARS & with the morbid environment .

It is the old saying that all work & no play make Jack dull boy .The very meaning of play is for pleasure ,Enjoyment ,& Laughter .While playing any games not only the prayers but also the viewers can become Jovial .

The creation of the literature ,Music,our social engagement & ceremonies all the resulting fruit of our Joy & Laughter .

Without Laughter our life become not only a burden for us but also for our family & social surrounding .

This is my personal opinion