WHEN A WOMAN LAUGHS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19148, 14 October 1925, Page 16

WHEN A WOMAN LAUGHS.

An exceptionally happy marriage was being discussed and one who knew the couple well remarked, "Well! you see, the same things amuse them both!" At first sight it seemed a curious and possibly an inadequate reason; but we all know that a different taste in jokes has alienated many a husband and wife and has provoked more family quarrels than far more serious grounds of disagreement. The quick-witted are apt to scintillate at the expense of those whose brains, however good, move more slowly, while naturally it is often difficult to appreciate the joke at one's own expense. You cannot expect the dog with a tin kettle tied to his tail to find the episode amusing, yet many a small boy has roared with laughter at the sight, just as the painful antics of the clown with the redhot poker have moved countless audiences to mirth. Possibly these two instances suggest one point where men and women part company over what they consider funny, writes Ladv Nott-Bower. Most women absolutely fail to be amused at what they think coarse or cruel. Many men cannot help seeing the comic aspect of incidents, or anecdotes of which they may not in the least approve. Perhaps it is true that men enjoy humour —which is, after all, a full-blooded virile attribute —while women delight in wit, which is sharp but not ponderous. So possibly in olden days men could appreciate the hearty thwackings of bludgeon play, which" women rarely liked, though they loved, and sometimes excelled in, the more delicate dangers of fencing. It is, indeed, often freely assarted that women have no sense of humour. Of course, when a husband says this it may mean merely that his wife does not always appreciate his jokes or laugh at the things he thinks funny. But if' she laughs freely at other things and enjoys "with keen relish books and plays that do not, amuse him, whyshould not she level exactly the same accusation at him ? Why, in these days of "sex equality," should the merely masculine fiat of what is really funny be accepted as a final judgment ? Why shouldn't we say that men have no sense of humour because they do not always laugh at the things that amuse us ? Of course, if it could be proved that woman never laughed, or laughed only from other causes than frank amusement, the case would be different. But in any mixed assemblage, theatre, lecture or party, it is generally the ripple of women's laughter of which a listener would first be conscious unless some queer incident or sudden comic mishap occurred, when the sudden roar of manly laughter will drown the women's voices altogether.