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How different languages laugh online

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Re: How different languages laugh online

#31

Post by adontz »

Speakers of different languages express laugh differently in English too.

Native English speakers write "hahaha" or "ha-ha-ha", but speakers of many Slavic languages write "ahahaha" or "a-ha-ha-ha", with leading "a".

Native English speakers write ":)", but speakers of many Slavic languages write just ")", because ":" is reused on keyboard for additional Cyrillic letters (like Ж) and they don't use it even when typing in English.

Georgians reuse not only ":დ" as ":D", but basically any English acronym "ლოლ" for lol, "ლმაო" for "lmao", because standard Georgian layout is based on English US layout and it feels natural. Exception is ROFL, because Georgian lacks "F" sound.

Re: How different languages laugh online

#34

Post by orangeboats »

petesergeant wrote: post #12

Pfff, anything missing that Thais write 55555 (because 5 in Thai is "hâː") is missing a trick. Also, FWIW, I've always thought the numeral (when written in Thai, which is a bit unusual) looks like the cereal-spit guy ๕: https://obs.line-scdn.net/0hTLsunG_HC2NODB-jHVl0NHZaBxJ9ahFq... (update: oh, I scrolled down and found it. It was immune to being found with Ctrl-F)

Meanwhile, the Chinese use 555 to express the opposite emotion: crying! Because 555 (wu wu wu) sounds very similar to 呜呜呜 (also wu wu wu), an onomatopoeia for the crying sound. 555 is a bit of a dated expression nowadays though, it saw greater use during the SMS era.

It's especially interesting since "five" in both languages are cognates with each other, having descended from Old Chinese /ŋaːʔ/.

Re: How different languages laugh online

#35

Post by ludwik »

adrianmsmith wrote: post #28

Definitely noticed that people from some countries (Eastern Europe?) write "ahahah" instead of "hahaha" when expressing amusement when writing English.

In Polish you can do both, and at least to me they feel slightly different - the first "a" represents the small pause while you quickly take in the air before you start laughing. To me this indicates an element of being surprised, and the reaction being natural. I think that "ahaha" is a lot less likely to be used sarcastically than "haha".

Anyway, those are just my intuition as a native speaker - I'm not sure whether it is universal, I never discussed this with anyone before.

Re: How different languages laugh online

#36

Post by ceritium »

I have never seen "memeo" in a spanish chat. I saw jaja, jeje,jojo, jiji, even juju and larger variants. We also use xD (smile with closed eyes and laughtin) or longer versions like xdddddddddd or lol (loooooooool).

"Me meo" is a real expresión, but not so common, i like to say "me deshorino" like satirical expresión.

Re: How different languages laugh online

#38

Post by Izkata »

ludwik wrote: post #35
adrianmsmith wrote: post #28

Definitely noticed that people from some countries (Eastern Europe?) write "ahahah" instead of "hahaha" when expressing amusement when writing English.

In Polish you can do both, and at least to me they feel slightly different - the first "a" represents the small pause while you quickly take in the air before you start laughing. To me this indicates an element of being surprised, and the reaction being natural. I think that "ahaha" is a lot less likely to be used sarcastically than "haha". Anyway, those are just my intuition as a native speaker - I'm not sure whethe…

It's pretty much the same as you describe for me in English.
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