Monday, October 5, 2015

TEA TIME : LAUGHTER



Drinking: Queen of Tarts (my favourite tea of all time) 

Thinking:

I’m a loud laugher. 

 

I’m the kind of girl who throws her head back when she laughs. Stops what she’s doing to let out a great big crow of a laugh, followed by a staccato of smaller laughs that go on for a long, long time. If it’s something really funny, the wheezes turn in to whines, titters - I have a different laugh for different kinds of funny, but it all follows that same pattern, like a thunderclap followed by rain. The first part turns peoples heads. The second makes them roll their eyes. 
 

I think everyone’s laugh is like a fingerprint. 

 

I know people who laugh like volcanoes - an explosion that shocks it’s way through the room. I know people who whinny like horses. Scream like banshees. I know people who titter like little kids - quiet and bubbly like a brook. I also know people who don’t laugh out loud - it’s a quiet expression meant only for themselves. I know people who elbow others when they laugh - drawing them in to their laughter.

I think laughter is one of the most beautiful things - it’s such an expression of joy. I remember reading that rats and elephants both are capable of laughing. Are there things we find funny that they do, too?

I don’t understand how people have problems with laughter. 

And yet, in my life, I’ve encountered so many people who have a problem with it. I can’t begin to count the times people have shushed me when I’m laughing. The times I’ve been told to be quiet, to calm down, to relax. Is it because we don’t like seeing people laugh? We don’t like seeing people enjoying themselves? I’ve seen so many boys hooting and laughing their way down streets, through stores. Their voices booming over crowds, not drawing more than a few irritated looks.

But the moment girls laugh, we see it as a shrill lapse in control. We see it as negative. Annoying. Pointless. We give it it’s own name - giggling. Somehow a giggle is far more condescending than a laugh. At once more ladylike and less ladylike in one swoop. It’s less serious. It’s less powerful. It’s less important. It’s not as good as a laugh. 
 

Men laugh. Girls giggle. 

 

Funny, how once again, the word applied to females is again less-than. Surprising? Not at all.

Lately I’ve started watching a lot more media directed and created by women. I’ve been watching Amy Poehler, Chelsea Handler, Broad City. They’re funny. They’re smart. They’re masters of the ‘art’ of comedy just as much as any of the ‘big (male) names’ of comedy (which I find, ironically, funny. Comedy is always, when compared to other performance art forms, less-than. Before all these big dudes became comedy ‘heroes’, comedy was restricted to basements and the backs of newspapers - but that’s another thing for another time). And whenever I try to discuss these hilarious women with people, I’m met with straight faces. “I don’t find women as funny. They just aren’t.”

Sorry, ladies. Get your bitchface ready for permanent application and get ready for the newsflash of the century. We are not funny. Funny things aren’t in our vocabulary, and even if we do find something funny, it’s not real funny. How the hell can our small baby-brains grasp such an advanced concept as humor? Silly females.No, wait, not silly females. Right? Because we’re not funny. Right. Let’s go back to making sandwiches and babies, silently. 
 

Can you taste the sarcasm? Oh shit. That’s kind of funny, isn’t it?! 

 

I have nothing to say to this. Because, I just laugh. I throw my head back and let out my laugh in a golden forte (that’s loud, for all you non-musicians). I’ll be over here, watching smart ladies make smart jokes, and smart ladies make fart jokes, and smart ladies just being funny. Laughing my ass off.

And somehow, still, making a feminist statement. 

Laughter is the best medicine, right? 
Right?

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