4 ms·
This was precisely my assumption. I was surprised by the etymology.
by happytoexplain 7y ago
This was precisely my assumption. I was surprised by the etymology.
- orpheline 7y agoI'm both surprised and skeptical. It makes me wonder whether there's a larger story, now lost... Perhaps the archetypal occurrence was someone famously humorless, and their outburst was forever burned into the minds of those present. Or perhaps the first instance was on the estate of a noble who thought it funny and insisted everyone else find it funny, too...
- ad404b8a372f2b9 7y agoYou might know this already given your username, but for the sake of the thread I feel I should mention "Ha ha" is a common expression in french when discovering something, and not exclusive to this feature (which I felt wasn't made clear in the article). It has a specific intonation pattern and doesn't sound much like laughing, so to me the etymology isn't all that surprising.