LAS LENGUAS INGLESA Y ESPAÑOLA de Delfín Carbonell

I confess that I laugh less these days. Whenever something begins to amuse me, someone or something promptly takes away the will to laugh. Still, I find pleasure in exploring the many ways speakers of different languages try to convey that marvelous sensation. A simple “She laughed” is apparently not enough: the speaker insists on adding something—“her head off,” “herself silly,” “like a drain,” and so on. In Spanish, risa comes with an astonishing array of intensifiers: Morirse (partirse, mondarse, troncharse, desternillarse, revolcarse, retorcerse, mearse, descojonarse, reventar) de (la) risa; reír a mandíbula batiente. And I have gathered the following citations to prove it: “Se reían. Se partían de risa.” José Fernando Siale, El guardia colonial… , 2001. (Guinea Ecuatorial) “… se meaban de la risa como en la montaña rusa.” Manuel Longares, Romanticismo , 2001. (España) “Jorge… los monjes se desternillaban de la risa.” Jorge Bucay, El camino de la autodependencia , 2002. (Arg...

  François Rabelais wrote that "le rire est le propre de l'homme." By "homme" he meant mankind because animals do not have a sense of humor. My question is: who has the best sense of humor and laughs the most? The French? The British? Spaniards? No idea, but I do know that there are many ways to express laughter in Spanish and English: Desternillarse (troncharse, partirse, morirse, mondarse, revolcarse) de risa Laugh one’s head off (kill oneself laughing, laugh oneself silly, die laughing, laugh like a drain, split one’s sides laughing, crack up) ¡Se troncharon de risa! They split their sides with laughter! — “… encontrará temas que nos harán desternillarnos de risa.” La Vanguardia, 30/10/1995. Esp. || “… se partían de risa con las bromas y el humor de la película.” Tiempo, 17/09/1990. Esp.