I hate laughter

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Yesterday I made up this song called "I like peanut butter" and some students in my class thought it was really funny. I thought that was a good thing. But my teacher said they were laughing at me, not with me. He said they didn't think the song was funny, they thought it was funny I was singing it.

I have a couple of questions:
How did my teacher know they were laughing at me?
Why is this a bad thing if I didn't mind it?

He could probably just tell by the sound of their laughter; mean laughing doesn't sound the same as friendly laughing. He probably also recognised that while you found the song funny, most NTs wouldn't, and deduced that the NTs in your class were laughing not because they found it amusing, but because they found you peculiar. Maybe it's just an NT instinct thing that can't really be explained by rational means. It may not be bad for you because you don't mind it, but it's "bad" in the sense that society in general has agreed that laughing maliciously at other people is not okay.

It's not a bad thing. A lot of comedy is based in the idea of intentionally doing something in a way that seems strange or foolish.

Tom Hanks doesn't behave like Forrest Gump all the time and Jon Heder isn't really as goofy as Napoleon Dynamite, but while they're doing it, we laugh at them because they make it look like they're really that way.

Last edited by Willard on 11 Apr 2014, 6:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Do you have the lyrics to the song? I see that you also compose music; have you made up music for the song?

Disclaimer: I won't copy the lyrics. I can't read music, anyway, so I can't copy the music.

If the kids laugh at you, tell them there was a song, done in the 1960's, called "Bread and Butter," by a group called the Newbeats, which was a really big hit. It is still played on the radio to this day.

Teachers in general think all laughter or anyone who causes it in class is very rude and unfunny. One extreme example is Miss Sour Pickle in the book Jacob Two-Two And The Dinosaur. She asked Jacob if he knew what "denote" meant, and Jacob, whose brother had given him the "answer" not long before and didn't realize it was a joke, said:
"Denote is what you write with de pencil and de paper." The kids all exploded into laughter but Miss Sour Pickle thought Jacaob was very, very rude and she made him stand in the corner and then wash all the blackboards after school. On the plus side, the other kids all wanted to be his friends afterwards instead of making fun of his British accent.

It happens. When I was young, and we had to give a speech in class, I often got unintentional laughter. It didn't bother me (most of the time) because I knew my subject, it was just the way I presented that was funny. Later on, I was able to make sure people were laughing at me on purpose.

I hate laughter, too, but that's probably because I'm depressed all the time. Makes it hard to enjoy TV shows, too.

I would look out at that classroom full of cretins laughing at me, and see a bunch of [mostly] furless two-legged upright-walking dogs.

I have drawn unintentional laughter before. I did my best to figure out what they were laughing at so that I could do it again.

when I was 20 or so, I did something that, if I were watching somebody else do it, I would have collapsed in paroxysms of helpless laughter- but it happened to me- I was walking down a hallway in a Victorian mansion and approached the staircase, and it had a narrow and short foot zone on each step, and on the top step due to the shortness of the step my big feet slipped and I fell hard upon me tuckas and bounced BRUPBRUPBRUPBRUP down each step, accompanied by an OUCHOUCHOUCH from my mouth and when I landed at the bottom, a door opened and several heads peered out and stared at me like I had 3 heads or something, then retreated back behind the door.

My question is why the teacher felt the need to point out that the other kids were laughing at you, not with you. Seems a bit sadistic if you ask me. I could see him talking to you if you WERE upset about it, but why even bring it up if you didn't seem bothered by it? But then, I had teachers who felt the need to point out my flaws in front of other students, so I guess your teacher is pretty typical.

I was traumatized reading a report in 3rd grade that I never really recovered from. We had to write a report -- and then read it to the class - about what we wanted to be when we grew up. Well, that was the first problem in that I didn't KNOW what I wanted to be (I STILL don't, and I'm 53). But I did it anyway, and made up something about being an Army nurse. I started reading, and this group of 8-year olds started HECKLING me -- yelling out things like "are you going to carry a guy? HAHAHAH". I continued reading but my eyes filled up with tears and my voice started cracking, and eventually the teacher let me sit down. I've never really gotten over it.

i am appalled by laughter.

I NEED laughter in my life, to survive.

I think that most of us in the human race (nt, or aspie) do.

I hope you won't make any ultimate decisions regarding laughter (or anything else) on the basis of one confusing incident.

I don't know about this particular teacher, but a lot of them have serious personal problems. The number of people needed as teachers certainly exceeds the number of people who sincerely enjoy teaching. Even the really great ones don't know everything, and practical considerations may influence whether they give accurate answers or try to manipulate students into behaving a certain way.

I went through school making people laugh fairly often, both intentionally and accidentally. I only wish that I had known then what I realized later: confidence and a willingness to fail spectacularly will get you farther in life than boring, small-minded scornfulness. Get what you need out of school and have your fun the way you like it. They may laugh at you or they may laugh with you, but they won't ever forget you. You'll probably forget them, though, since your life will have a lot more excitement than theirs.