Sunday, September 5, 2010

The English Language Makes Me Laugh Loudly and Immoderately




Those who have spent any significant time with me in person know that I have a rather strange laugh, something in between a hyena laughing and donkey braying. Children tend to get a kick out of my laugh, particularly when it is accompanied by me chasing after them and pontificating on the health benefits of medieval surgery and working in the mines. Adults, for some strange reason, tend to find my laugh grating and bothersome.


Recently, thanks to dictionary.com's word of the day, I discovered the word "caCHINNate."

"Cachinnate \KAK-uh-neyt\, verb: To laugh loudly or immoderately."
So the next time, someone asks me where I got such a god-awful laugh, I can respond: "Don't look at me. I am just an innocent victim of the English language."

2 comments:

Adelaide Dupont said...

Would like to know how dependent laughing is on language.

Laughter is a sound, it is true.

Clarissa said...

And they say we don't have a sense of humor. :-)

I'm always happy when I get to learn a new word, so thanks!