Why do some of us laugh inappropiately?

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zeldapsychology
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19 May 2011, 7:37 am

I've made topics on this many times and a lot of Aspies tend to do this but I was curious WHY do you think you do it? As in what is going through your mind WHEN you laugh? Are you thinking of something else if so what?

For me I tend to laugh since I believe my parents and people in general are overblown. My nephew Logan was crying scared in the pool I laughed out loud to myself since I know within a few months to a year he'll be swimming laps in the pool. :-) I also tend to shake off tragedies since I know that person is ok. Other times I get emotional and realize I shouldn't have gotten upset. :-)



thewrll
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19 May 2011, 7:44 am

I dont know. I laughed at someone two people who are dating and are so sad they are going to be away from each other for months. Problem for me is they have only been dating for a few weeks. My mom got angry but they calmed down. I just find it funny that they are actually sad about being away from each other. That is just sad.



ValentineWiggin
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19 May 2011, 8:08 am

I laugh at situations that I find absurd, sometimes those being other people's intense emotions over what to me are trivial things.

Like...I spilled a dollop of Italian dressing on the stove last night which my mom, being in one of her even more dramatic than usual moods despaired as she was cleaning the kitchen "Someone's SMEARED something ALL OVER the counter."

And...any situation where someone's getting "told off" or there's reciprocal verbal conflict I find pretty amusing.


:oops:

Generally, just anything that's outrageous is going to be funny to me. My brother's alarm clock went off once when he had already left and my dad, woken from sleep, marched upstairs with scissors and CUT THE POWER CORD. I nearly died at that. :D



zeldapsychology
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19 May 2011, 8:39 am

I agree with both views. :-) It's stupid funny that OMG! they are going to be away for a few months yet have barely dated for a few weeks. Come on!! !! I also laugh when someone is getting into trouble. Unless it's something serious (running with scissors/knives.) I think it's funny the child was being stupid and said/did wrong when they've been TOLD don't do X. You know not to do X and yet you do it anyway ha ha ha ha! :-)



Henbane
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19 May 2011, 8:43 am

If something strikes me as funny I find it hard to suppress a laugh, even when I probably shouldn't. But I'm not necessarily laughing at what's happened, but at an absurd element, or a past occurence I am reminded of. My mind finds it hard to absorb the full implications of what is going on around me, and it's only later when I think in more detail about it that I can see a fuller picture of what happened.



Eternity29
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19 May 2011, 9:25 am

A lot of times a completely random, funny thought will just pop into my head at the wrong time and I start laughing, regardless of what's going on around me. I'm sure I must look crazy sometimes. :lol:



jrjones9933
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19 May 2011, 9:44 am

I went through a period last year where I'd rant about stupidity (as above) and laugh. Making other people want to punch me in the face would qualify as inappropriate. Laughter relieves stress, for one, but putting that stress onto another person does seem inappropriate.

Maybe we laugh inappropriately because different things stress us than NT-ish folks? Intellectual inconsistencies create stress in me, and in a lot of situations, I anticipate more stress if I try to explain them. At such times, I find it best to laugh internally, if possible.

Also, sometimes I don't laugh inappropriately, if I find the joke disturbing and others find it funny.


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19 May 2011, 9:55 am

The problem is simply what is considered appropriate? To me, I never laugh at inappropriate times. But the NT's around me disagree.

For example, at work I tend to laugh when people lie. One new manager made me laugh a lot. At first he got real upset and would call me out in large meetings and ask what I though was so funny. I'd answer exactly what I though was so funny. He quickly figured it out, and stopped confronting me because I was able to clearly explain the real facts every time. But for some reason that I will never accept, it is the NT social norms that I am supposed to just kindly smile and nod to a bold face lie in a public setting to avoid possibly embarrassing the liar. And I'm not talking mistakes, I'm talking intentional, bold, manipulative lies.



Sweetleaf
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19 May 2011, 1:24 pm

Well I have a rather dark sense of humour that sometimes carries over to real life.......so yes I laugh at things involving death, extreme injury, sometimes just funny situations. Yeah for some reason when you laugh at things that everyone would laugh at if they took place in a comedy movie when they happen in real life people don't always like that. like one time my mom told me about someone dying because they dropped a hair dryer or some other hair related electronic device and go electrocuted and I started laughing and my mom and her boyfriend where rather disturbed.



zeldapsychology
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19 May 2011, 1:34 pm

Sweetleaf wrote:
Well I have a rather dark sense of humour that sometimes carries over to real life.......so yes I laugh at things involving death, extreme injury, sometimes just funny situations. Yeah for some reason when you laugh at things that everyone would laugh at if they took place in a comedy movie when they happen in real life people don't always like that. like one time my mom told me about someone dying because they dropped a hair dryer or some other hair related electronic device and go electrocuted and I started laughing and my mom and her boyfriend where rather disturbed.



OMG! Exactly!! ! The stupid show Two and a Half-Men had an episode where Charlie hid a knife behind his back and threatened to stab someone. My parents were laughing there heads off! UH! THAT'S NOT FUNNY!! !! !! !! In real LIFE it wouldn't be funny why is it funny in some dumb ass show!! !! I don't get how my parents find that show funny.



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19 May 2011, 4:38 pm

Henbane wrote:
If something strikes me as funny I find it hard to suppress a laugh, even when I probably shouldn't. But I'm not necessarily laughing at what's happened, but at an absurd element, or a past occurence I am reminded of. My mind finds it hard to absorb the full implications of what is going on around me, and it's only later when I think in more detail about it that I can see a fuller picture of what happened.


This sounds a lot like me. I'm usually so disconnected from whatever it is that has set the person off, and I find it absurd that they should be getting upset. When I am uncomfortable, or unsure how to react, my default is always to laugh or grin. I don't even hear when I am being yelled at, my ears just shut off and I find myself having a great conversation in my head, or noticing things like the angry person spitting, or mispronouncing a word in their fervor.


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Sheldrake
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19 May 2011, 6:55 pm

I laugh at inappropriate times because my sense of humour is different then the norm.

I laugh at certain sentences and word combinations that most others would not laugh at. And I make internet humour jokes in real life that no one understands but me. And I still laugh anyway. lololol



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19 May 2011, 7:18 pm

I only laugh when something is funny to me. This could be some sort of irony that I notice, or just some thought going through my head.


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Pandora_Box
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19 May 2011, 7:31 pm

Sweetleaf wrote:
Well I have a rather dark sense of humour that sometimes carries over to real life.......so yes I laugh at things involving death, extreme injury, sometimes just funny situations. Yeah for some reason when you laugh at things that everyone would laugh at if they took place in a comedy movie when they happen in real life people don't always like that. like one time my mom told me about someone dying because they dropped a hair dryer or some other hair related electronic device and go electrocuted and I started laughing and my mom and her boyfriend where rather disturbed.


I'm the same way.



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20 May 2011, 2:24 am

I laugh inappropriately because I have an "inappropriate" sense of humour. I can't help the connections my brain makes *shrug*

Toward the end of the movie Titanic, when crew in lifeboats were calling out if anyone was alive, I nudged my sister and said, in character, "Bring out yer dead! Bring out yer dead!" from Monty Python and the Holy Grail

At my uncle's funeral, I noticed the hearse was a Ford. He loved Holden cars, which in Australia, are arch rivals of Ford. I nudged my sister and said "See? He *would* be caught dead in a Ford".

Today, I was chatting with some friends online and one said that his aunt had just died during an operation. I asked him what the operation was, and, being aware that it would be considered inappropriate by him, privately joked with friends that she must have had a "life-ectomy".

I could try harder to suppress it, I guess, but people would wonder why I was apparently laughing inexplicably.



melodylynette
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20 May 2011, 11:35 pm

Today when I heard that the wrestler Macho Man passed away, I laughed and said "damn, now I want a slim jim". I don't react the same way others do to bad news.