Have you ever noticed that most of the words that mean laugh are ugly? "Giggle" is alright, but seriously, "chortle"? Who in the world thought that was a proper description of a laugh?
Sorry if you're a chortler.
"Snort"? Yes, my best friend snorts when she laughs. Lots of people snort when they laugh. It's just that I try to refer to it as laughing. "Chuckle"? Sounds completely creepy. "Snicker" is a candy bar, and an acceptable name for that. Only that.
Don't even get me started on "guffaw." Ew.
"Cackle," "titter," "cachinnate"... okay that last one is actually pretty cool. But nobody uses it--I'd never even heard of it before just now when I used the thesaurus.
My point is that we need more acceptable words to describe laughter. The ones before us are rather wretched.
Over & out.
Whatever, cousin. I think they're great onomatopoeic words -- for snicker, think of Ernie of Sesame Street fame. Cackle? The kind of laugh that uses the "a" sound ("a" as in "cackle"). Titter? Short, high laughter. I think it sounds exactly like its name! Guffaw? A laugh that you can't hold in. Coming out in a guf-FAW-ha-ha. According to me.
ReplyDeleteBut perhaps we will just disagree with this. That's okay too.