Did you
know?

guffaw (GUF-FAW)
noun, verb

- to laugh loudly, especially at something stupid that someone has said or done.

Cambridge Dictionary

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ORIGIN

1720, from the Scottish “gawf,” which is onomatopoetic, meaning that it’s spelled the way it sounds and is probably imitative of the sound of coarse laughter.

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For some deep thinkers, laughing is no laughing matter, and there’s been some rather serious research on the topic.

Greek philosopher Herodotus categorised people who laugh into three groups:

- those who are overconfident
- those who are innocent
- those who are mad

Darwin believed laughter to be the release of excess nervous energy, whereas Schopenhauer, Kant, Bergson, Hegel, and Koestler associated laughter with the resolution of incongruity* or paradox.

*Nichtübereinstimmung

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SYNONYMS

belly laugh, cackle, chortle, chuckle, giggle, hee-haw, horselaugh, laugh, laughter, shriek/hoot/peal/roar/snort of laughter, snicker, snigger, titter


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Practice OWAD in an English conversation, say something like:

“Did you hear those GUFFAWS coming from the breakout room? They must be having a lot of fun!”

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Paul Smith