Laughter the best medicine

Humour.

Or yuma, as my french colleagues would say :-)

Don't you just love it :-)
It is what keeps us all sane.

Here is my little ode to humour, the saviour of mankind.

I take this opportunity also to apologise for depressing everyone with my run of misery-inducing posts lately. Separation and divorce are not the easiest topics to deal with at the best of times, and certainly not in the run up to Christmas.

I hope this present post lightens up the atmosphere a bit round here, in this supposedly joyful Advent-tide.

Without further ado, let's have a laugh....British style!

Yes, the Brits are well-known for their sense of humour :-)
This is what I love most about being British.
We are known to laugh, even in the face of adversity. Sometimes, our humour is unacceptably irreverent. But it is usually innocent fun.

Speaking of innocent fun, I think we have all learned this week that sometimes even 'innocent' fun can be very unfunny.
When it is done at the expense of others.
In the case I refer to, the intended target turned out  not to be the eventual victim.
Funny is only truly funny if no-one gets hurt.


When I was very young (under ten), I used to read Readers Digest a lot. Both my parents were avid fans, and I kind of inherited this 'fandom'. There was a section, 'Laughter the best medicine', which I thoroughly enjoyed reading, and it rapidly became the only section I would read :-)


Not to get all scientific on you, but laughter is indeed a booster of health and well-being, due to its ability to induce the release of various hormones and neurotransmitters, which contribute to general health, much like exercise produces endorphine (pain-relieving and general 'feel-good') substances.

I believe that a permanent loss of humour is a dangerous thing. It could be a one-way ticket to the abyss.



Here are a few things that make me laugh.
What are yours?
Let's share! And have a jolly good laugh in the process :-)



1. Anyone with a french accent

This has to be my number one, given where I live!
Now, some say I have developed a french accent too, but since I don't perceive it myself, it doesn't count :-)
There are many different accents in Switzerland, since it is a multi-lingual country.
But none makes me laugh more than the french one.

Know what I mean? That heavy, difficult to understand french accent that Agatha Christie's Poirot (Belgian) is known for and which is parodied in the popular British comedy 'Allo allo'. Where you wish they would speak French rather than English because you know you will understand them better :-)

Sometimes it could be described as 'sexy' depending on who is speaking (cough Thierry Henry, cough!) but it is still funny.

It is not just the accent either. Sometines it is just the idioms involved.
One of my bosses has a heavy french accent.
And for some reason he refuses to use the word 'very' when he speaks English. So when I am being chastised (erm, which is often, lol), I often hear 'bad bad bad' rather than 'very bad'.
Strangely enough, when I am being chastised in french, he uses the word très. I don't get it.


2. Offended cats
Now, let's be clear. To you Manosphere chaps, let it be known that I don't own a cat :-)
At least not yet :-)

How did this come to happen anyway, that a woman with multiple cats in old age became such a symbol of derision in The Manosphere?
May I digress for a minute here?
Thanks!

I was reading with great interest the life story of Patrick Moore who died recently at age 89. As an astronomer, he was my childhood hero (my handle is 'Spacetraveller' for a reason!).
I was surprised and saddened by the reason for his lifelong bacherlorhood. His one and only love was brutally taken away from him during the war.
And (unusually for a man, I think), he had cats...I always associate men with dogs for some reason...


Anyhow, has anyone come across a cat who is offended?
I have offended more than one cat in my lifetime, it seems. Friends' and relatives' cats.
Let me tell you that a cat who is offended by something you have done can be very...belligerent.
They give you a look which is almost like this. but not quite:

And then you get the head flick. And the turning away and walking off from you, sulking.
It's absolutely hilarious!
And cats can hold a grudge for days.
It's like they have PMT or something :-)
I can relate, lol.


3. Men!
Hahahahahha!
Men do make me laugh. In a good way.
There is a reason I adore our resident funnyman, Metak.
And I think it is the same reason Danny our Maestro Game coach is such a success when it comes to the ladeeez.
It boils down to their humour.

I think it is fair to say that women like to laugh. Hence many women state that they like a man who can make them laugh.
Of course men like to laugh too. But I think they like it better if they provide a laugh. Gentlemen, am I right here, or off the mark?

To this end, I think, in general, men make better comedians than women. (Wait, do I only think this because I am a woman?)
However, there are many exceptions to this rule. Some very funny comedians are women, of course. I think Dawn French, Joanna Lumley and Jo Brand are three good (British) examples. I am sure others could name a few more. I find Joan Rivers quite funny myself. Anyone agree?

On Stingray' blog somewhere I once replied to a Bulgarian woman who stated that she found the young PUAs in her town highly amusing. I indicated to her that I found all (or at least most) men to be amusing.
A man replied to me that he found women amusing too!
I thought that was so nice to hear :-)

Is this a general sentiment among men?
Now, perhaps to a lot of Manosphere men, this may be far from the truth in our current clime. But what about the other (shall we say....um...'Manosphere-neutral') men here?
Do women make you laugh? In a good way or not?


4. Very old ladies
This is a peculiar one for me, and I am not sure how to explain it.

Wizened old ladies really amuse me. Again in a good way. I am not sure if it is the way they seem to dismiss or ignore social norms and etiquette, or if it is the fact that they look almost like 'little girls' again because they are reduced in size in their old age...I really don't know. I only report their effect on me.

I once popped into a church for Mass in a town I happened to be passing through and in which I knew no-one.
The church was by no means full.
And yet, an old lady (she was at least 80) came and sat so close to me that had she sat any closer, it would have been illegal. There was plenty of space on the pew! Any other person would have given me my due of at least 10 cm of 'space'. Not this lady.
The whole episode cracked me up, and I couldn't concentrate on the Mass.
Furthermore, everyone around us noticed this breech of personal space too, and I could hear the ensuing sniggers.

Why oh why do I always attract such people at Mass?


5. Little boys

The film 'Jerry Maguire' was a 'chick magnet'. Yes, true.
But don't you ever believe it was because of Tom Cruise or his 'You complete me' line.
No!

This is the reason women all over the world were falling over themselves to get to a cinema:

 

 

:-)

Is it the relatively large head or the spiky hair?
Dunno.




 And this is him today by the way :-)

I find little boys very entertaining indeed.
All children I know, or even don't know, irrespective of gender, somehow seem to Game me, which is a slight source of worry for me, because I feel I may not succeed in establishing the right kind of authority as a parent one day. But some people on that thread reassured me that I have nothing to worry about - thank you for that assurance! :-)

For now though, I am mercilessly gamed by little boys in this age-group. But they also make me laugh with their antics.
Whether it is showing me their, um 'friends' as these two brothers did, or teaching me how to work an i-phone, these little chaps are certainly a law unto themselves, aren't they?
JV, I am sure you may have one or two stories to share on this front!

The son of a friend of mine, when he was around 3 or 4, suddenly grasped the concept of money and 'value', and promptly exerted his new-found knowledge on Auntie Spacetraveller in a way only little boys can.
Out of the blue one day, as I leaned in for my customary peck on the cheek, I was denied access.

Yes.
Little rascal had worked out that it could get quite lucrative offering kisses to his Mum's female friends :-)
So now, Auntie Spacetraveller had to cough up some dough before she could get a kiss...

Well I never.
2 years ago, I was changing his nappy (diaper).
And now I had to pay up to pucker up :)
Can you believe this?! Or in Cockney rhyme, can you Adam and Eve this?!
Blimey! It's bad enough with the whole MGTOW thing. Now, it's LBGTOW too!
:-)
Well now he is almost a teenager. And dear old Auntie Spacetraveller will never again get a kiss out of him.
Even if she offers to pay :-)



What makes you laugh?
Tell us your amusing story!