laughing

Everyday

1. Laughing means making happy sounds with your voice and face when something is funny. tree →
2. Laughing at someone means making fun of them unkindly. tree →
3. Laughing with someone means sharing the fun together. tree →

In the lessons

In feelings lessons, laughing is good for you and helps people feel close; but laughing at someone's mistake or looks is unkind, while laughing with friends is kind. In stories, characters burst out laughing or can't stop laughing. In nature, the kookaburra in Australia is called a laughing bird, and hyenas seem to laugh. Phrases: burst out laughing, laughing at, laughing with, laughing your head off, no laughing matter.

Examples

• The children were laughing at the clown. tree →
• We couldn't stop laughing at the joke. tree →
• Stop laughing at him; it isn't kind. tree →
• She was laughing so hard she cried. tree →
• He burst out laughing when the dog stole the sausage. tree →
• Being lost is no laughing matter. tree →
• The kookaburra sounds like it's laughing. tree →
• We were laughing with each other all evening. tree →
• “I am laughing at your lies.” tree →

Note

Laugh is regular: laughed, laughing. The gh is said like f: «LAF-ing». The noun is laughter (or a laugh). «Laughing at» can be unkind; «laughing with» is shared fun.

In Jewish tradition

Interpretation: In Sefer Yetzirah, laughing is one of the twelve acts of the body, each linked to a Hebrew letter and a part of the year. In Job and Jeremiah, a "laughing-stock" is someone mocked by others, even a righteous person who called on God. In the primary lessons: In feelings lessons, laughing is good for you and helps people feel close; but laughing at someone's mistake or looks is unkind, while laughing with friends is kind. In stories, characters burst out laughing or can't stop laughing. In nature, the kookaburra in Australia is called a laughing bird, and hyenas seem to laugh. Phrases: burst out laughing, laughing at, laughing with, laughing your head off, no laughing matter.

Examples

• walking, seeing, hearing, working, coition, smelling, sleep, anger, swallowing and laughing. (Sefer Yetzirah, Kalisch 1877) tree →
• I am as one that is a laughing-stock to his neighbour, a man that called upon God, and He answered him; the just, the innocent man is a laughing-stock, (Writings JOB.12.4, JPS 1917) tree →
• O LORD, Thou hast enticed me, and I was enticed, Thou hast overcome me, and hast prevailed; I am become a laughing-stock all the day, every one mocketh me. (Prophets JER.20.7, JPS 1917) tree →

Note

Laugh is regular: laughed, laughing. The gh is said like f: «LAF-ing». The noun is laughter (or a laugh). «Laughing at» can be unkind; «laughing with» is shared fun.