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While people tend to chuckle at the things we find funny, laughter is much more intricate than that. We giggle to form social connections, mask emotions when we feel nervous, relieve tension, appear polite, and so on. Even the things we find funny can sometimes be very specific and strange, which the ‘StrangeAndFunny’ subreddit is the perfect proof of. We at Bored Panda compiled a whole list of comedic and weird posts from this community to show just how odd people’s humor can get. To find them, all you have to do is scroll down!
The reasons why we laugh or our specific sense of humor aren’t the only things that are fascinating or a bit strange about laughter—a nonverbal emotional expression that almost every person is capable of.
The sound we make while giggling is also quite an interesting phenomenon. Something we might not have realized is that there are many types of laughter, as we all laugh differently, from the snicker to the heehaw.
The sound itself is made with the help of our limbic system (structures in our brain), larynx, lungs, and respiratory muscles. They work together to produce the noise we know as laughter.
It’s quite a primitive way of making a sound since there’s no real movement of the tongue, jaw, or lips. All the action is happening in the ribcage—each wheeze, squeeze, gasp, or snort is simply muscles in the chest squeezing high-pressure air from our ribcage.
Not only is there a variation in laughs in different people, but one person can also have quite a few types of chuckles. Our happy giggles differ from our nervous ones and the sound becomes different when we are alone vs. when we’re with other people.
“We all have a range of different laughs that we use for different purposes and circumstances. Most are within the ‘social masking’ spectrum—that is, we do them to be polite or to create social bonds,” explained body language and behavior expert Judi James to Mashable.
Genuine laughter usually erupts unexpectedly, as it tends not to be affected by our surroundings. Giggles coming from the heart often contain loud snorts and wide mouths—something that many of us find embarrassing.
Children tend to produce more of such laughter, as they aren’t yet introduced to societal norms and social politeness. “A lot of it has to do with inhibition,” explained James. “Children produce the most spontaneous form of laughter because they lack the inhibitions we acquire later in life. Adults will often cover their mouths, or bend to hide their faces.”
The Incongruity Theory explains that we often find ourselves heartily chuckling because something goes completely against our expectations. Just like animals doing surprising things, like cats being afraid of cucumbers. Such humor doesn’t involve any additional complexities, it’s just pure joy created by our expectations being completely unmet.
There are a few other theories that try to describe why we find things funny. However, ultimately, humor is subjective and there’s no one way to explain why we can laugh at bizarre jokes or strange photos we see online for hours on end. What we were able to find out is that laughter is very beneficial to our health, from relieving stress to boosting our immune system. So take in all of these strange photos on the list and don’t think too much about why the weird images are so amusing.
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