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Laughter’s Many Faces

The Spanish Espasa-Calpe encyclopœdia gives an interesting description of various types of laughter: “Regardless of what little knowledge one may have of the human heart, one can distinguish perfectly between the innocent laugh, and the malicious; between that of the candid person, and that of the person with an ulterior motive; the tenderness of a mother’s laugh as distinct from the tenderness of a friend’s; the laugh of protection of a man in authority and the reverent laugh of an inferior; the scoffing and picaresque laughter of a mocker, from the benevolent and attractive laughter of a sympathetic companion; the perplexed laughter of the one who has mixed feelings, as distinct from the sincere and frank laughter; the forced and affected laughter in contrast to the spontaneous and natural.”​—Enciclopedia Universal Ilustrada, p. 803, Vol. 51.