Embrace the Awkward Laughter
I’ve recently developed a new laugh and it’s hideous. So hideous, in fact, that if a normal laugh knew I’d just evoked its good name to describe the emission, it’d spite-block me on social media and start an internet rumor about my mother. To avoid any such drama, I will rebrand it The Cackle.
I should note that I still have my non-hideous regular laugh, which comes out in the rare event that I experience pure, unfettered joy. Lately, though, most laugh-like vocalizations emerge in the form of The Cackle, and exclusively at moments where most people would consider laughter a wildly inappropriate response. Like, for instance, when a member of Team Forge confessed in our weekly team meeting that, in a post-insurgency anxiety spiral, they’d blocked time in their day-planner for “Nazis?” on inauguration week. Out came The Cackle, living its best life.
Now, in my defense, even this “inappropriate” laughter is a manifestation of pro-social behavior. Both the quality of our laughter, and the circumstances that incite it, have a basis in our primal drive to connect with others. That’s especially true in moments of crisis; our too-soon jokes and WTF giggles help us self-soothe and approximate a group hug with the people around us.
Think about it. Even in ordinary times, we don’t necessarily laugh because something is funny in and of itself. Most of our…
