Frankly, this is hooey
You gotta laugh!
Random Conversations is a newsletter for those who believe in the power of a positive perspective and the joy it brings. It champions intentionally honoring ways of being and promotes the belief that we can change our world, one interaction at a time. Choose the change wisely.
Reading a post by my friend Jamie Wallace last week, I surprised myself by bursting out with an outrageously loud laugh – a laugh that kept coming in waves all the rest of the day. I’m still smiling.
In her post, Jamie shared her discovery of a 1942 book by Louise Dickinson Rich, We Took to the Woods. The setting is the Maine woods during the time Rich lived there. The excerpts that fill Jamie’s post open a window into a very different time, with very different language.
In one of those excerpts, Rich pushed back on a commonly held belief she did not agree with and responded, “Frankly, this is hooey.” And that is what did me in.
And then it got me thinking about my family. What if my response to my father’s tirades had been to proclaim it hooey?! My guess is that it might have disarmed him and at least bought me some time to escape. It would be even better if it made him laugh.
Words and More Words
I started to wonder what other magical words are out there that describe utter nonsense and turned to an online Thesaurus. Giggles immediately kicked in.
Twaddle, bunkum, codswallop, flapdoodle, tommyrot, blatherskite, fiddle-faddle, piffle, taradiddle, nerts, and many more.
Wouldn’t it be fun to tell a deserving someone that what they just said was absolute twaddle or flapdoodle?! Fortunately, I am rarely in those situations anymore, but I will come armed if I know I’m heading into one.
Laughter and More Laughter
While fully enjoying my exploration of all things hooey, I got to thinking about how beautiful and powerful laughter is. I think we may take it for granted, and that will not do.
In the spirit of full disclosure, I am a laugher. I laugh a laugh filled with joy, and it appears to please people when they hear it – and then they cannot help but start laughing. It seems to be infectious – in only the best of ways.
I cannot tell you how many times over decades people have told me how much they love my laugh. I wish I could hear it myself – but I do feel it.
A fun laugh story took place when I was laughing with friends in a Connecticut restaurant. And then I heard a voice call out from the opposite corner of the very large room, “Cathy?!” If my laugh is what I am known for, I can live with that!
And another: a friend once said he wanted to program his computer to boot up to the sound of my laugh so he could start his day joining me in a laugh. I like that thought even though we never did make that happen.
When I laugh, everyone around me seems to laugh along with me. And that is simply joyous!
Laughing At | Laughing With
I had a very different relationship with laughter growing up. I was overweight with curly dark hair in a thin, straight-haired blonde world. There was a gap between my two front teeth, which was eventually closed by my wisdom teeth. And, for a horrendously long year, orthopedic shoes were added to the miserable mix.
It’s not a leap to guess that I was laughed at.
Laughter was also a tool of my family who laughed at me under the guise of “just kidding.” It was demeaning. Surely they knew that, but maybe not.
In better days of my marriage, my now-ex would make fun of something I did or said and I would tell him to stop laughing at me. He’d laugh some more and say he wasn’t laughing at me. And finally, I would say,
“Well, I’m not laughing so you are not laughing with me!”
I’m not sure why, but that would end it. Maybe it gave us something to laugh together about.
A Reflection
Charlie Chaplin is quoted as saying,
“A day without laughter is a day wasted.”
I am guilty of having wasted many days, but I question if I’ve ever had a day without laughter. Even in the most trying of times, there is something I see or hear or read that prompts me to laugh. My spirit needs it, and I cannot help but comply. And that’s not hooey – or fiddle-faddle.
A Question
What makes you laugh? I’d welcome hearing your thoughts in the comments.
I love this post, Cathy! Yes, your laugh is a ringtone waiting to happen. 🥰
You have such a delightful laugh, Cathy, but what I find even more delightful about it is the ease with which it comes. That's such a gift, and it does bring a lightness to any room. My laugh has always been big, loud, and raucous. Many people in my life have found it offputting - too much, too big, too attention grabbing - but one of the first things my now husband said to me was "I love how big you laugh." I think that probably did me in, because it meant he saw the joy behind it, not the potential embarrassment of it. Laughter is such an avenue for joy. Hooey be damned!