Idioms and Sayings about Laughter - English Vocabulary

8,987 views ・ 2020-10-22

English with Jennifer


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

00:01
Hi everyone. I'm Jennifer from English
0
1520
3920
00:03
with Jennifer.
1
3840
3840
00:05
They say that laughter is the best
2
5440
3360
00:07
medicine.
3
7680
3999
00:08
Do you agree? Well, you can't laugh at
4
8800
4320
00:11
everything in this world,
5
11679
3601
00:13
but I do think it's easier to get
6
13120
3120
00:15
through life
7
15280
3999
00:16
if you have a sense of humor. I also
8
16240
5119
00:19
think that knowing some idioms about
9
19279
2881
00:21
laughter
10
21359
3680
00:22
will make communication easier for you,
11
22160
4879
00:25
so that's what we're going to focus on
12
25039
3801
00:27
in this
13
27039
4801
00:28
lesson.
14
28840
3000
00:32
[Laughter]
15
32530
6510
00:36
Idioms are a colorful way of speaking.
16
36239
4241
00:39
You can't take the words
17
39040
4480
00:40
literally. For example, if someone laughs
18
40480
3520
00:43
their head
19
43520
3039
00:44
off, it doesn't mean that their head
20
44000
3840
00:46
falls off.
21
46559
3201
00:47
That would be like a scene from a horror
22
47840
4320
00:49
movie. To laugh your head off
23
49760
5200
00:52
simply means to laugh a lot, to laugh
24
52160
3600
00:54
loudly,
25
54960
4880
00:55
and laugh uncontrollably.
26
55760
4080
01:00
Some comedies are so funny you spend the
27
60239
3201
01:02
whole movie
28
62640
3760
01:03
laughing your head off. Can you recommend
29
63440
5440
01:06
any movies like that?
30
66400
5280
01:08
Note there is a slightly vulgar version
31
68880
4720
01:11
of this idiom:
32
71680
5920
01:13
laugh your --- off, but you can't use that in
33
73600
5280
01:17
polite company.
34
77600
3680
01:18
Okay?
35
78880
2400
01:23
Have you ever faced doubt from other
36
83200
3279
01:25
people?
37
85200
3760
01:26
If someone didn't believe in a plan you
38
86479
3201
01:28
had
39
88960
3280
01:29
and then you actually succeeded and even
40
89680
3680
01:32
profited from
41
92240
3440
01:33
it, then you might be laughing all the
42
93360
4799
01:35
way to the bank.
43
95680
5439
01:38
I read about a guy who invested money in
44
98159
4481
01:41
lottery tickets.
45
101119
4241
01:42
Many would say that's a waste of money . 48 00:01:45,360 --> 00:01:49,200 But he used
46
102640
3839
01:46
math to calculate lucky numbers, and he
47
106479
5361
01:49
won millions of dollars!
48
109200
4720
01:51
He was laughing all the way to the bank,
49
111840
3760
01:53
and I bet all the skeptics
50
113920
5360
01:55
wished they had him for a friend.
51
115600
3680
02:00
Another way we can express that success
52
120799
5041
02:03
came despite other people's doubts
53
123360
5440
02:05
is by asking the question, "Who's laughing
54
125840
4639
02:08
now?"
55
128800
4320
02:10
Think of all the gamers and artists
56
130479
4081
02:13
who've made a good living
57
133120
3920
02:14
on YouTube or another social media
58
134560
3759
02:17
platform.
59
137040
3279
02:18
Others might have questioned or even
60
138319
3920
02:20
laughed at their career choices,
61
140319
5041
02:22
but who's laughing now? Some top creators
62
142239
3441
02:25
make
63
145360
3680
02:25
thousands of dollars a day.
64
145680
3360
02:29
Sometimes we're the ones with the doubt.
65
149760
4400
02:32
If you don't think that something is
66
152239
4961
02:34
true or possible, you can say,
67
154160
5840
02:37
"Don't make me laugh." This means you
68
157200
6240
02:40
believe the idea is ridiculous.
69
160000
5920
02:43
For example, someone suggests that your
70
163440
3680
02:45
friend might end up
71
165920
3920
02:47
marrying her older neighbor. You don't
72
167120
4000
02:49
think this is true.
73
169840
4399
02:51
Your response: "Don't make me laugh. First,
74
171120
4640
02:54
of all, the guy is 20 years
75
174239
4401
02:55
older than her. Second, she only talks
76
175760
4399
02:58
about him to complain.
77
178640
5679
03:00
She hates the guy."
78
180159
7440
03:04
Okay. Wuick review before we go on. Number
79
184319
4081
03:07
one.
80
187599
3201
03:08
If you're able to laugh at all things,
81
188400
4080
03:10
including yourself,
82
190800
5040
03:12
you have a sense of
83
192480
3360
03:16
humor. Wou can have a sense of humor.
84
196840
7959
03:21
You can lose your sense of humor. You can
85
201680
6639
03:24
develop a sense of humor.
86
204799
3520
03:29
Two. Many believe that laughing is
87
209360
3280
03:31
healthy.
88
211840
3119
03:32
That's why they say that laughter is the
89
212640
4720
03:34
best
90
214959
2401
03:38
medicine.
91
218799
2561
03:42
Three. If you find something hysterical
92
222159
3321
03:44
and you laugh
93
224720
3439
03:45
uncontrollably, you could laugh until you
94
225480
3240
03:48
cry,
95
228159
3360
03:48
which is what I sometimes do, or you
96
228720
3200
03:51
might
97
231519
2640
03:51
laugh...
98
231920
2239
03:56
you might laugh your head off.
99
236480
7759
04:01
Four. If you profit from an action or a
100
241120
5759
04:04
plan that others had doubts about,
101
244239
4640
04:06
you can say that you're laughing all the
102
246879
4640
04:08
way to
103
248879
2640
04:12
the bank. Of number five. You can ask the
104
252400
5119
04:16
question,
105
256320
3599
04:17
"Who's
106
257519
2400
04:21
who's laughing now?"
107
261280
3120
04:25
Six.If something sounds absurd, it's
108
265759
6000
04:28
unlikely or completely ridiculous,
109
268880
7200
04:31
you might comment, "Don't make...
110
271759
4321
04:36
don't make me laugh."
111
276560
3120
04:41
All right. As I mentioned, I can actually
112
281199
4801
04:43
cry if I laugh too hard.
113
283520
5360
04:46
Do you ever laugh until you cry? It's
114
286000
3280
04:48
like
115
288880
3840
04:49
laughing until it hurts.
116
289280
5440
04:52
This happens when the situation is
117
292720
3280
04:54
extremely funny
118
294720
4960
04:56
and we laugh out of control.
119
296000
6240
04:59
But there are situations when laughter
120
299680
5519
05:02
is not appropriate.
121
302240
5280
05:05
Sometimes our initial reaction to a
122
305199
3201
05:07
situation
123
307520
3760
05:08
is to laugh, but then someone explains
124
308400
4239
05:11
why the situation
125
311280
4639
05:12
is actually serious.
126
312639
3280
05:16
At the office, Owen got stuck in the
127
316080
4480
05:18
elevator with his ex-girlfriend.
128
318400
4000
05:20
He didn't want to spend any time with
129
320560
3440
05:22
her, so he tried to open the
130
322400
4320
05:24
doors with his bare hands. It's no
131
324000
3759
05:26
laughing matter.
132
326720
2800
05:27
He ended up hurting his wrist and
133
327759
4641
05:29
breaking a finger.
134
329520
2880
05:33
The expression here is, "It's no laughing
135
333680
6160
05:36
matter."
136
336840
3000
05:40
In surprising situations, we may not know
137
340160
4319
05:43
how to react.
138
343199
3840
05:44
If the dog steals your phone and buries
139
344479
4641
05:47
it somewhere in the front yard,
140
347039
6801
05:49
you may not know whether to laugh or cry.
141
349120
4720
05:55
Here's a true story. One time I showed up
142
355199
5280
05:58
at the wrong dinner party.
143
358160
5599
06:00
Really. Not only did I show up uninvited
144
360479
5921
06:03
at the wrong restaurant, I was missing at
145
363759
5121
06:06
the party where I was invited!
146
366400
4480
06:08
Honestly, I didn't know whether to laugh
147
368880
3280
06:10
or cry.
148
370880
3439
06:12
Thankfully, no one at either party took
149
372160
4640
06:14
offense.
150
374319
2481
06:17
It's nice when things work out despite
151
377919
3921
06:20
difficulties. Right?
152
380000
4240
06:21
You already know the idiom "be laughing
153
381840
4240
06:24
all the way to the bank."
154
384240
4959
06:26
That's mainly for financial success. In
155
386080
5200
06:29
general, if you achieve success
156
389199
5201
06:31
despite other people's jokes and
157
391280
5919
06:34
laughter, you can say that you had the
158
394400
5519
06:37
last laugh.
159
397199
2720
06:40
Did you know that the first movie with
160
400720
4319
06:42
talking in it wasn't expected to be a
161
402639
3601
06:45
success?
162
405039
3921
06:46
But the movie studio had the last laugh
163
406240
3920
06:48
because soon after
164
408960
3760
06:50
all the movies had talking in it and
165
410160
3280
06:52
audiences
166
412720
4879
06:53
said goodbye to silent movies.
167
413440
4159
06:58
Speaking of movies, did you know that
168
418720
3120
07:00
Steven Spielberg
169
420400
4639
07:01
applied to film school and got rejected
170
421840
6320
07:05
twice? Well, he had the last laugh because
171
425039
5121
07:08
he ended up becoming a famous
172
428160
5120
07:10
director, producer, and screenwriter. And
173
430160
7599
07:13
he's won countless awards.
174
433280
7039
07:17
How about another quiz. Let's see how
175
437759
4321
07:20
much you remember.
176
440319
4880
07:22
Number one. Sometimes you laugh really
177
442080
3839
07:25
hard.
178
445199
4161
07:25
You can laugh until you
179
445919
3441
07:29
cry or until it
180
449440
3520
07:33
hurts.
181
453120
2400
07:36
Two. If the situation is rather serious
182
456319
5280
07:39
and there's no humor to be found,
183
459360
6480
07:41
then we say, "It's no...
184
461599
4241
07:46
it's no laughing matter."
185
466639
3280
07:51
Three. If you're extremely surprised and
186
471120
5359
07:53
you're feeling a range of emotions,
187
473919
6241
07:56
you may not know whether to
188
476479
3681
08:02
laugh or cry.
189
482479
3041
08:06
Four. People initially laughed at the idea
190
486800
4880
08:09
of a horseless carriage,
191
489840
4400
08:11
but those who made the first automobiles
192
491680
4959
08:14
had
193
494240
2399
08:18
they had the last laugh because today
194
498240
4639
08:20
everyone around the world drives around
195
500720
3199
08:22
in cars.
196
502879
4961
08:23
Few people ride around on horses.
197
503919
3921
08:28
Let's end with some lines from a poem by
198
508960
4559
08:31
Ella Wheeler Wilcox.
199
511440
4880
08:33
She was an american poet, and the poem is
200
513519
3361
08:36
called
201
516320
4000
08:36
"Solitude." Listen. And if you wish, you can
202
516880
5760
08:40
tell me what you think the poet meant
203
520320
5920
08:42
in the comments. Laugh,
204
522640
7120
08:46
and the world laughs with you; /Weep,
205
526240
7120
08:49
and you weep alone;/ For the sad old earth
206
529760
6560
08:53
must borrow its mirth,/ But has trouble
207
533360
5440
08:56
enough of its own./
208
536320
5680
08:58
Sing, and the hills will answer;/
209
538800
6719
09:02
Sigh, it is lost on the air;/
210
542000
6640
09:05
The echoes bound to a joyful sound,/
211
545519
18320
09:08
But shrink from voicing care./
212
548640
15199
09:40
That's all for now. Please like the video
213
580399
3681
09:42
if you found it useful and
214
582640
3759
09:44
interesting. As always, thanks for
215
584080
3040
09:46
watching
216
586399
4641
09:47
and happy studies!
217
587120
5760
09:51
Follow me on Facebook, Twitter, and
218
591040
4080
09:52
Instagram. And try something new!
219
592880
4399
09:55
Download the app Hallo and join me for a
220
595120
3279
09:57
live stream.
221
597279
2961
09:58
Students can hop on camera and get
222
598399
7440
10:00
speaking practice in real time.
223
600240
5599
About this website

This site will introduce you to YouTube videos that are useful for learning English. You will see English lessons taught by top-notch teachers from around the world. Double-click on the English subtitles displayed on each video page to play the video from there. The subtitles scroll in sync with the video playback. If you have any comments or requests, please contact us using this contact form.

https://forms.gle/WvT1wiN1qDtmnspy7