Along those lines, should you want to reward someone you're chatting with not just with laughter, but with actual praise. Similarly, since the number 8 is pronounced "ba," Chinese speakers sometimes use "88" to sign off, or say "ba ba" ("bye bye"). Interestingly, the number 5, in Mandarin, is pronounced as "wu" - meaning that Thai's "55555" would, in Chinese, be prounounced "wuwuwuwuwu." This is the sound equivalent, a Chinese-speaking redditor points out, of "boohoo" - meaning that laughter in one language is crying in another. Japanese: And then, much the same way "ha" begat "haha" begat "hahaha," the sentiment became extended - to "ww" and then "Similarly, xixi, 嘻嘻, suggests giggling. Thai: 55555 In Thai, the number 5 is pronounced "ha" - so instead of saying "hahahahaha," Thai speakers will sometimes write "55555." So, how do you laugh, on the Internet, in other languages? Here - haaaaaaaaaahahaha - is a starting guide: Laughter rendered in letters and numbers and characters - laughter that transcends language but also, online, utterly relies on it. Something like "LOL." Or ":-)" Or "ha." Or, if my hilarity is a little more hilarious than usual, "haha." Or, if my hilarity is a little less hilarious than usual, "heh." Or, if I my hilarity is slightly ironic, "hehe." Or, if my hilarity is slightly impish, "teehee." Or, if my hilarity is excessively hilarious in a way that requires some excessive laughter: "hahahaha." Or "haaaaaaaaaaaahaha." Or "hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha."īut, so many hahas, you get the idea: You'd find a way, basically, to convey through textual means the uncontrollable laughter I have provoked.īut: what if we weren't speaking English? What if we were chatting in Spanish, or Mandarin, or Japanese? In an amazing reddit thread this morning, redditors from non-English-speaking countries have been weighing in on a very good question: "what is internet culture like in your first language?"Īnd the most-upvoted answers, awesomely and tellingly, have focused on laughter.
You could say the obvious thing: "Megan, that is utterly, awesomely hilarious." Most likely, though, you would say something else, something that better reflects a more natural response to my hilarity.
Imagine that, in the course of our conversation, I - and this may require some extra imagination - say something utterly, awesomely hilarious. Imagine you and I are chatting somewhere and sometime on the Internet.
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