# People who are Easily Amused, what's their problem! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 13, 2005, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-are-easily-amused-whats-their-problem/299106 "2005-04-13T07:49:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2005, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-are-easily-amused-whats-their-problem/299106/21 "2005-04-13T18:06:30Z")
> [@Anastasaeon](#): > > I’ve learned to stop hoarding my laughter for the “deserving” over the years, after learning that I was the one who deserved it. No truer words were ever said. Laughter is good for the soul…not necessarily someone else’s soul but definitely _your_ soul. To the OP… try to lighten up. Sounds to me like you’re spending a lot of energy judging the behavior of other people when you could be directing that energy toward being a more happy person. ---
**Author:** ![Anastasaeon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Anastasaeon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anastasaeon)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2005, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-are-easily-amused-whats-their-problem/299106/22 "2005-04-13T18:08:24Z")
> [@ur8it](#): > > Ok, I realize laughing is good for you, and maybe SOME people who dont laugh as much might have a tendency to develop ulcers–I DON’T have any ulcers, I have great skin, and overall good health… ! Not at all what I was implying. What I meant was that I laugh much more now because I used to be quite stressed, so perhaps I laugh more than someone who didn’t have a rough life (or, in my case, a hard time dealing with what life dished out to me). I loosened way, way up because of it. I’m not saying at all that if you don’t laugh you will get ulcers. My skin has always been fantastic, so I’m not sure where that comes into the equation (except maybe that some people have different physical reactions to stress?) I’m still not sure what your problem with laughing people is, or with people who laugh at things that you don’t think are funny. It’s not their problem. It’s yours. I haven’t seen Lost in Translation, and so I cannot comment on it. Why do you get upset with people who have different tastes than yours? ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2005, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-are-easily-amused-whats-their-problem/299106/23 "2005-04-13T18:29:55Z")
People who are never amused, what’s their problem? A chronic case of the tightass will put you into an early grave and make you unpopular to boot. I’m a goofy laughing type, or at least I’ve grown into one. I was never as badly off as **Ana** and **Wesley** , but I used to be fairly uptight. Till I realized that you can either take everything seriously all the time or relax and laugh at the inherent ridiculousness of life. Life _is_ ridiculous, you know, so you might as well go on and laugh. The thing about laughter is that it tends to feed on itself–the more you laugh, the more you see the humor in things. And contrary to **Beware of Doug** ’s post, most of the easily amused people I’ve known over the years would absolutely crack up at witty repartee, just as much as they would at fart jokes. Lowering the bar for what you find amusing doesn’t mean you’ve also lowered the ceiling on what you find amusing, you know. ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Bruin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2005, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-are-easily-amused-whats-their-problem/299106/24 "2005-04-13T20:15:05Z")
I’m only easily amused by my cats. I don’t know what’s worse, the fact that they are so easily amused, or that I am so amused by their amusement. ---
**Author:** ![Indygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@Indygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indygrrl)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2005, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-are-easily-amused-whats-their-problem/299106/25 "2005-04-13T20:27:36Z")
I laugh a lot, and at a lot of different things. But, I just don’t find little things like commercials all that funny. There are a few, but the ones they show in the movie theater before the movie just aren’t funny. I’ve been accused of being tightly wound, so maybe that’s it. I also have to move if anyone near me is eating popcorn or anything with wrappers. haha. Now, _that’s_ kind of funny. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2005, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-are-easily-amused-whats-their-problem/299106/26 "2005-04-13T20:33:53Z")
{quote=fishbycicle]So, I also have to wonder. If the people she works with are able to bust a gut over the most mundane turn of phrase, what would happen to them if they were exposed to comedy? [/quote] It all depends. I was a giggler in college and grad school. (I’m not sure that I wouldn’t be now in similar situations but I can’t remember the last time I really got the giggles like I did for a while). I giggled my way through so much of more than one musical production that total strangers were talking about the girl who giggled. But, tell me a deliberate joke. I don’t laugh. I may see the humor, but I probably won’t giggle. Expose me to a funny movie, I probably won’t laugh- especially if I find some of the humor offensive or obnoxious (I’m not found of fart jokes, for example). But say something just right, tickle my imagination and I giggle. Or better yet, you giggle. I’ll giggle back. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2005, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-are-easily-amused-whats-their-problem/299106/27 "2005-04-13T20:56:35Z")
I have a friend who, like me, is a fairly hardcore cinephile, so we’ll run into each other fairly often at screenings that are unusual, esoteric, “arty”, or rare. He laughs at everything (giggles actually) and it drives me nuts. He not only laughs at things that I don’t find funny, but that nobody else in the theater finds funny. Probably 1/3 of the time he’s laughing (giggling, :shudder: ), he’s laughing all by himself. Nobody else is laughing. And the thing is, not only does he laugh at things that nobody else finds funny, but he also laughs at things that were clearly not even meant to be funny. Suspenseful moments. Dramatic moments. Even static moments. I don’t remember a minute ever going by when I didn’t hear a giggle (or titter, :shudder: ) from him. And I don’t go to what are generally considered “bad” movies. This isn’t lowbrow humor or juvenile humor or eye-rolling humor–this is no humor! And still he laughs. Which is why I always sit where I want to, agreeing that we’ll meet up afterwards. But since I sit in the front, I always hear the giggles from behind me. Giggles, especially continual ones, alone in a vacuum are incredibly distracting and half-the-time, I’m inclined to skip the show, it’s that bad, but often it’s the only screening of its kind in the City or the West Coast or North America or somesuch, so I deal. But I’ve always wondered whether he notices (needless to say, I wouldn’t know how to ask him this without letting on that his laugh drives me bonkers, so it’s best left alone). ---
**Author:** ![Lisa-go-Blind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Lisa-go-Blind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lisa-go-Blind)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2005, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-are-easily-amused-whats-their-problem/299106/28 "2005-04-13T21:07:29Z")
**Archive Guy** , is it wrong that I giggled through your entire post? Geez, anti-easily amused people, lighten up. I’m sorry that I want to go through my life getting as much enjoyment and humor out of it as possible. Laughing feels good. ---
**Author:** ![Indygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@Indygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indygrrl)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2005, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-are-easily-amused-whats-their-problem/299106/29 "2005-04-13T21:21:07Z")
So, you don’t think Archive Guy’s friend sounds a little annoying? You must not be bothered by anything at all. And you’re lucky if that’s true. I don’t really want to “lighten up.” I’m pretty happy the way I am. But, I’m also a realist and life gets to me a lot. I can’t just laugh at everything and pretend everything is ok all of the time. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2005, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-are-easily-amused-whats-their-problem/299106/30 "2005-04-13T21:36:42Z")
Oh, Lord. I once saw _Sling Blade_ at a friend’s house with her roommates. One roommate was okay, but another started giggling, and by the climactic scene, he was shrieking with laughter like an epileptic hyena. He was lucky I didn’t have me a sling blade. Daniel ---
**Author:** ![Anastasaeon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Anastasaeon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anastasaeon)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2005, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-are-easily-amused-whats-their-problem/299106/31 "2005-04-13T21:40:28Z")
> [@Indygrrl](#): > > I’m pretty happy the way I am. But, I’m also a realist and life gets to me a lot. I can’t just laugh at everything and pretend everything is ok all of the time. I can only speak for myself, but I don’t pretend everything is okay all of the time. I’ve been through a lot of crap, so I know things can’t be okay all of the time. I just don’t sweat the small stuff. This isn’t meant as an insult in any way, **Indygrrl** , because you are simply saying that you have a different level/sense of humour, as everyone does, and I respect that as much as I expect people to respect my own. I don’t think you should “lighten up” if you are happy and comfortable with your level of humour, that’s something only you can/will/would want to change, if at all. However, I feel the OP is just trying to say that people who laugh at things she doesn’t find funny is annoying - I don’t think that’s the laugher’s problem, I think that’s _hers_. If it’s at a movie, of course, she could kindly ask the laugher to hush, if it’s quite distracting (if the laugher just snubbed her, okay,\* then \* we’ll have a problem, but that’s more to do with rudeness and disrespect than with laughing), but the OP seems to be trying to say that the things she doesn’t find funny, no one should laugh at. This: > [@](#): > > WHO thought “Lost in Translation” w/Bill Murray was funny??? Ohhh lordy, that was about as funny as a dead gnat! was all I needed to see what her intentions are. I’m still waiting for the answer to my earlier question to her. FTR, I didn’t find the guy in **ArchiveGuy** ’s post annoying, however, I could see how it could be to some people, and once again, in a public movie theatre, if someone is being distracting, you ask them to please cut it out - if they don’t, it’s not an issue of laughter anymore. They’re just plain rude. ---
**Author:** ![davenportavenger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f8ce5/32.png) [@davenportavenger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davenportavenger)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2005, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-are-easily-amused-whats-their-problem/299106/32 "2005-04-13T21:49:03Z")
> [@Long Time First Time](#): > > The reason I find many commercials funny is that they are so surreal because the people in them care SO MUCH about whatever is being sold. > > My favorite is a magazine ad for a cake mix that makes into a 9X9 smaller cake. The ad pictured what would happen if the unfortunate housewife didn’t use this mix. It showed a Dad, girl and boy sitting at a dinner table. In front of them was a large cake - and they were miserable. Dad was staring at the cake like it was a road kill possum, son was glaring at Mom - “How could you?”. The mother was in back ground - upset and miserable. She had failed her family. Her crime? She made a cake that was too big. The horror. If you can’t see the humor in a scene that portrays a large cake as tantamount to clubbing baby seals, then there’s something wrong with you. I find most commercials hilarious for the exact same reason. The “characters” in them are so obsessed with the products and so insistent on demonstrating them to you. This is in contrast to real life, where a perseveration with soda pop or batteries or cake mixes (I laughed just reading that description) is considered bizarre and insane. The characters live in a backwards world which is warped toward the advertised product; their world “exists” only to sell you something. We, on the other hand, live in a complicated universe in which there isn’t one absolute guiding principle, no Tao of Duracell or Bible of Coca-Cola. Commercials feature people a lot like us functioning in a world totally unlike ours. Therefore, they are surreal. And surreality is funny. That probably wasn’t the thought process of the people in the theater though. They were probably thinking “them slant-eyed people sure do talk funny, hyuck.” And that is why I hate people. Right conclusion, wrong process. ---
**Author:** ![Lisa-go-Blind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Lisa-go-Blind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lisa-go-Blind)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2005, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-are-easily-amused-whats-their-problem/299106/33 "2005-04-13T21:53:05Z")
> [@Indygrrl](#): > > So, you don’t think Archive Guy’s friend sounds a little annoying? > > You must not be bothered by anything at all. And you’re lucky if that’s true. > > I don’t really want to “lighten up.” I’m pretty happy the way I am. But, I’m also a realist and life gets to me a lot. I can’t just laugh at everything and pretend everything is ok all of the time. No, I understand that laughing all the time could get annoying to some people. But the fact that someone _does_ laugh at everything is almost surreal, and I found the complete surreality of the situation described funny. Perhaps I looked at it the wrong way. Maybe I should have placed myself in **Archive Guy** ’s shoes. Still, I’ve never been bothered by people who laugh a lot, even at things I don’t find funny (though I might be puzzled if I don’t see what’s funny or find the object of humor offensive). There will always be shitty or sad things in life. I don’t see a problem with someone not wanting to dwell on them all the time. When bad things happen, they happen big, so I don’t see a problem with having a lot of little good moments to balance them out. Life’s something to be enjoyed to its fullest whenever you can, even if it’s just laughing at the little things. On preview, what **Anastasaeon** said. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2005, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-are-easily-amused-whats-their-problem/299106/34 "2005-04-13T21:53:06Z")
> [@ur8it](#): > > Alright here’s a tester: WHO thought “Lost in Translation” w/Bill Murray was funny??? Ohhh lordy, that was about as funny as a dead gnat! LiT is one of the most deadly boring movies I’ve seen from start to finish, so no, it didn’t make me laugh. However, [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=309273) made me laugh so hard I had tears running down my face. You should laugh when you feel like laughing. It keeps you from bringing fire arms to work. ---
**Author:** ![Creaky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e68b1a/32.png) [@Creaky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Creaky)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-are-easily-amused-whats-their-problem/299106/35 "2005-04-14T02:37:37Z")
> [@calm kiwi](#): > > … Laughing is good for you. Grumps like you will die earlier then smokers like me 😉 Totally! 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Yumblie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/76d3ee/32.png) [@Yumblie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yumblie)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-are-easily-amused-whats-their-problem/299106/36 "2005-04-14T04:23:27Z")
> [@Long Time First Time](#): > > My favorite is a magazine ad for a cake mix that makes into a 9X9 smaller cake. The ad pictured what would happen if the unfortunate housewife didn’t use this mix. It showed a Dad, girl and boy sitting at a dinner table. In front of them was a large cake - and they were miserable. Dad was staring at the cake like it was a road kill possum, son was glaring at Mom - “How could you?”. The mother was in back ground - upset and miserable. She had failed her family. Her crime? She made a cake that was too big. The horror. If you can’t see the humor in a scene that portrays a large cake as tantamount to clubbing baby seals, then there’s something wrong with you. I can’t stop giggling at this. This is the type of thing I go for. I tend to laugh a lot, but I have a different sort of sense of humor, so most jokes and things that people say just get a smile out of me. It’s usually unintentional humor that makes me laugh, and then I can’t stop. Most of the time giggly people don’t bother me, unless every single time they laugh it’s a really loud guffaw. Then that just gets irritating. ---
**Author:** ![ur8it](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecd19e/32.png) [@ur8it](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ur8it)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-are-easily-amused-whats-their-problem/299106/37 "2005-04-14T04:34:59Z")
> [@Yumblie](#): > > … Most of the time giggly people don’t bother me, unless every single time they laugh it’s a really loud guffaw. Then that just gets irritating. well this is probably closer to how I feel… and likewise, if i laugh it’s usually from something that was not intentionally funny. And actually my friends tell me they “love” my dry sense of humor … huh??? Can someone define “dry sense of humor”??? I think they tend to mistake flippant sarcasm for humor, go figr :dubious: But i guess as long as I felt good whip’n it out and they got their giggles, it’s a win-win scenario. ---
**Author:** ![Civil\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d78d45/32.png) [@Civil\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Guy)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-are-easily-amused-whats-their-problem/299106/38 "2005-04-14T05:00:17Z")
Who can describe a sense of humor? Nope, not me. I laugh at odd things myself, sometimes at the dumbest stuff. Right, _Airplane_ and _Blazing Saddles_ were both dumb, I knew they were dumb, and still found myself laughing. I saw _Lost In Translation_ under slightly odd circumstances; the sound on my friend’s video deck wasn’t working; could hardly hear the movie. It wasn’t _funny_ exactly, but I thought I could appreciate the alienation that Murray’s character must be feeling - and the Japanese game show was truly surreal. I dunno, I think I smiled a little at the absurdity of it. I think I like the explanation that we often laugh so that we don’t break down and cry. Oh, and if you see me at some community theater where they’re putting on what’s supposed to be a comedy - I’ll laugh at the jokes (within reason) (my reason, that is) because it’s a courtesy for the actors trying the best they can. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-are-easily-amused-whats-their-problem/299106/39 "2005-04-14T05:51:42Z")
> [@ur8it](#): > > Am i the only person who can’t stand people who laugh about every silly thing?! No. I often watch sitcoms where someone says something really stupid, lame and unfunny and they have the laugh track going full force, telling me that I was supposed to find that funny. People who go through life laughing along with the laugh track, even though it’s not actually funny, annoy me. ---
**Author:** ![calm\_kiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@calm\_kiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/calm_kiwi)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-are-easily-amused-whats-their-problem/299106/40 "2005-04-14T12:54:56Z")
I work in a kindergarten. Today a little miss tripped and fell on the end of the slide. It was actually a scary moment, one of those injuries you hear and you internally say EEEEEKKKKKKK while appearing to remain calm. She was fine, all sorted out with an ice pack etc. About an hour later she said “Hey did you see what I did to the slide?” I followed her to the slide, there was a teensy (well aged crack). “Did your head do that?” I asked. “Yep” she proudly answered “Wow” I said. “Is your head made of concrete?” “No silly! it’s made of wood…oops I mean bones” I laughed like a drain. After 5 seconds of indignancy, so did she. A stupid thing to laugh at but sometimes it is just good to laugh. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-are-easily-amused-whats-their-problem/299106.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-are-easily-amused-whats-their-problem/299106.md?page=3)