Laughter [ Communication ]
… (or A Pleased Audience)’, © National Portrait Gallery, NPG D21374, 1733. Abstract Laughter was considered fundamental to sociability in eighteenth-century Britain, but it was a complex social signal: as Samuel Johnson observed, ‘you may laugh … laughing could communicate anything from warmth to outright hostility; a well-placed chuckle could be the epitome of politeness, while an uncontrolled guffaw – especially triggered by a ‘lowbrow’ joke – was anything but. Laughter was … the anxieties and aspirations inherent in sociability quite like laughter. Practices > Communication Keywords Humour Impoliteness Laughter Manners Politeness Taste Wit In May 1787, author-turned cleric Thomas Monro devoted an issue of his …
Humour | Impoliteness | Laughter | Manners | Politeness | Taste | Wit
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