Sign of a fool. Laughter for no reason is a sign of a fool: meaning, interpretation and features of use Illness causes laughter for no reason

Have you ever heard such a funny proverb “laughter for no reason is a sign of a fool”? What do you think it means?

After all, people very often pronounce it, almost without thinking about the meaning. But what if this is not a funny expression with meaning, but really a symptom of some kind of mental illness? Maybe the person about whom this proverb was said should make an appointment with a psychotherapist to check his well-being?

Do you want to know the truth about yourself and your loved ones? Then rather start reading the article. Discover the secrets that hides your psyche!

Joylessness - a character trait of Russian people?

Russian people really believe that laughter for no reason is a sign of foolishness. And foreigners, watching the inhabitants of Russia, often note that Russian people are much more stingy with emotions expressing joy and happiness than representatives of other countries.

In order to figure out whether Russian people really do not know how to rejoice, we will comparative analysis between them and foreigners.

Russians focus on their work

Since foreigners consider a smile to be a sign good manners, they are at a meeting, greeting acquaintances and strangers in the store, in the service, when doing serious work, they must certainly smile. For Russians, such behavior is irresponsibility and frivolity in relation to their work or service. Therefore, for them, laughter for no reason is a sign of foolishness.

In addition, a Russian person was brought up in such a way that rolling laughter is creepy, it comes from dark forces because only the devil and his minions laugh like that. Orthodox person so not laughing. And among foreigners, on the contrary, a good, loud laugh distinguishes a cheerful and positive person.

Russians against "duty" smiles

It is natural for foreigners to smile when greeting a person. This is just a polite expression that becomes more pronounced and stronger if the smile widens. A Russian person believes that a smile should be a sincere expression of sympathy. And the constant that foreigners use is "on duty", and she, on the contrary, is impolite.

Also, foreigners are used to smiling at strangers. This is a kind of greeting, an opportunity to share your joy with someone else. And for Russian people, such a smile is bad manners. After all, they are firmly convinced that smiling should only be known to people, and not to everyone in a row.

That is why foreigners, meeting an unfamiliar smiling person on their way, will certainly answer him with the same welcoming gesture. A Russian person, on the other hand, will consider such a “character” abnormal and, at best, simply pass by. If the person who was walking towards the smiling person regards the smile as a mockery, the situation can reach its climax - assault.

When should you start worrying about your mental health?

Remember, children sometimes have fun with each other by showing forefinger and laughing at it. Then parents like to say: "Laughter for no reason is a sign of foolishness." But this laughter is quite natural, because this is how babies seek to attract the attention of adults.

If there is a reason for such a manifestation of joyful emotions, and it doesn’t matter at all whether others know about it or not, laughter is quite normal, and the proverb analyzed in this article is just a funny saying designed to reason a little, calm and shame the kids. But causeless laughter is a sign of a serious mental disorder. Do you want to know which one?

Laughter for no reason is not a sign of foolishness, but of illness?

In order to answer the question, we must first determine what kind of laughter is unreasonable.

To understand this, imagine the following picture: for example, your friend told you funny joke, and you laugh together at him.

You have a reason for fun - this is a joke, but from the outside, to a person who does not know the situation, it can easily seem that your laughter "for no reason" is a sign of a fool. After all, he has no idea about any anecdote, and therefore he can interpret the ongoing action in his own way.

Another scenario: you stopped sleeping, but continue to feel alert and full of energy. You are confident in your abilities, a feeling of euphoria covers you, it seems that you are capable of anything. Any situation amuses you, even if it can be fatal. And even on the edge of the abyss (as in figuratively, and in the direct) you don’t care, you continue to laugh.

Have you read? Great. Then answer now, which of the above situations looks more strange and abnormal?

symptom of bipolar disorder

Unreasonable laughter is a symptom of a serious mental illness. When people begin to show positive emotions, laugh in inappropriate situations, others should consider whether to stay away from such people. And close people of this person need to insist that he consult a doctor.

After all, unreasonable and uncontrollable laughter is the first alarming sign that does not bode well. Bipolar mental disorder is dangerous for both the patient and those around him. Because during periods of exacerbation, called mania, the patient becomes too impulsive, is not responsible for his actions and deeds, and therefore can harm not only himself, but also his loved ones.

I'm talking to myself

So, you already know that the inappropriate and unreasonable manifestation of positive emotions is a sign of a mental disorder. Whereas friendly laughter in the company of friends, acquaintances or relatives is quite normal and is not considered a sign of foolishness.

But then another question arises, which the following situation will help to formulate: you are walking down the street, listening to music on the radio. Then an entertainment program began, and suddenly the radio host said some phrase that made you laugh. You smiled. A person passing by noticed this and considered you crazy because you walk and smile to yourself. And it seemed strange to him.

Is such laughter a sign of mental illness?

"Laughter for no reason is a sign of foolishness." Meaning

Such a statement is used only in Russia, it is not translated into other languages ​​due to the fact that foreigners simply do not understand it.

A similar experiment has already been carried out, and this is what came of it. One day, a German student who came to study in a famous Russian university, the teacher made a remark by saying exactly this phrase. The young man spoke Russian quite well and understood the expression literally. And then he pestered his classmates, why laughter for no reason is a sign of a fool, and from which this conclusion follows.

Thus, this proverb is not a diagnosis, but only parting words, a decree to behave more restrained, observing order and decency in the place where you are.

Laughter is a sign of having a sense of humor

Yuri Nikulin argued that making a person cry is much easier than making him laugh. And indeed it is. Don't believe? And you remember how you watched some funny movie with your friends, relatives, acquaintances.

Did you have to laugh, not because it was actually funny, but as if for company, so as not to seem like a "black sheep" who did not understand the joke? Perhaps you did it unconsciously, or perhaps on purpose.

It has been like this for centuries, but a herd mentality is characteristic of man. And this is not an insult, but only a statement of fact. There is nothing shameful in this, because all people are a little bit alike, they have common features character, appearance, and therefore, at some subconscious level, they do not want to stand out from the crowd.

Cheerful, effervescent laughter is considered a sign good feeling humor, but only when others see a real reason for it. If you (albeit for a good reason) smile to yourself, you can easily be considered a little strange. Therefore, learn to control your emotions, observing the rules of decency.

Thus, laughter can be a sign of a dangerous mental disorder. But in this case, it must manifest itself in an inappropriate place or situation. If laughter has a reason, even if it is incomprehensible to other people, it does not cause concern and is considered quite normal.

Therefore, the meaning of the proverb “laughter for no reason is a sign of a fool” should not be taken literally and feverishly run to a psychiatrist as soon as such a remark was made to you. Perhaps people are just jealous of your sense of humor, that's all.

If someone didn’t understand, these are Russians, little smiling, but highly corrupt people think so, well, they didn’t manage to climb the upper steps of evolution, alas, untermenschi after all ...
I got acquainted with the links and graphs, laughed, thought. No, I understand everything, of course, the information war and "that's all," but you need to maintain at least a semblance of decency, if you already call yourself a researcher?
In general, our answer to Chamberlain is not academic, but popular, because the LJ format does not imply academicism, but it is accessible even to British Polish scientists-Russophobes...
Here, for example, from a dissertation in cultural studies -
...Smile as a sign non-verbal communication in a situation of communication with strangers has different meanings in Russian and Western (on the example of English and American) cultures. So, in English and American culture, a smile means the absence of aggressiveness, belonging to a given society, interest in communication, willingness to cooperate, willingness to provide a service, respect and helpfulness, social prosperity and luck, a decent level of well-being. In Russian culture, a smile means frivolity, frivolity, as well as a sincere expression of a very Have a good mood, a special disposition to the interlocutor, flirting, the transition to a more personal relationship, ridicule and criticism, sometimes cunning (deceit), a sign of respect for a person of a higher social status.
Analyzing historical rootsformation of the national face of the studied cultures, it can be seen that the smile has always been more popular in Western culture than in Russian, despite the fact that in both Christian traditions it is considered to be a symbol of quiet spiritual joy, in contrast to laughter, which was traditionally attributed to the attributes of the devil. In Russian culture, more importance is attached to suffering as a way of forming and purifying the soul. Therefore, the central place in the face of Russia is occupied by the eyes, and the smile turns out to be a peripheral, atypical facial expression of the Russian face. Thus, we can talk about two faces that are different in expression and mood: a smiling Western and a mournful Russian...
But I promised popularly, so let's just say...

Remember, Raikin's: "You have to laugh in places specially designated for this"? How many times have we been blamed by local anti-Soviet Russophobes for this playful imperative from a satirical miniature?

Now, when the Russians, within the framework of a hybrid information war, are intensively molding the image of an enemy - an aggressor, a wild, uncivilized person, intimidated by power, afraid of his own shadow, but embittered at the whole world, it is interesting to consider the details of which it consists, this image.
For example, one of the stereotypes of external appearance and the communicative style of a Russian person, a Russian - gloominess, isolation, gloom, coldness, unsmiling. The latter is what catches the eye of a foreigner first of all, because, in his opinion, we smile too little and rarely smile.

At the same time, f The phenomenon of everyday non-smiling of a Russian person acts as one of the most striking and nationally specific features of Russian non-verbal behavior and Russian communication in general.
Is it really? Or is there a specificity of non-verbal communication in different cultures associated with ethnopsychological features? Of course, yes, it simply cannot be absent in this, as in everything else ...
In this case, the features of the Russian who have smiles - what are they why she has b big national identity ?
&
Let's begin with that she is practically ki performs completely different, if not to say, and opposite functions ii, rather than a smile in Western (and not only) countries.
For example, Gorky noted that the first thing you see on the face of Americans is teeth, Zadornov called the American smile chronic, and Zhvanetsky gave out that Americans smile as if they are included in the network.
The Chinese have a saying "who cannot smile, he will not be able to open a shop."
For the Japanese, a smile means - "I dare not burden you with my problems," etc.
In American, English, German communicative behavior, a smile is primarily a signal of politeness, therefore it is obligatory when greeting and in ho de polite conversation. famous announcement A statement in an American bank: "If our operator does not smile at you, tell the doorman about it, he will give you a dollar" - until recently it was unthinkable in Russia.
Everything is different with us. At the beginning of perestroika, a certain American somehow pi sal: "For some reason, when we look at the customs officers checking our passports and smile at them, we never get a smile back. When we make eye contact on the street with Russian people and smile at them, we never get a smile back" . And it was true...

What are the specific national characteristics Russian smile? (for brevity, we denote - RU))
1. RU is performed only with lips, occasionally the upper row of teeth is exposed, it is NOT a horse.
2. RU communication is NOT a signal of courtesy, it is NOT on duty.
3. In Russian communication, it is NOT customary to smile at strangers, it is NOT service.
4. It is not customary for us to automatically respond to a smile with a smile, it is NOT automatic.
5.We have it is not customary to smile at a person, just meeting his gaze, she is NOT random.
6. A smile among Russians is a signal of disposition towards a specific person, it is NOT impersonal.
7. It is not customary for us to smile "during performance" official duties, it is NOT official.
8. RU is always a sincere expression of a good mood or disposition to a counterpart, it is NOT formal.
9. RU must have a good reason known to others, it is NOT unreasonable.
10. The reason for a person's smile should be naturally conditioned, it is NOT self-affirming.
11. RU, as it were, requires a certain time for its "implementation", it is NOT spontaneous.

And some more features and conclusions:
- In our communicative culture, it is not customary to smile just to cheer up the interlocutor, to please him, to support him.
- In Russia, it is also not customary to smile for the purpose of self-presentation / self-encouragement - the Russian smile practically does not have all the listed functions.
- A smile should be absolutely appropriate from the point of view of others, correspond to the communicative situation, from their point of view.
- A smile in an official setting and in a company demonstrates a truly good mood and sincere friendliness of the people gathered.
- Russians do not have a clear distinction between a smile and laughter, in practice they are often identified, likened to one another.

That is - most of the standard communicative situations of Russian communication do not sanction a smile. It is not customary to smile in a tense situation - "no time for smiles."
Here it is, purely Russian - "Why are you smiling?", “She has seven on the benches, and she walks smiling”, “What kind of laugh? I didn’t say anything funny!”. In general, smiling people in Russia are often told: "I don't understand what's funny here!" or "What did I say that was funny?", "Then you will smile, work."
And, as a crown, a unique saying that has no analogues in other cultures: "Laughter for no reason is a sign of a fool" and sacramental - "time for business, hour for fun."

Thus, the Russian smile is considered as a kind of independent communicative act, which, as such, is in most cases redundant.
There is an imperative in the Russian communicative consciousness: a smile should be a sincere reflection of a good mood and good relationship. To have the right to smile, one must really treat the interlocutor well or have this moment wonderful mood.
That is, the Russian national consciousness actually does not perceive a smile as addressed to someone unknown and for unknown reasons. It rejects such a smile, not seeing a communicative meaning in it, perceiving it solely as a reflective, symptomatic signal of a good mood, due to well-being in the material plane.

And, in conclusion, a reference to literature, sounds like an anecdote, or a parable and explains a lot -
In the book by A. Perry "Twelve stories of Russia" (Twelve stories about Russia), throughout the story, with light humor, it is described how hard it was for an American teacher who came to Moscow to follow the advice on how not to attract the attention of others contained in the booklet his company, which emphasized: "The main thing is not to smile." Six and a half years passed before a Russian friend asked him about the opposite - why he never smiles. The answer sounded very Russian: “Idon "t know. I mean I" ve never thought about it. I just smile when I want to, I mean when I have something to smile about"(I don’t know. I never thought about it. I just smile when I want to, when there is something to smile at).

These are the main features of the Russian national smile, due to our sociocultural characteristics and traditions, whether someone likes it or not.
And not what respected partners thought ...

And that's all, or almost all, that I wanted to say on this topic, ahead of the weekend. Smile, friends, I hope in the coming days you will have for this good reasons and reasons)))))))))

our reality contributes little to the development of synthetic thinking, on the basis of which jokes are born

"Humor is a very rare metal."
Ilya Ilf and Evgeny Petrov.

The great Russian science fiction writer Ivan Efremov, in his Andromeda Nebula, noted that in the future, when people become demigods, and perfection reaches the highest - communist - point, ... wit will disappear. This is how he writes: "... the skillful juggling of words, the so-called wit, has disappeared ...". Thought will become clear, bright, simple and spacious. Instead of laughter - joy. A joke, a joke, a banter - it will go away and be forgotten, like any obsolete phenomena. This is how the writer reasoned, looking at his contemporaries constantly joking and laughing, who raised laughter to a certain absolute, declaring it a symbol of the era. The thaw is impossible without KVN and the heading "Physicists are joking." Peter Vail and Alexander Genis, studying the ethics and psychology of the 1960s, state: “Physicists did not just joke, they had to joke in order to remain physicists. It was not the quality of the humor that evoked delight, but the very fact of its existence. It is a pity that Weil and Genis did not yet know what quality “bad humor” was, and therefore they had some right to snobbery. However, Efremov was also mistaken. Wit evaporated long before Homo sapiens conquered space, time and their own stupidity. Everything happened much more boringly - it was the dope that defeated Homo sapiens. And "juggle words" - somewhere gone. Probably got lost in that parallel reality, where the sixties did not get drunk and did not get bored to the dull chords of the post-thaw Stagnation, but really built communism by the year 2000. There, wit could remain, bronze, and in the end - yes, disappear as unnecessary. In our “brave new world” (hello, Aldous Huxley!) satire and humor have simply self-destructed. Not because sunny joy replaced laughter - it just remained in its zoological hypostasis, turning into neighing, roaring, sobbing and screaming. “Oh, rzhachka!”, - yells a plump woman, retelling the reprises of clowns and “professional fools” from TV. She is neighing. Like an animal of the horse system. Gotta be natural natural people, not confused by politeness. They neigh, roll and roar with red faces, and an elderly "satirist" gives out obscene dirty tricks. Unexpected. Everything in the genital area and - lower back - fun by definition. The contents of the night vase - even more so. Especially when it flies into someone's head. The proverb says that laughter for no reason is a sign of foolishness. And laughter at the jokes of Comedy Club and Nasha Rashi is a sign of what?

The play on words has died away, like everything useless - citizens en masse do not understand subtle humor - they blink their eyes in bewilderment and shrug their shoulders: “What did you want to say?” When the replica-quote “Kalabukhov’s house disappeared!” they answered me: “where is it?”, I realized that we were all gone. A couple of years ago, I happened to read the comments of our contemporaries - they concerned the programs “Around Laughter” posted on the Internet. Here is a young guy of about twenty-five: “What is this - like humor ?!”. But he is forgiven, the boy grew up to the sounds of Comedy Club and pop howls on all channels. A mature lady does not lag behind: “It was forbidden to joke normally in Sovka - some kind of nonsense was driven under the guise of a“ comical ”.” It seems that she should think - after all, she did not pass the exam and, probably, managed to leaf through some books. And now the generation of “effective managers” has pulled itself up - those who are over thirty: “Yeah, the humor is sad, minor and not funny at all. Still - you can’t joke much with hunger, ”and so on. There were many words about the fact that in the USSR any joke was presented as an instrument of propaganda, but it was not at all supposed to joke about sex. And what kind of humor is this, if not about sex ?! Let's get back to Around Laughter. This popular TV show in the 1970s and 1980s was quietly watched by academicians, hard workers, and schoolchildren of any age. The reprises and monologues seemed neither difficult nor strange. Even the tricky Mikhail Zhvanetsky with his "Odessa intonations." It's just that he (humor) was designed for a certain level of knowledge. And what is now on the box and on the Internet? A stupidly bastard set of smut "about sex" or - eternal jokes with a cake flying in the face. No - of course, a pot.

Wit is always the result of high intelligence, and not of an individual, but of the whole society, otherwise who will understand and read the witticisms? If erudition, bookishness, the ability to screw in a quote and beat it are cultivated in a society, then the hour has come for clever humor and equally lively satire. Here are the titles of passing feuilletons of the 1950s: “And Vaska listens and eats” (about a bureaucrat - he is criticized, but he continues to stick to his line), “Well, how not to please your dear little man?” (about the rector of the university - that's a bastard, attaches his nephews), "You do not sew me, mother, a red sundress" (about shortcomings in light industry). I note that this is not a metropolitan press, but a provincial one. The authors of the texts knew for sure: their reader would not be surprised that the bureaucrat's name is not Vaska, but Ignat Porfirievich, and the red sundress never flickers as an object of criticism. Even the most recent loser knew quotations from poems, novels and folk songs. What can we say about the excellent students and other physico-lyricists who fired quotes from all the iconic books. All those Weil and Genis wrote: “The resurrected (in the era of the Thaw - G.I.) novels “The Twelve Chairs” and “The Golden Calf” were not perceived as an integral narrative with a plot and composition, but were easily exchanged for tens and hundreds of aphorisms .. .; they were divided into quotations-blocks, quotations-slabs, quotations-bricks ... A person who had become adept at Ilf and Petrov could explain himself on almost any topic with the help of quotations from these books. I also remember the 1970s and 1980s, when it was customary for the educated public to speak in quotations from the books of Mikhail Bulgakov, and this was considered a kind of cultural code. However, intellectual baggage and memorized remarks are only half the battle. You have to be able to manage them. What's the point if a person can memorize words, but is not able to mold them into something new and, most importantly, witty? Quotes should be screwed in on the case and - quickly, as if spontaneously, although behind this spontaneity there is always a habit to load the brain. modern education, and our reality does not contribute much to the development of synthetic thinking, on the basis of which jokes are born. Synthesis is manifested in the creation of something original, in the combination of opposing ideas, views, meanings. Any pun is a synthesis. Any twisted and - thin, funny phrase- synthesis. What is funny? A combination of incompatible in a fantasy proportion, which can be created exclusively from a great mind. On purpose. And at the same time - spontaneously. Parody is again a synthesis. The addition of all the typical techniques of the author, mixing, creating a recognizable cliche, but - in a modified form. Soviet education was sharpened for analysis and synthesis, because society needed inventors, scientists, scientific theorists, or those who could read thoughtfully and put into practice. Setting himself from childhood “to synthesis”, a person automatically generated witty phrases. In any case, he understood them, if he did not know how.

In one article on English humor, it was argued that there are two varieties of it. The first - actually for the "lords" and who joined them intellectual elite, the second - for the common people, who a priori do not understand anything. Two varieties of British humor for two varieties of British sapiens. One - marvelous absurdities, paradoxes, games of consciousness, exquisite constructions. Others - bed-toilet squalor and primitive gags. Albion, famous for its democratic image, is also the birthplace of social racism (and not only social), and therefore, with all the manifested freedoms and equalities, the boundaries separating the pure and the impure are very sharply set there. These boundaries are certainly transparent - the current lord often wears the same sneakers as the plumber. But! From childhood they are taught to read and watch different things. Think differently. Laugh at different things. The article is largely biased, however, there is some truth in it - the English elite is still formed according to special canons. And they have humor there - each stratum has its own. By the way, in the Soviet Union, a taste was instilled precisely ... in the "master's" version - for example, in Oscar Wilde, who joked and frivolously "for his own." But in the USSR, for some reason, it was translated, filmed and presented in theaters. For the proletarians. Because they knew - the proletarian is able to understand. And now it's mostly being broadcast that Oscar Wilde was a homosexual, and it's terribly funny/interesting/cool. Society itself chose the path of degradation and refused to develop - it's easier and ... tastier. More fun. Neighing over a bare ass is easier and more accessible. Moreover, do we really need scientists? Not! Qualified users! For shopping plebeians, couplets about excrement will do.

When we criticize silly comedians, we always somehow forget about ourselves, our loved ones. About us in general. What have we come to? Not specifically you, but - we. All. Evgeny Petrosyan, who is usually branded as an example of base laughter, does not invent reprises himself - he is just an artist, a conductor of ideas. His art (or - anti-art, if you like) is in great demand among " ordinary person”, from aunts and uncles. Our compatriots. They could have chosen something thinner, but they preferred neighing over greasy and stupid. Do not be too lazy to find Petrosyan's old recordings on the Internet - feel the difference. His jokes degraded along with the primitivization of the entire society. Nowadays, humor has become, as they say, "niche". Each niche has its own funny. Physicists are still joking, but already in their own circle. With those who still remember how and why the “Kalabukhovsky house” disappeared. The rest - "a sign of a fool."

Drawing in Vasya Lozhkin's announcement

The first time I heard this question was from my friend Ann, whom I met in Buffalo, NY many years ago.

Imagine, this question has stumped me.

It was only later that Zhvanetsky wrote that the Americans were smiling, as if they were included in the network. And then I began to painfully ponder why I belong to the most unsmiling nation in the world.

Shop assistants, train controllers, flight attendants will never smile just like that. A smile is part of the image of any other country. Not ours.

Moreover, if you suddenly smile to a stranger, he will think that you are flirting with him (man), or you are not friends with your head (woman). We are used to smiling only at acquaintances, only at a funny remark, only in the company of friends. Why?

In the West, a smile is part of the service, part of communication, part of the mentality. We have the opposite: if the seller smiles, it means that he is hiding something. So I want to tell him "What are you smiling at?"

There is a unique saying in Russian that is not found in other languages: “ Laughter for no reason is a sign of a fool". The logic of this saying cannot be understood by people with Western thinking. One German teacher, who was explained the meaning of this saying, ( “If a person laughs for no reason, he is not all right with his head”) could not understand at all and kept asking: “And why does it follow from this?”

Even now, when Russian people often travel to the West and learn a lot from the inhabitants civilized countries, smile - is not an object of imitation for us.

and promotes weight loss, it became known for certain relatively recently, although ancient people knew about it. And only the Russian people did not believe this, since laughter for no reason means - you know what. The harsh Russian temper is usually blamed on bad roads and unfavorable conditions. weather, as well as Orthodox priests who have been telling generations that stupid giggles and booming laughter are the tools of the devil. However, today laughter therapy (gelotology) is a method recognized by evidence-based medicine, with the help of which they alleviate the condition of patients not only with mental illnesses, but also with oncological diseases. Why does she help?

Hormonal explosion

Ten years ago, California scientists conducted an experiment that proved that in the blood of a laughing person, the level of beta-endorphins (hormones of joy and happiness) increases by 30% compared to a calm state, and growth hormone, which affects immunity, by 87%. In this way, positive attitude reduces the likelihood of getting sick and alleviates the condition of those who are already ill, because endorphins increase the pain threshold and speed up recovery.

Calm, just calm

The work of facial muscles during laughter allows you to look young.

A sense of humor is a powerful aphrodisiac.

Cheerful people recover faster and generally get sick less often.

Laughter helps in any situation, even the most incomprehensible.

"Never stop smiling, even when you're sad - someone can fall in love with your smile" - one of the most famous quotes Colombian writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez.