# Is your laugh an embarassment? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 14, 2010, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-your-laugh-an-embarassment/528933 "2010-02-14T05:47:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ritter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ritter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ritter)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2010, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-your-laugh-an-embarassment/528933/1 "2010-02-14T05:47:16Z")
Mine is - and last night I had the dubious honor of hearing our young neighbours take the piss out of it after I was doubled up laughing on our doorstep, waiting for a cab. So Dopers, please share your ‘laugh of shame’ stories and help me feel a little better! For the record, mine is a cackle that just won’t quit. Sometimes when things get really out of hand, it is interspersed with ‘aaahs’ that go up and down like a chainsaw being revved. I’d like to tame it a little if I could - but how do you modify something so spontaneous and what seems so uncontrollable? ---
**Author:** ![Blut\_Aus\_Nord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Blut\_Aus\_Nord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blut_Aus_Nord)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2010, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-your-laugh-an-embarassment/528933/2 "2010-02-14T06:03:54Z")
I sound like Butthead when I laugh. Huh huh… huh huh… ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2010, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-your-laugh-an-embarassment/528933/3 "2010-02-14T06:10:06Z")
I am sometimes too loud, but it’s not a terrible laugh. My problem is my sneezes, which scare young children. And my hiccups _terrify_ them. ---
**Author:** ![Ritter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ritter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ritter)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2010, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-your-laugh-an-embarassment/528933/4 "2010-02-14T06:37:54Z")
Ahh Butthead! Hiccups - yup, I’ve got those loud suckers covered too. They frighten ME sometimes! ---
**Author:** ![Snnipe\_70E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5a626/32.png) [@Snnipe\_70E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snnipe_70E)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2010, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-your-laugh-an-embarassment/528933/5 "2010-02-14T06:43:53Z")
My wife cringes when I laugh out loud in public. In fact she has gotten up and moved away from me sometimes. I can get to laughing so hard that I snort. I get so short of breath that I can not stop. ---
**Author:** ![AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2010, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-your-laugh-an-embarassment/528933/6 "2010-02-14T07:06:00Z")
Mine is really distinctive. I once went to a Broadway show, and stood by the stage door after the show. Laura Benati said that they’d been hearing my laugh ALL evening, and talking about it backstage. ---
**Author:** ![Ritter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ritter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ritter)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2010, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-your-laugh-an-embarassment/528933/7 "2010-02-14T08:34:15Z")
That is brilliant that your laugh was distinctive enough to stand out in an audience - if only I could take pride in my own. How does one learn to embrace these quirks? ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2010, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-your-laugh-an-embarassment/528933/8 "2010-02-14T09:44:41Z")
I think you can change your laugh if you work at it long enough. Or just live with it, being grateful that you don’t have to hear it the way everyone else does, and be glad that you are providing amusement for your neighbors. ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2010, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-your-laugh-an-embarassment/528933/9 "2010-02-15T01:57:29Z")
> [@Snnipe\_70E](#): > > My wife cringes when I laugh out loud in public. In fact she has gotten up and moved away from me sometimes. Oh, this is so sad. ☹ …I’m sorry, I don’t have more to contribute to the thread (my laugh is definitely more cackle than melodious trill, but it doesn’t embarrass me). Laughter is the sound of joy – no one should be embarrassed to make it! (Except that horrible obnoxious former coworker down the hall from me. Her laugh was like metal scraping metal, the worst sound you could imagine coming from a human throat, and I could hear it loud and clear since she never shut her office door ever, not even during her conference calls which she put on speakerphone at volume 10 EVERY GODDAMN DAY. GAAAAH. But everyone else is cool.) ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2010, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-your-laugh-an-embarassment/528933/10 "2010-02-15T02:22:54Z")
Sometimes I laugh too loud and my dear daughter **Bloody L** fusses. I can’t help it. I’m a snorter too. ---
**Author:** ![Ritter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ritter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ritter)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2010, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-your-laugh-an-embarassment/528933/11 "2010-02-15T06:24:41Z")
I just confessed my shame about my laugh to my boyfriend and he said, “No, don’t change anything. Your laugh is so happy and boisterous that if people make fun of it, it’s because they are jealous that they aren’t as happy as you at that given moment. Never change it, honey.” Ahhh, I love that man! So fuck it, I won’t give it any more thought until the next inevitable Woody Woodpecker comparison. Then I will come slinking back here and re-read about all you marvellous fellow snorting Dopers to feel better! ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2010, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-your-laugh-an-embarassment/528933/12 "2010-02-15T07:49:08Z")
Mine? No. There is a young female neighbour though… I have planned out my defence for when they try me for her murder. I will record her laugh before I do the deed. The jury won’t convict me, they’ll give me a medal. ---
**Author:** ![Serenata67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/serenata67/32/10646_2.png) [@Serenata67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Serenata67)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2010, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-your-laugh-an-embarassment/528933/13 "2010-02-15T13:50:30Z")
Only at a particular time. If I’m drunk, and someone drums their fingers on the top of my head, I let out this guttural, huh huh huh laugh. Normally, I laugh like a regular person, but then, I can’t… and I can’t help by laugh uncontrollably. ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2010, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-your-laugh-an-embarassment/528933/14 "2010-02-15T13:59:12Z")
I have one of those infectious giggles. When I start laughing, everybody else does too. I have a loud laugh that doesn’t happen as often, but is equally infectious. People try to imitate it sometimes with humorous results that are guaranteed to get me giggling. Though it can be inappropriately loud sometimes, I wouldn’t change my laugh or giggle for anything! ---
**Author:** ![DivineComedienne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c67d28/32.png) [@DivineComedienne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DivineComedienne)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2010, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-your-laugh-an-embarassment/528933/15 "2010-02-15T16:21:03Z")
My boss’s laugh does NOT fit him at all. He is an ex-Marine, stocky, crew cutted, reminds me of Sgt. Carter from Gomer Pyle; and his laugh is a high-pitched giggle like a 14-year-old girl. The staff jokes about it, but it is not annoying, it’s more endearing - he’s a tough guy with this goofy laugh, and it makes him seem more “human” to the employees who are a little intimidated by him. ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2010, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-your-laugh-an-embarassment/528933/16 "2010-02-15T16:22:01Z")
I’m rather proud of my laugh. I have had blind people compliment me on it. I know this is completely opposite of the OP, but I rarely get complements on stuff I do and this thread is as close to the topic as I am probably going to get. ---
**Author:** ![heavyarms553](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/779978/32.png) [@heavyarms553](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heavyarms553)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2010, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-your-laugh-an-embarassment/528933/17 "2010-02-15T23:56:19Z")
When I think something is realllly funny, my laugh mutates from a normal laugh to that of a mad scientist rubbing his rubber gloves together in glee as he watches his creation come to life. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-your-laugh-an-embarassment/528933/18 "2010-02-16T01:26:01Z")
Depends on which laugh happens. I have a normal laugh (which is the one I try to use when I have conscious control over it.) I have a laugh that is low and sounds like someone with Down syndrome, but it’s pretty rare. And I have my high falsetto laugh that I can wind up choking myself with. That’s the one that people try to get out of me, and the one I consider most embarrassing. I mean, I sound like Mickey Mouse. Still, with good friends though, it’s more of a fun thing to do. ---
**Author:** ![Trick\_Rider](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Trick\_Rider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trick_Rider)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-your-laugh-an-embarassment/528933/19 "2010-02-16T04:02:06Z")
I only find the occasional snorts an embarassment. Other than that, no I don’t.