Hya! Hya! Hya!

Someone I know appears to have recently had a conversation with themselves. A conversation about a subject which I'm sure has crossed all of our minds at some point, no matter how briefly. The conversation I believe he's had is about his laugh. A laugh, in my opinion, is a combination of two factors. The first is involuntary, a physical reflex responding to stimulus which we percieve as funny, and the second, a conscious response to something we're supposed to find funny. The latter makes it possible to be in control of the style of one's laugh. We've all at some point made a decision, consciously or not, on how to chortle. This is a very individual thing. Everyone has their own unique response to funniness, and we've all developed ours over time. While most will have acquired their own guffaw subconsciously as a result of hearing other people, others will have practiced various styles, perhaps attempting to imitate a cool friend or public figure. But there are some who deliberately continue to design the best and coolest laugh on earth, moving with trends or even trying to set them. They cannot be satisfied with what they have, they need to be the best.

The person to whom I'm referring has changed their laugh dramatically. It is barely recognizable from before and has happened literally overnight. Certain letters have become audible. An H, and a Y, and an A are now all present. What was once a perfectly normal titter has now developed into something monstrous. While a man's laugh is his own business, and certainly none of mine, I have a couple of questions I feel need to be raised. Firstly, I wonder what he felt was wrong with yesterday's cackle? Was it not aurally pleasing? Was it not appreciative enough of the humour preceding it? Was it perhaps, a little over the top? And finally, did he really think that nobody would notice? Would it not make more sense to use the new laugh with new people and gradually phase it in with the rest?

A seasoned laughter adjuster would surely take this into account?