Do you find it funny when people trip over?

[Dresssos]

I have friends that are, on the whole, generally polite. We are in our 30s. When it comes to a member of our group tripping over though, that all goes to shit and everyone thinks it's bloody hilarious! I remember being at school and if anyone tripped over, they would always be greeted by a "wheeyyyy" and a clap. I genuinely have never found it funny, but wondered what other people think?

99% would not laugh at someone falling and being distressed. Some may involuntarily

Do you think it’s as high as 99% who wouldn’t laugh immediately? I don’t - you only need to look at the posts on here on hear the stories of people who have been laughed at as soon as they went down (or worse). I’d say there are a fairly large number of people whose first reaction is to laugh - or even worse, laugh and film. If you find falls funny then most people will laugh straight away - laughter is usually an involuntary reaction to a situation you find funny. There usually isn’t a period of analysis before you laugh.

Im so clumsy and always tripping up a paving slab or my own feet. Always wish i had a friend there to laugh with me and not just random strangers thinking idiot. I do laugh when it happens to friends though.

I posted upthread about a man who ‘fell’ in a station. Some people (more than I would have expected) laughed as soon as he went down because falling is obviously like slapstick to them - the period of analysis came later when they realised that actually he’d collapsed (once those of us who don’t find it funny and went over to him called for an ambulance and started doing first aid). It was horrible to watch.

@MaMelon

99% would not laugh at someone falling and being distressed. Some may involuntarily

Do you think it’s as high as 99% who wouldn’t laugh immediately? I don’t - you only need to look at the posts on here on hear the stories of people who have been laughed at as soon as they went down (or worse). I’d say there are a fairly large number of people whose first reaction is to laugh - or even worse, laugh and film. If you find falls funny then most people will laugh straight away - laughter is usually an involuntary reaction to a situation you find funny. There usually isn’t a period of analysis before you laugh.

I am not assuming anything about general population based on mumsnet

I mentioned upthread that I don't normally laugh when someone trips/falls, but I do laugh at You've Been Framed - I don't know, maybe because I feel I've been given permission. And it's on a screen, so not up close and personal. Sometimes, though, rather than laughing, I think 'Oof, that must have really hurt'. I mean, there's no way some of those people didn't end up at A&E.

Mumsnet or the general population - I don’t agree that 99% wouldn’t laugh straightaway.

Laughing as an involuntary reaction is completely different to continuing to laugh after you realise someone has hurt themselves or fallen ill and collapsed.

And people send videos in to you've been framed because they know it's funny and know people will laugh (also for the money) so I don't see how it's a problem to laugh at that.

But if your first involuntary reaction to someone falling or worse is to laugh rather than think ‘jeez, that must hurt, I hope they’re ok, wonder if I can do anything to help’ then that’s what many of us can’t understand.

I’d like to think that no-one on YBF was injured or and that they gave their permission to be featured.

@Sparklfairy

Strangers, no. Friends and family are fair game though

Funnily this is me too. I don't laugh at strangers because I feel sorry for them, it's embarrassing. But friends or family yes it's funny (providing they aren't hurt).

A friend of mine fell over in quite a funny way about 10 years ago now and we still laugh about it to this day.

Involuntary means it not a conscious choice and it doesn't stop people from thinking 'I hope there okay'.
As many posters have said it can be easy to tell the difference in a situation, if someone falls and smacks there head I wouldn't laugh but if someone slips on there arse on a bit of ice then yeah I would probably snort a laugh.

My brother ended up on YBF and was just annoyed someone else got the money for his fall but we all had a great laugh.

Involuntary means it not a conscious choice

Yes, that’s the general definition of involuntary. You don’t know if someone is ok when they fall though (see my post about the man falling at the station) - you don’t know that until they get up, and even then they could be injured or hurt but too humiliated to admit it if people are standing laughing at them.

I’m obviously talking about strangers or people you don’t know very well here. If you and your family and friends laugh at each other falling over regardless then that’s different.

So if someone is hurt you apologies for laughing and help them, as I said I'm a previous post continuing to laugh when you realise someone is hurt or ill is different.

Not every fall results in broken bones and injuries, everyone falls at some point and people would probably be better off realising it's not something worth being humiliated/mortified/ embarrassed about.

We all react differently, I don't understand people that cry at fiction movies but I don't judge or question them about it.

If you find falls funny then most people will laugh straight away - laughter is usually an involuntary reaction to a situation you find funny. There usually isn’t a period of analysis before you laugh

I don’t think that’s true.

As the person falls, you can clearly see if they elderly, or very young, and I would say that’s the point of analysis.

And that goes for the person’s reaction afterwards. If they find it funny, others tend to too.

Nervous laughter is different.

As the person falls, you can clearly see if they elderly, or very young, and I would say that’s the point of analysis

From what some people have said on here that distinction doesn’t hold. From my experience of seeing a middle aged man fall there were people (and not just 1 or 2) whose immediate reaction was to laugh. Why??

I’m quite taken aback by this thread - the thought that there’s people whose immediate reaction would stand and laugh at my teenage and twenty something children or my middle aged DH (or me) falling before they’ve established they’re OK is quite sad.

It’s a horrible thing to laugh at. My father had MS and often toppled over and people would actually find that ‘hilarious’ ffs! I often want to cry as everyone laughs at me if I trip and feel I have to laugh along whereas I’m about to burst into tears.

Haven’t rtft so this may have been mentioned. But I laugh through shock. When an ex crashed the car (luckily not serious) l was in the passenger seat and started laughing. I was actually really scared but it was the shock.

So when someone falls over, I’m actually concerned but laugh anyway. I genuinely can’t help it. I also laugh when I fall over! Fell off a ladder once and ended up in hospital yet still laughed when it happened.

My DC used to get upset with me over it but learnt a long time ago that I’m not laughing because I find it funny. They still don’t “like” it but understand that I can’t help it. I actually don’t like those shows full of people falling over, because they’re are not funny. I don’t laugh to see a stranger fall.

@MaMelon

As the person falls, you can clearly see if they elderly, or very young, and I would say that’s the point of analysis

From what some people have said on here that distinction doesn’t hold. From my experience of seeing a middle aged man fall there were people (and not just 1 or 2) whose immediate reaction was to laugh. Why??

I’m quite taken aback by this thread - the thought that there’s people whose immediate reaction would stand and laugh at my teenage and twenty something children or my middle aged DH (or me) falling before they’ve established they’re OK is quite sad.

That’s a really interesting question, and there’s lot of interesting information about it online. It has been studied as it is such a common response.

It doesn’t mean the person laughing is without empathy. It is often an instinctive response triggered by incongruous humour or anxiety. Laughter also increases our pain threshold, which might explain why some people (including me) automatically laugh when they fall.

I understand that makes you feel sad, but, for the most part, it is not something people can control. It is not intended to humiliate.

@BashfulClam

It’s a horrible thing to laugh at. My father had MS and often toppled over and people would actually find that ‘hilarious’ ffs! I often want to cry as everyone laughs at me if I trip and feel I have to laugh along whereas I’m about to burst into tears.

I agree. So many people so devoid if empathy. I just don't find watching people fall over funny in the slightest, even if it is meant to be part of a gag.

I understand that makes you feel sad, but, for the most part, it is not something people can control. It is not intended to humiliate.

This is the interesting one for me - is the intent or the impact more important?

And knowing that it can cause humiliation - the act of being laughed at is something some people find humiliating - do people try to control it? Or is it just in the box of ‘I can’t help it, and I don’t mean to hurt you, so you shouldn’t take it that way.’

I thought the comparison with crying at a fictional movie was an interesting false equivalence - if I felt my crying at a sad film was having a negative impact on someone else I’d try to control it even if was an involuntary response (and do eg around my kids, but largely my crying at a film doesn’t cause someone else upset.)

@JassyRadlett

I understand that makes you feel sad, but, for the most part, it is not something people can control. It is not intended to humiliate.

This is the interesting one for me - is the intent or the impact more important?

And knowing that it can cause humiliation - the act of being laughed at is something some people find humiliating - do people try to control it? Or is it just in the box of ‘I can’t help it, and I don’t mean to hurt you, so you shouldn’t take it that way.’

I thought the comparison with crying at a fictional movie was an interesting false equivalence - if I felt my crying at a sad film was having a negative impact on someone else I’d try to control it even if was an involuntary response (and do eg around my kids, but largely my crying at a film doesn’t cause someone else upset.)

I was late for work and running up the station stairs when I tripped and fell. No one laughed. I found that more humiliating. I would rather people would have laughed. I mean, I laughed. I laughed as I dragged my scuffed knee all the way to the office.

I don’t laugh instinctively. But I am deathly afraid of spiders. I can’t control my reaction to one. It’s incredibly embarrassing for me. But my brain takes over. I think that might be similar to someone that laughs in the situations described. It’s instinct that’s the driver.

@JassyRadlett

I understand that makes you feel sad, but, for the most part, it is not something people can control. It is not intended to humiliate.

This is the interesting one for me - is the intent or the impact more important?

And knowing that it can cause humiliation - the act of being laughed at is something some people find humiliating - do people try to control it? Or is it just in the box of ‘I can’t help it, and I don’t mean to hurt you, so you shouldn’t take it that way.’

I thought the comparison with crying at a fictional movie was an interesting false equivalence - if I felt my crying at a sad film was having a negative impact on someone else I’d try to control it even if was an involuntary response (and do eg around my kids, but largely my crying at a film doesn’t cause someone else upset.)

My point about the movie is that's your reaction but it's not everybody's, I can't get upset about a fictional character dying but we're all different in our reactions.

The people saying they laugh aren't saying they point and laugh in hysterics with the intention of humiliating someone, I haven't saw anyone do that since I was at school, it's a snort or a chuckle and it doesn't mean they don't care.

You've been framed wasn't' on air for 30 years because a small minority of people found it funny.

I understand that makes you feel sad, but, for the most part, it is not something people can control. It is not intended to humiliate

Irrespective of what the intention is laughter is the primary way of demonstrating what we find funny.

Man collapsing in the station = ha ha, look at him, he’s fallen!!!

BashfulClams dad falling with MS = ha ha, look at him, he’s fallen!!!

My FIL with Parkinson’s falling = ha ha etc!!!

I genuinely cannot understand why anyone would find that funny - unless there’s some sort of empathy gene missing. Too much watching SM and TV perhaps so people become disassociated from the reality of falls and shrug ‘ it’s funny, I can’t help it’?

@MaMelon

I understand that makes you feel sad, but, for the most part, it is not something people can control. It is not intended to humiliate

Irrespective of what the intention is laughter is the primary way of demonstrating what we find funny.

Man collapsing in the station = ha ha, look at him, he’s fallen!!!

BashfulClams dad falling with MS = ha ha, look at him, he’s fallen!!!

My FIL with Parkinson’s falling = ha ha etc!!!

I genuinely cannot understand why anyone would find that funny - unless there’s some sort of empathy gene missing. Too much watching SM and TV perhaps so people become disassociated from the reality of falls and shrug ‘ it’s funny, I can’t help it’?

Why are you assuming people are laughing because they find it funny.

Many people laugh as an instinctive response to the anxiety of the situation and not knowing what to do.

Oh you'd love me OP, I fall over quite frequently. I don't think it's just absent mindedness rather than anything else.

A 19 year old uni student picked me up in the street few weeks ago as I fell and cracked my head, not unconscious, but he insisted on walking me home, my bags were too heavy then I tripped on the pavement. At weekend I was trying to get away from a pervert then fell and hit my nose. I didn't know until my friend said that I had blood on my face.

Cats are really funny as when they jump up, if they don't quite manage it and look like 'no no no it's not me' quite indignantly they try to recover their dignity.

I'll let you follow me around with a camcorder if you want, it would give you hours of entertainment

Twice I've fallen/tripped over recently and both times were v v embarrassing, 1st trip DH was with me and tried to help me up but I had fallen on my right hand side and was winded but holding my head in my hands so he thought I was really hurt, I wasn't, just trying to avoid looking at the onlookers
I was like "I'm alright down here thanks" then one of the street cleaners who saw it happen pointed out that I had tripped over a broken paving stone (it was very subtle) and that he had already reported it to the council as broken 3 times in a month and nothing was done about it and encouraged me to put a complaint in

I did that and within a week the stone was fixed and my complaint was taken on board, I didn't get any compensation as the level of the broken stone did not reach their criteria of how broken the stone was

I did point out to them what about if that had been an elderly or vulnerable person and they broke a bone and they said they can't change their rules on that 🤷‍♀️