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Original poster

Do you find it funny when people trip over?

477 replies

Dresssos · 14/06/2021 17:46

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?

OP posts:
Jahebejrjr · 14/06/2021 19:57

I suppose being called thick is better than being called a psychopath Grin

SappysCurry · 14/06/2021 19:58

Lots of projection emerging in this thread 🤔

OrangeSharked · 14/06/2021 19:59

Mostly by you @SappysCurry tbf

OrangeSharked · 14/06/2021 20:02

@MaMelon obviously you check the persons okay. Pretty much everyone has already said this. What sort of things do you find funny?

Its more the situation thats funny I guess than the act of falling. When you replay the moment in your head its funny

KeepingTrack · 14/06/2021 20:02

@OrangeSharked

Lol, I'm thick, I'm immoral Grin some falls are just funny

I once went on a walk with my friends, it was really muddy and we kept all falling on our bums. It was just really funny, everytime we stood up back down we went. We were all covered in mud and because we were laughing we had even less balance.

We could have had a shite day by all walking around embarrassed because we were muddy, but instead we had a great day, distracted ourselves from the mud and actually have a lovely memory that we still all laugh about. You sometimes have to laugh to turn a bad situation into a good one.

Theres a massive difference between 5 mid 20s slipping on our bums in some mud, than a man collapsing on a football pitch. And it concerns me more that some posters can't tell the difference between those situations.

How do you know though?

How do you know the person in front of you who is now on the floor has hurt themselves or not?

The assumption that they are ok and only their pride hhas been hurt is putting you at risk of laughing at someone who is injured. It’s not a Youtube video nicely edited for laugh.
Or friends having fun together (your example)
In both cases, you KNOW people are ok.

MaMelon · 14/06/2021 20:02

@speakout I know, that’s what I mean. If somethings funny then my immediate reaction is to laugh - but posters on here who find people falling (but only if they’re not hurt) would have to stop, wait until they’ve checked the other person is ok, then laugh. Postponing your laughter seems odd.

Either that or there’s a fair few lying through their teeth and laughing no matter what.

SappysCurry · 14/06/2021 20:03

@MaMelon

To all of you who find it funny - do you all wait until you know that the person is ok before you laugh? When I find something find I laugh straight away because it’s bloody funny - I can’t imagine waiting a while before I laugh Confused
There appears to be some degree of criteria as to whether it warrants laughing or not… But it’s quite arbitrary 🤔
KeepingTrack · 14/06/2021 20:03

[quote OrangeSharked]@MaMelon obviously you check the persons okay. Pretty much everyone has already said this. What sort of things do you find funny?

Its more the situation thats funny I guess than the act of falling. When you replay the moment in your head its funny[/quote]
Whilst still laughing at them or after you’ve calmed down?

XenoBitch · 14/06/2021 20:05

@MaMelon

To all of you who find it funny - do you all wait until you know that the person is ok before you laugh? When I find something find I laugh straight away because it’s bloody funny - I can’t imagine waiting a while before I laugh Confused
I laugh straight away, because I can't help it.
jsp5642 · 14/06/2021 20:05

When I see someone fall, I often laugh out loud and then think "Oh No! Wrong Reaction!". I'm not sure but I think I mistake it for slapstick on the telly and it takes me a minute to realise that it's a real person having a real accident.

One time I saw two people both cycling on pedestrian-only routes towards a blind corner. They both reached the corner at exactly the same time and ran right into each other, knocking both of them for six. My initial reaction then was a real loud laugh (I was far away), and then I thought "Oh no! Not telly, real life!". It took me a minute to register that it wasn't made up comedy, but real people having a real accident.

OrangeSharked · 14/06/2021 20:06

@KeepingTrack because I ask them? And also it depends on the fall as I've said multiple times, and many many posters have said. And I've given examples, so maybe rtft

If their on the floor completely still and obviously unconscious then they are not okay, so you wouldn't laugh because that's not funny. If they are sitting on their bum chuckling, and they say their okay then I would laugh.

Jahebejrjr · 14/06/2021 20:06

If I see someone fall there is always a moment of shock so it’s always a delayed reaction for me.

OrangeSharked · 14/06/2021 20:07

You check before @KeepingTrack ffs its like banging your head against a brick wall on this thread

SappysCurry · 14/06/2021 20:08

@OrangeSharked

Mostly by you *@SappysCurry* tbf
No I have clearly stated I consider laughing uproariously at someone falling over is wrong and very silly and immature I have not tried to wriggle out of that at all by playing the it’s okay as long as they aren’t old, if it’s my mates and we are pissed, or my friend has a disability excuse I Think you are confused
MaMelon · 14/06/2021 20:10

So some of you laugh even though the person is hurt and others stop, don’t laugh, hold in the laugh, check the person is ok and then laugh.

Yeah, I’m laughing at that Grin

jellyfrizz · 14/06/2021 20:12

@LittleBlackCat22

Yes I do. It’s completely involuntary. I’m a nervous laugher.
I laugh as a nervous reaction too. I think it must be genetic, when I brought my daughter for jabs at about a year old she started madly laughing - there's not much funny about getting a needle in the arm.
Slub · 14/06/2021 20:13

Of course it's funny!
DH fell off the garage roof a couple of weeks ago destroyed the gazebo and left the picnic bench seriously on the wonk.
Fucking hilarious!

Slub · 14/06/2021 20:14

Wish I had it on film.

RozHuntleysStump · 14/06/2021 20:15

I’ve never found it funny. I don’t get it. I actually fell over myself today. Nobody laughed. Presumably because we’re all adults. They just helped me up and were concerned. I was ok.

Glitterblue · 14/06/2021 20:15

I don't find it funny at all, I'm always worried about the person hurting themselves, and feeling sorry for them if they're embarrassed.

One thing that DH and I do laugh at every time it's mentioned, is a few years ago, he had an app on his phone that measured his steps, distance walked, distance run etc. DH doesn't run, ever, but his app told him that he had run for 5 steps that morning - then he realised it had been him tripping and doing a few little running sort of steps as he righted himself 😂 We do laugh about that but he was fine and none of the rest of us witnessed it, he told us!

Jahebejrjr · 14/06/2021 20:17

Having silly, immature moments is a good thing.

JanglingJune · 14/06/2021 20:21

No, it's not funny.

Also, I've been known, on the rare occasion I've tripped over, to over exaggerate injury and lie there in the middle of the street so as to shame those that dared laugh.

If there's no-one around, I just get up and carry on walking though. I'm not that mad.

KeepingTrack · 14/06/2021 20:21

[quote OrangeSharked]@KeepingTrack because I ask them? And also it depends on the fall as I've said multiple times, and many many posters have said. And I've given examples, so maybe rtft

If their on the floor completely still and obviously unconscious then they are not okay, so you wouldn't laugh because that's not funny. If they are sitting on their bum chuckling, and they say their okay then I would laugh.[/quote]
By experience (you’ll have read my experience if you have RTFT), people laugh FIRST.

There isn’t a delay to check if the person is ok. If they are moving. They just laugh.

There isn’t such a thing as checking if the person is well and THEN bursting out laughing.
(Plus they can’t help it…..)

And then maybe they wonder if the person is ok. Or they quickly make an exit because they realise it wasn’t funny, the person is hurt. And they prefer to hide and escape/turn their back instead.

weegiemum · 14/06/2021 20:22

Nope. I'm disabled with a neurological condition that makes me very unsteady on my feel. I walk like a toddler.

Falls have included breaking my ankle in several places and splitting a kneecap. I can't get up unless I have something firm to hold on to and 1-2 people to help.

So no, I don't find anyone falling funny.

KeepingTrack · 14/06/2021 20:22

@Jahebejrjr

Having silly, immature moments is a good thing.
At the expense of someone who is hurt?