THE ART OF KEEPING LAUGHTER ALIVE - ENGLISH AND SPANISH
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...