Laughing at people's misfortune

fakearms123

jackdaw wrote:

you sound like a f**king idiot..

good contribution, you sound intelligent, im not promoting bullying and im not saying all misfortunes are funny, that poor kid had a bad day and from where i was observing it, i have to admit i laughed, doesnt mean that i personally pushed him and sh*t on his shoulder.

padi89

layke wrote:

It's these sort of things in the Irish culture that makes me sorry i'm part of it.

WTF?? Do you not this happens in any other country??

Slow Motion

fakearms123 wrote:

good contribution, you sound intelligent, im not promoting bullying and im not saying all misfortunes are funny, that poor kid had a bad day and from where i was observing it, i have to admit i laughed, doesnt mean that i personally pushed him and sh*t on his shoulder.

Actually by laughing at it and not seeming to care about the kid (I know you said poor kid in your quote but it didn't come across as particularly sincere) you are promoting bullying. Until bullys realise there actions are socially unacceptable they will continue with it, you don't seem to get this ! There is a huge difference between something funny happening and some one being victimised.

Cheeky_gal

Don't know if this has much relevance but i've been so embarrassed! I was working p/t as a waitress over the summer at the horse races and a table of about 11 lads came in and i was told to take their drinks orders so i went over to them, took their order and then one of them uses his finger lyk as if to say come close i wana ask u something so i leaned in and the whole table goes dead silent and everyone stares at me while your man asks me "do i do bets too?"...but i thought he said "can i have a plate of veg?" (which i thought was really weird) but anyways, i said "yea!" and came back 5 mins later with a plate of veg!!!! haha omg the embarrassment!!! They laughed their heads off when i apologised and told them what i thought they asked! Had a great night with that table for the rest of the day! haha

Leeby

Ah sure it just depends on the situation, sometimes when bad things happen to people it's impossible not to laugh. When I was 10 in a holiday resort in France they had this little train (not a real train, drove on normal paths just a little slow cartoon looking thing) that ran from one end of the resort to the other. It says not to jump off it while it's moving but some impatient man in speedos did, the back of his speedos got caught and he had to run alongside the train for the last 20 metres before it stopped with his speedos stretched right out but still on him so he got the worst wedgie I've ever seen and showed us all his bum, embarressing but hilarious!

You've got to be able to have a sense of humour about it when it happens to you though, when I was a temp I was in one company for only two days and on the first day I fell on my arse in mud before I even walked in, people saw, they laughed, I laughed. I had to walk around with mud on my bum all day, people laughed at me, I laughed with them. On the second day I was mud free but dropped my entire tray of food in a canteen full of people I didn't know, they all stared, I went bright red but then I waved to them all and did a little bow so they laughed, you've got to be a pretty wound up person to not be able to laugh at yourself once in a while.

(I've also done the ultimately stupid walking into a pole in the middle of town thing, you could hear people in stitches half way up the street!)

JCDUB

I was in a nightclub in Limerick a couple of years back, dancing away on the dancefloor with a couple of friends, and my mate was about four feet away on a step just off the dancefloor with a railing between us. My mate is about 6'4", stocky, and has a big mop of black curls, just to set the scene.

We were having a bit of banter and he obviously misjudged the distance between us and decided to have a mess swing for me, just trying to clip me on the ear.
He toppled over the railing and somersaulted down onto the deck, spilling his drink on himself and even causing the music to skip:D
The doormen came running over because they just heard a big bang, then they along with everyone else around the place broke their bollocks laughing at this hulk getting up off the ground.
Fookin priceless, although I nearly embarrassed myself as much by pissing myself laughing at him:eek:

Different from bullying though, he brought it on himself...

fakearms123

Slow Motion wrote:

Actually by laughing at it and not seeming to care about the kid (I know you said poor kid in your quote but it didn't come across as particularly sincere) you are promoting bullying. Until bullys realise there actions are socially unacceptable they will continue with it, you don't seem to get this ! There is a huge difference between something funny happening and some one being victimised.

Firstly this lad usually does hand out a lot of slaggings himself, at the time he was a chubby kid but he has a quick wit and used it to slag people, although he had an unfortunate lunch break which lasted probably 10 minutes, he got through it. And im sure someone else got the same treatment the next day, i was not involved in the kid's situation but im sure my laughter contributed to his embarrassment. It was a comical moment, he even has said it himself.
There is a quote, "if you dont laugh, you cry". I am not promoting bullying, it can be a terrible cycle in school, you can have a horrible day of insults have a misfortune but its yesterday's news the next morning. Im sorry if in writing the bird sh*t on shoulder incident doesnt sound funny but at the time it was, im not proud of myself for laughing but i did. The man who fell in the cinema was laughing when he fell, he obviously appreciated a bit of humour. One day in secondary school i was standing outside the primary school and spent the rest of the day called Charlie CHester the Child Molester, looking back it was funny.

L31mr0d

Gore Vidal: “Whenever a friend succeeds, a little something in me dies.”

That quote pretty much explains why we laugh at other peoples mistakes and misgivings. Everyone finds it amusing when something stupid happens to someone else, if not then we wouldn't have great shows like faulty towers, Monty Python and the like. In fact I can't think of one comedy that isn't based around the mistakes of people.

But I agree with others in that their is a line, someone doing something to themselves is funny, someone doing it to them is not. I found the fat guy tripping and getting shat on funny, but people beating on him is not.

I also laugh when bad things happen to me. I can appreciate the ridiculousness of some coincidental events that have happened to me. Like on my stag weekend in paris, the hotel we stayed in was a 2 star dive, it was a french version of faulty towers, not being stereotypical but the staff and manager where truly obnoxious. The morning breakfast was bread and water, the walls where falling apart, whenever my friend plugged in his razor the electricity in the building would trip out, and the cleaning lady would just let herself into your room without knocking, one time my friend was actually coming out of the shower. He was really pissed off about how bad it was but I found the whole thing hilarious.. and it is a pretty funny story to tell people.

Slow Motion

fakearms123 wrote:

im not proud of myself for laughing but i did.

Fair enough ! I just wanted to make the point that your two stories were different ! One was (somewhat) acceptable and I can understand people finding the humour in it, the other wasn't, as someone who was bullied in school I suppose it struck a chord and I felt the need to make my point, the effects of this kind of thing can have very serious consequences (in my case for the bullies as I ended up beating the $hit out of one*) and I have an issue with any form of bullying and the tacit acceptance of it by others (this is a general point and not directed at you OP).


*I do not advocate violence as a means of solving problems it just happened that I found myself being attacked and defended myself usning the martial arts I had being studying for the previous year to boost my selfconfidence to the great supprise of said bully

TwoShedsJackson

I'll usually laugh if i see a kid trip or drop their ice cream or something and go into a huge hissy fit, but then again I do hate children.

scruff321

Niamho! wrote:

i think its only natural to laugh. My sister is the WORST person for that.

the main one that sticks out in my mind was the sh*telink one night, a bloke got on with a Backpack. Twisted. started goin up the stairs.....right as the bus took off. fell right back and every bit of loose change fell out of his pocket rolling all over the bus. i was in Knots. it wasn't so much the fall it was the little pathetic noise he made while he was falling. So funny.
then he asked the Driver (77 to tallaght) did it go near Sandyford, when the driver said no he got off near Cork street. the poor Fooker.

you wouldnt have been laughing if he was some hard **** that wouldve knocked the bollocks outta you would you?

fakearms123

Slow Motion wrote:

I just wanted to make the point that your two stories were different ! One was (somewhat) acceptable and I can understand people finding the humour in it, the other wasn't

Thats what I had intended, the two stories were different, both instances were situations i laughed and the purpose of the thread was to distinguish between the two. That is why I asked for opinions towards the end of the post. Obviously there is no way to completely distinguish between the two because socially acceptable circumstances can be viewed from either side, the victim and the observer(s)

L31mr0d

scruff321 wrote:

you wouldnt have been laughing if he was some hard **** that wouldve knocked the bollocks outta you would you?

no but I would of laughed if he did... you're not getting the point here are you. Its nearly ALWAYS funny when its happening to someone else.

The other funny thing about buses is when people fall asleep. Its happened to me a few times. I'll be sitting up with my eyes closed, mouth open, then the bus will suddenly jam on and i'll fly forward and headbutt the bar in front of me, making this horrible *twang*. I swear they designed the bus so this would happen. It usually results in the meek hiding their spluttering laughter and the brazen just breaking their sh!te laughing and pointing. Sure its embarrassing, but would I then not laugh when it happens to someone else.. hell no, funny is funny.

scruff321

just remembered the other week i was in a niteclub with my mates,we were sitting on stools and i said to the lads "im goin to the toilet", and immediately as i said that i fell off my stool,i must say very funny,the highlight of my mates nite it was

scruff321

L31mr0d wrote:

no but I would of laughed if he did... you're not getting the point here are you. Its nearly ALWAYS funny when its happening to someone else.

The other funny thing about buses is when people fall asleep. Its happened to me a few times. I'll be sitting up with my eyes closed, mouth open, then the bus will suddenly jam on and i'll fly forward and headbutt the bar in front of me, making this horrible *twang*. I swear they designed the bus so this would happen. It usually results in the meek hiding their spluttering laughter and the brazen just breaking their sh!te laughing and pointing. Sure its embarrassing, but would I then not laugh when it happens to someone else.. hell no, funny is funny.

ok there is alot of times that kinda **** is funny and come to think of it it always happens to me ..oh yea im a demon for falling asleep on the bus,especially the nitelink.sure last xmas i was coming home from a party got the last bus and fell asleep,the next thing i remember i got woken up by the cleaners in ringsend who were about to start cleaning the bus!after missing my stop completely ended up at the bus station! i look around me and another bloke has done the same thing except he fell asleep missed his stop and went back into town,fell asleep again and we both ended up at the station! i felt like giving the us driver a slap he was having a good old chuckle to himself ud think the prick would have woken the 2 of us up!all the same thought it was funny

patrickc

fakearms123 wrote:

it was a mandarin orange! we're swerving away from the point of this thread here, he could of been hit in the head by a homeless guy, it doesnt matter what he was hit by

why pick a homeless person?? it could of been yore ma u shuda said, not insulting the poor homeless..

Terry

People falling asleep on the bus is always funny.
Was working in Listowel a few years back and was sharing a room in a B&B with my friend.
He had gone to bed while I stayed in the bar drinking.
Long story short, I kept him awake all night with my snoring.
Early the next morning he got a phone call saying his granny had died, so he got on a bus home.
About two hours later, myself and another friend were working away when my phone rang. I put it on speaker so that I could keep working.
It was my friend. He had gotten the wrong bus, fell asleep and ended up in Limerick. He was bitching me out over the phone and blaming it all on me because I had kept him awake all night. Myself, my friend and the two guys who owned the shop we were working in were all pissing ourselves laughing at him.

fakearms123

patrickc2006 wrote:

why pick a homeless person?? it could of been yore ma u shuda said, not insulting the poor homeless..

okay ill use yore ma next time!

Ruu_Old

Saw a chap fly over the handlebars of his bicycle the other night after hitting a high part in the path and burst out laughing (then felt bad about it):( It was just a Jackass type moment or some sort of blooper you'd see on telly. He got up right away and off he went.

Niamho!

i was out last sat week and someone told me to run into the loo and Get Serena, so with my drink on board and thinkin they were in a hurry to get goin i literally ran, out the door through the bar where some dipsh*t was moppin the floor.... i went snotting, but the way i landed, i kinda went into tha Splits before i got a hold of myself and realised i'd Rip my Lady bits in two so i bent my knees. oh so shockingly Graceful im sure. the barman offered me help and i never got up and ran from someone so quick in my life!! if i hadn't been in Two knee pain at hte time i would have pee'd myself. shudda seen the Bruises. if my mate had seen me he would have never let me live it down.

Hail 2 Da Chimp

Terry wrote:

Name a bully-free country.

YORE MA!!!

Haha cyber bullied

8k2q1gfcz9s5d4

when i was in 5th year, a fat kid (pure asshole, everyone hated him) was swining on his chair in class. he broke the supports on the back legs of the chair, legs bend and he lands under the table (all happened in a second!). a week later in a different class, he sits on a chair and it collapses!! the teacher said to him "Ah Mr.x, you broke another one!" nearly wet myself!!!

again in 5th year, a guy from aware was talking to us, he was at the top of the room and walks backwards to let a student pass. As he did so, trips over thr teachers podium that their desc was on. He tried everything to not fall, it was so funny, arms flailing for a few seconds then plop!!! just as everyone stopped laughing, one student says "How embarassing" and everyone starts again!!!


600 posts

r3nu4l

When we were kids my mate was the first in our area to get a BMX (back when they were new!). His Dad put it together for him and off we went.

So my mate is cycling in front of us all, decides to show off by pulling a wheelie and as he does so the bike lifts off the ground but it turns out that the front wheel is loose and simply comes out of the forks and carries on rolling on the ground.

So my friend is left furiously trying to keep his wheelie going because he now has no front wheel and after about 2 seconds the bike starts to drop forward causing him to fall flat on his face. That was funny. The look of sheer panic as he realised what was about to happen was priceless

Nehpets

I laugh at things, both at other ppl and myself. It's funny

Spyral

I'd rather help than laugh.. then again i dont have inferiority issues.. (check out the psychology of laughing..)

Terry

Give me a shout when you need that ladder.

blow69

U can't help it if you find something funny.Especially awkward situations and other peoples misfortune.

Like a few weeks back in the local supermarket, a father and his toddler were(very slowly!) paying for a few items at the customer service checkout.There was a basket on the ground next to them(not in view).So the father got his change and handed his son a weird tub of cereal/muesli cos the kid wanted to look grown up or something.Anyway they both turned to walk and the kid stepped on the edge of the basket.Needless to say he fell on the floor.And the dad then tripped over his son and went flying across the floor.My friend and I COULD NOT stop laughing!The kid was balling.So freaking hilarious!

Zapp Brannigan

I always do it!

One time me and a mate were walking down Grafton St. and spotted this lady tearing down the street carry shopping bags in each hand. She was really flying along and all of a sudden she slipped, went flying into the air, leveled out and fell flat on her back. I nearly bust a nut I was laughing so hard.

Another time, walking along the Quays, I saw some dude getting out of a bus. He tripped as he was walking down the step and went flat on his face at the side of the path. Cue more nutbusting laughter.

Yup, I'm going to hell, but I'm doing so with a smile on my face!

Brian Capture

There's a lot of hypocrisy with this.

Example:
A group of people are standing outside a house talking loudly. It is late at night. The owner of the house empties a bucket of water on top of one of them. They all laugh. The drenched person is 'the fool'.

Substitute boiling chip fat for water and the person gets burned. All of a sudden nobody laughs and the owner of the house is considered to be 'the fool'.

Senna

i think this is more an Irish thing.
was working in London years ago and was heading home on the tube early one morning after a very late night out. i had headphones on and was just walking in the door of the tube and didn't realize it was closing. it hit me on the shoulder and kind of knocked me sideways, the door closed over on my arm and left it dangling outside. so in kind of a panic i tried pressing the door open button but it didn't work and i could see a fella outside asking me if i was ok (do i look ok?:D ) anyway common sense took over and i pulled my arm through (it was really pinning my arm, old northern line trains if anyone knows them)
Anyway i burst out laughing, bent over catching my breath and i turn to look down the train, there's at least 40 people starring at me, not even a smile on one face. So just stopped laughing and took a seat.
If that had of happened in Ireland, as soon as i got my arm in or even started laughing, somebody or everybody would have laughed.