Laugh - verb - "make the spontaneous sounds and movements of the face and body that are instinctive expressions of lively amusement and sometimes also of derision."
We all laugh. It's just a thing we do in life when something is funny. Right? Not always.
Sometimes we laugh when we know we've said something that has hurt someone, so we laugh and pretend it was a joke.
Sometimes we laugh when we're in pain. When we've fallen over and it hurts but we laugh and pretend we're fine so we don't make a fuss.
Sometimes we laugh when we hurt emotionally. To hide the pain so no-one knows that we're actually sad.
Sometimes we laugh even when nothing is funny. When someone makes a bad joke but we don't want to make them feel bad so we laugh and pretend it was hilarious.
Sometimes we laugh when someone dies in a movie and all our friends are bawling their eyes out.
The other week, one of my friends got frustrated and started punching their lunch box when it wouldn't fit in their bag but she started laughing afterwards to cover up that she was feeling (well, I think she may have been feeling) stressed or angry, and at that moment she let some of the anger out but laughed it off to hide it.
We don't only laugh when something is funny. We use laughter as a mask to hide our true emotions. We laugh to make people feel better or when we're scared. I know I laugh when someone is shouting at me or telling me off as I hate people telling me off - it terrifies me. It doesn't help the situation when I laugh, of course, but I can't help it.
Of course, we still laugh when things are funny, but, next time someone laughs, maybe we should question if they're laughing because something is funny or for some other reason.
"I can fake a smile. I can force a laugh." - human, Christina Perri
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