# What is the emotion you feel when laughing at something funny? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 1, 2012, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-emotion-you-feel-when-laughing-at-something-funny/617495 "2012-04-01T17:31:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2012, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-emotion-you-feel-when-laughing-at-something-funny/617495/1 "2012-04-01T17:31:01Z")
It doesn’t seem like this should be a difficult question. When someone tells a good joke, or when you look at a funny cartoon, listen to a good stand-up routine, or watch funny cat/dog videos and you laugh, what is the name of the emotion you are experiencing? I can’t seem to come up with anything except “amused.” But if you’re rolling in the aisles, slapping your thigh, tears running down your face, and basically laughing your head off, \*amused \*doesn’t seem to capture it adequately. “Merry” and “gleeful” cover larger events than simply guffawing at a great story or watching the thousand clowns pile out of the tiny car. I’m trying to narrow it down to simply \*laughing at something funny. \* Suggestions? ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2012, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-emotion-you-feel-when-laughing-at-something-funny/617495/2 "2012-04-01T17:50:05Z")
Relief. Humor is based on surprise. Laughter is the symptom of the relief that floods your system when you find out that the surprise is not a life-threatening one. This is a theory that I heard once, and I like it. It’s why we laugh after someone has jumped out of a closet at us and then we realize that it’s just a joke. Of course, under modern circumstances, the “danger” is just your inaccurate interpretation of what is coming next. Anyway, that’s what I think. Roddy ---
**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:** [April 1, 2012, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-emotion-you-feel-when-laughing-at-something-funny/617495/3 "2012-04-01T18:07:57Z")
Yeah, but that laugh is different. It’s a nervous laugh, not the boisterous one we give when something is hilarious. One word I’ve seen used before is “tickled”, with a more extreme version being “tickled to death.” Unfortunately, this is also often used for just being really happy. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2012, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-emotion-you-feel-when-laughing-at-something-funny/617495/4 "2012-04-01T19:13:01Z")
Tickled occurred to me, too. And relief can apply, but I was looking for a word that uniquely identifies the state of being amused and tickled to death. Like gleeful and merry, relief also applies widely in other situations not related to humor (some come to mind at this very moment…). There may not be a word. If you speak another language, does your language have such a word? ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_I\_Am](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@Sam\_I\_Am](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_I_Am)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2012, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-emotion-you-feel-when-laughing-at-something-funny/617495/5 "2012-04-01T19:45:56Z")
mirth? ---
**Author:** ![Pitchmeister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pitchmeister/32/3459_2.png) [@Pitchmeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pitchmeister)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2012, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-emotion-you-feel-when-laughing-at-something-funny/617495/6 "2012-04-01T22:12:39Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > There may not be a word. > > If you speak another language, does your language have such a word? No word for it in German. I guess we can add that to the list with the missing word for “not thirsty anymore”. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2012, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-emotion-you-feel-when-laughing-at-something-funny/617495/7 "2012-04-01T23:24:35Z")
Delighted. Satiated. Somewhere in there. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2012, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-emotion-you-feel-when-laughing-at-something-funny/617495/8 "2012-04-01T23:27:23Z")
Delighted surprise. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2012, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-emotion-you-feel-when-laughing-at-something-funny/617495/9 "2012-04-01T23:42:20Z")
> [@Pitchmeister](#): > > No word for it in German. I guess we can add that to the list with the missing word for “not thirsty anymore”. Can we say, “I’m quenched.”? That’s what I’m gonna say from nowon. ---
**Author:** ![Sudden\_Kestrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@Sudden\_Kestrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sudden_Kestrel)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2012, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-emotion-you-feel-when-laughing-at-something-funny/617495/10 "2012-04-01T23:46:57Z")
Well, there are laughs of delight (at babies, animals), laughs of satisfaction (when your least favorite politician falls into the reflecting pool), and as **Roderick Femm** said, laughs of relief. I can recall laughing with a feeling of resignation, too, when there just wasn’t any point in fighting “it” any more. My daughter and I used to share a particularly helpless, debilitating, almost painful laughter that was purely a recognition that we saw things the same twisted way. I have no idea what emotion that would go with, though. It was almost like all of those mentioned in my first paragraph rolled together. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2012, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-emotion-you-feel-when-laughing-at-something-funny/617495/11 "2012-04-02T00:25:32Z")
> [@Pitchmeister](#): > > I guess we can add that to the list with the missing word for “not thirsty anymore”. I agree. Some things there just isn’t a word for. Like, there are adjectives for the feelings of needing to eat (“I’m hungry”), to drink (“I’m thirsty”), to sleep (“I’m sleepy” or “I’m tired”), but not of needing to pee. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2019, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-emotion-you-feel-when-laughing-at-something-funny/617495/13 "2019-07-25T04:18:03Z")
> [@Pitchmeister](#): > > No word for it in German. I guess we can add that to the list with the missing word for “not thirsty anymore”. Slaked Edit: aw crap! Zombie thirst is never slaked! ---
**Author:** ![mandala](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mandala/32/95_2.png) [@mandala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mandala)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2019, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-emotion-you-feel-when-laughing-at-something-funny/617495/14 "2019-07-25T08:32:30Z")
Hilariousness. But only a few people got this emotion. ---
**Author:** ![lingyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d2c977/32.png) [@lingyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lingyi)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2019, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-emotion-you-feel-when-laughing-at-something-funny/617495/15 "2019-07-25T08:39:19Z")
I vote for bliss. During that time you’re having that great laugh, you can’t think of anything else and the world seems to melt away. And after, you sigh. "bliss[blis] noun supreme happiness; utter joy or contentment:" Source: [https://www.dictionary.com/browse/bliss](https://www.dictionary.com/browse/bliss) ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2019, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-emotion-you-feel-when-laughing-at-something-funny/617495/16 "2019-07-25T10:48:13Z")
> [@Pitchmeister](#): > > No word for it in German. I guess we can add that to the list with the missing word for “not thirsty anymore”. [Sitt](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sitt). Although it’s explicitly constructed for the purpose, and nobody actually uses it. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2019, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-emotion-you-feel-when-laughing-at-something-funny/617495/17 "2019-07-25T12:22:57Z")
Jovial. Or "spent, which likens a good laugh to a sexual experience. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2019, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-emotion-you-feel-when-laughing-at-something-funny/617495/18 "2019-07-25T12:45:18Z")
Wow. The zombie lives. I wonder what the hell prompted me to start this thread? Interesting though. Sort of. ---
**Author:** ![Clawdio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d07c76/32.png) [@Clawdio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clawdio)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2019, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-emotion-you-feel-when-laughing-at-something-funny/617495/19 "2019-07-25T14:23:14Z")
Smug superiority. Just kidding, agree with the others that it is mostly: surprised. ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2019, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-emotion-you-feel-when-laughing-at-something-funny/617495/20 "2019-07-25T14:54:01Z")
Exhiliration. You’re excited/happy/elated that you ‘got it,’ you figured it out, you hit the curve ball, you connected two concepts in a way that makes sense, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2019, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-emotion-you-feel-when-laughing-at-something-funny/617495/21 "2019-07-25T16:36:52Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Wow. The zombie lives. I wonder what the hell prompted me to start this thread? Interesting though. Sort of. God, Thelma we think alike! I was just pondering this very subject last night. I’ve had an interesting week, to say the least. Someone messaged me a funny tale in several messages. I was crying it was so funny to me. Deep belly laughs and spasms. It was hilarious. Now I think about it, it was just mildly funny. I was tickled. But that’s not the word, at all. I will coin a word. Yes, I will. ‘Hilariousity’ Yep. ::::drops mic:::: (All you wordy people don’t come tell me the word means something else, I choose to believe I coined it, and I’ve had a bad week, so don’t rain on my parade, plz:))