Production
Now here's a funny thing,
Visible Ink produces comedy series, and we are now going geek (not Greek) and collecting data.
We wish to find which cultures around the World, laugh the most - find life the funniest, as identified by the number of laughter describing words in the language. (giggle, chortle etc)
We may (or not) manipulate the figures, government style, to show that Brits come out on top - as this we know will be good for our business.
Our findings will be updated regularly here. It will be an open forum, anyone can contribute, please do so, by sending an email via the contact us page.
Here is our Laughter League Table from our rigorously researched non-scientific study. (Please don't be offended if you feel misrepresented, just get in touch and put us right)
Surprisingly, the table a shows that currently the British come out on top because we are just in hung limbo land. Laugh - we need to. Therefore by this ingenious method, Brits have the greatest sense of humour (because, OMG we need to with our climate, economic situation and diminishing number of legal mothers-in-law) whilst the Belgians are droll and hardly laugh at anything, E by gum there must be at least Summit to laugh at in Brussels. Unfortunately the Greeks have nothing to laugh about so haven't made it on to the chart.
How have we achieved the thoroughness from all the fundamental flawed data?
Well to do this dangerous and dirty work Visible Ink's inquisitive investigators or non-invective detectives have been banished from the comfort of their computers and subjected Spartan style to a grim life on the comedy road to bring back further indigenous anecdotes with gut busting insight. Here are some of their findings.
In Britain we have a great tradition for comedy and have many words to describe laughter and ways of laughing. Belly laugh, Snigger, Chortle, Smile, Roar, Giggle, Guffaw, Chuckle, to burst out laughing, to double up laughing, it is a scream, to split one's sides with laughter, to laugh like a drain, to laugh on the other side of your face.
In French most laughter words are derivations of "rire" - to laugh. Some get quite long "partir d'un gros éclat de rire - to guffaw, - avoir un fou rire - to have the giggles, se tordre de rire - to double up laughing.
In German (where you might think there to be even longer words), lachen is the basic verb 'to laugh, sich tot lachen - laugh oneself to death/die laughing, sich schief lachen - literally to laugh oneself sideways/on the slant, feixen (pronounced 'fikesen') - to smirk/sneer,glucksen - to chuckle/chortle, kichern - giggle, snigger.
Please contact us with your contribution in any other language. There will be a prize draw every month and the winner this month will receive a freshly peeled banana skin to help test out laughter reactions on the high street. We may even send along an inquisitive investigators and full camera crew.