Laughter [ Communication ]
… William Hogarth, ‘The Laughing Audience (or A Pleased Audience)’, © National Portrait Gallery, NPG D21374, 1733. Résumé Laughter was considered fundamental to sociability in eighteenth-century Britain, but it was a complex social signal: as … the epitome of politeness, while an uncontrolled guffaw – especially triggered by a ‘lowbrow’ joke – was anything but. Laughter was scrutinised with vigour by notable thinkers and theorists of sociability; broaching issues of wit, … sincerity, taste and bodily control, nothing exposes the anxieties and aspirations inherent in sociability quite like laughter. Practices > Communication Mots-clés Humour Impoliteness Laughter Manners Politeness Taste Wit In May 1787, …
Humour | Impoliteness | Laughter | Manners | Politeness | Taste | Wit
Encyclopedia