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Giggles Seen as Harmful
by Puddin'
There seems to be a misconception --- or perhaps a folk belief --- among many authors on this and other "transgender" sites that "giggle" means "to laugh in a girlish or womanly manner," and that using the word regularly, perhaps even to excess, makes a story more "feminine," but this isn't quite true.
Giggle - Verb
1. to laugh in a silly, often high-pitched way, esp. with short, repeated gasps and titters, as from juvenile or ill-concealed amusement or nervous embarrassment. (Random House Unabridged Dictionary © Random House, Inc. 2006)
The word is actually somewhat contemptuous, as you can guess from this definition, and in practice is quite often used in a snide and deliberately misogynistic way, implying that the females so described are noticeably less clever, capable, or mature than males are, and may even partake of the disgusting male "bimbo" fantasy.
There are situations in which this condescending and unflattering description might be accurate, but both young girls and women usually chuckle, laugh, snicker, or guffaw like other human beings, albeit usually in a higher vocal register. The word "giggle," like "cackle," "natter," "prattle," "titter," "chatter," and other contemptuous words most usually applied by men to women and/or homosexual men, does not reliably convey this latter meaning and, when almost every female expression of amusement is so depicted, it's more than a little tiresome and offensive.
One hardly ever hears a woman use the word, except as a noun, and possibly a joke, usually expressing (wryly or otherwise) a somewhat negative or hostile view of male attitudes toward women and girls, although this latter point is often a bit too subtle for most men to notice.
In fact, in stories purportedly being written a woman's viewpoint, with a woman as author, its cliched presence usually betrays an underlying masculine viewpoint, which tends in this culture to be misogynistic by default, and so is distinctly "unfeminine," despite its fetishistic presence in some "transgender" writing.
"Laugh" is the basic word, and should always be considered before other options. "Giggle" is not the female default, unless you mean to simultaneously imply stupid or immature behaviour and/or inappropriate emotions.
In the Batman stories, the Joker often "giggles" because he is psychotic, not because he's secretly a woman. Renfield, not generally thought of as transgendered, "giggles" in the Dracula novels and movies for the same reason, but insanity is not usually a reasonable opinion of the customary mental state or behaviour of women and girls.
Cheers,
Puddin'
Comments
Food for thought
While I don't 100 percent agree with you, you have crystalized some thoughts in my head. There are some who use that particular word to an extreme, both in their stories and their online conversation and comments; and it's always made me uncomfortable. Now I know why.
It does have acceptable uses, for instance a group of young teenage girls in a mall who might break into giggles when a cute boy from school walks by. That would fall under the nervous embarassment use, I suppose. And sometimes there is no better word to describe how a girl or group of girls laugh, and it is not a demeaning description.
But there are a few who use it so relentlessly that I cringe whenever I see anything they posted.
KJT
"Being a girl is wonderful and to torture someone into that would be like the exact opposite of what it's like. I don’t know how anyone could act that way." College Girl - poetheather
"Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.”
George Carlin
I agree...
the word does have uses.
>> It does have acceptable uses, for instance a group of young teenage girls in a mall who might break into giggles when a cute boy from school walks by. That would fall under the nervous embarassment use, I suppose. And sometimes there is no better word to describe how a girl or group of girls laugh, and it is not a demeaning description.
When you think about it, though, the viewpoint implied by the whole context, "young teenage girls in a mall," with an associated description of them "giggling," posits a viewer for whom these emotions and behaviours are largely absent.
The girls, however, might see each other as trying to maintain a disdainful manner of aloof indifference, with more or less success. The dynamics of the situation, and the ineffective mechanisms through which they try to cope with a stressful and sexually-charged situation, only become clear with maturity and experience.
If one were to pick apart their conversation in detail, from their own viewpoint, it would probably look more like:
"Ohmygod! It's Paul! Don't look!" Laura focused carefully on her Coke.
"Where?" Tammy turned around and stared, causing the other girls to roll their eyes and laugh nervously.
"Tammy! Stop *looking* at him! Jennifer's not with him! I wonder if they're breaking up!?" Laura tried to catch Tammy's attention without making a scene, but Tammy was still trying to see where Paul was standing and hadn't put her glasses on yet.
...
One could go on, but young women, and young men for that matter, rarely see themselves as quite so immature as adults see them. One's kindergarten offspring don't see the wearing of silly paper hats as silly at all, for the most part, and are often quite pleased with themselves whilst wearing such fine array. People who adore Ruch Limbaugh don't usually understand that they may be intellectually-challenged, despite being inordinately proud of the term "dittoheads," having latterly upgraded mere "Dittos" to "Megadittos, Rush."
One can *train* girls to think of themselves as silly, or even to behave so at times, but we are actually pretty clever, and we eventually figure out the world in far greater depth and detail than most men and boys are willing to give us credit for and in many cases fail to fully grasp even when diagrams and footnotes are provided.
A group of boys clowning around at the same mall, when the most beautiful girl in school strolls in, would rarely be described as "giggling," although their nervous laughter and embarrassed antics may share many similarities with that of the girls. Indeed, describing a boy as "giggling" would usually be seen, by men at least, as a covert accusation of social deviance.
Cheers,
Puddin'
---------------
Emiliana Torrini - The Boy Who Giggled So Sweet
http://tinyurl.com/6p37gh
http://www.last.fm/music/Emiliana+Torrini/+videos/+1-d_XxUcR...
If one looks at the lyrics to this song, which quite properly uses the word "giggle," one strongly suspects that the boy was an infant and is now dead. It's a masterful juxtaposition of ideas.
-
Cheers,
Puddin'
A tender heart is an asset to an editor: it helps us be ruthless in a tactful way.
--- The Chicago Manual of Style
Would and have
PM sent
"Being a girl is wonderful and to torture someone into that would be like the exact opposite of what it's like. I don’t know how anyone could act that way." College Girl - poetheather
"Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.”
George Carlin
I don't agree completely
Romance novels, generally written by women, use giggle a different way. In a romance novel, a giggle is usually an unexpected laugh with an element of embarrassment. That's the way I use the word. It's a more precise word than laugh and it conveys more meaning with more impact than laugh plus a modifier.
English has lots of useful synonyms for laugh. These are my definitions (for the moment) of some of them, a non-exhaustive list:
If characters just laugh, they just laugh. But if they chuckle, chortle, snort, snicker, snigger, heehaw, guffaw, titter or giggle, you know more about them and the situation. All English words for laughter, including laugh, that I can think of are echoic; they sound like what they mean. Use the right one when you want the reader to hear the laughter. Use laugh when the echoic nature of the others would get in the way.
Example:
That sentence is so chilling as is, you don't need an echo pulling the reader's mind away from the fact unless you need the specific flavor of that sound. Put the other words above (some of them will not fit) into the place of laugh and see how they change the emotion of the sentence. Maybe you would want one of them. Chortle, giggle and titter would imply insanity by their inappropriateness, chuckle and snort a sort of dry amusement that could be a coldness of spirit. Snicker, and especially snigger, would imply guilt or a guilty awareness. Guffaw and heehaw, having rather awkward past tenses in verb form, don't really work -- they're used mostly as nouns.
A giggle is the sound a child makes when tickled. If it's inappropriate for your character to sound like that, use a different word. But if it is the most appropriate word, use giggle.
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
Giggle...
>> It's a more precise word than laugh and it conveys more meaning with more impact than laugh plus a modifier.
Not really. It's terminally ambiguous, since there's a very clear pejorative connotation in spite of a few positive contexts. Like Humpty Dumpty, one can imagine that words mean what one chooses them to mean, but even Alice has trouble agreeing, and she's just a child.
This isn't to say that words can't be used in creative and seemingly contradictory ways:
>>>> John betrayed his friends.
Has a very clear negative aura unless we carefully make the reader aware that John's friends are vile kidnappers who plan to abduct and murder a child, and John's "betrayal" is actually conformance to a higher morality, which demands that he bring their murderous plan to the attention of the authorities. In that case, the word "betrayal" might be perfectly proper in order to capture John's anguish over his decision to "grass" his mates to the "coppers," but not without work.
Unless "giggle" is given the same care in setting up the context, in which case one might as well describe that context rather than to rely upon such a sloppy word, it's inherently fraught.
Cheers,
Puddin'
------------------
So much alarmed that she is quite alarming,
All Giggle, Blush, half Pertness, and half Pout.
--- Lord Byron
Giggle House, Noun Phrase - A lunatic asylum.
--- Australian slang
From laughter and tears the descent is easy
to sniveling and giggles.
--- Joseph Conrad
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Cheers,
Puddin'
A tender heart is an asset to an editor: it helps us be ruthless in a tactful way.
--- The Chicago Manual of Style
No, I disagree strongly here
Banning a word for being meaningless without context is meaningless itself; all words are meaningless without context.
I'll use all the language I can and I'll use it as precisely as my skill allows.
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
I agree
It's just that other words for laughing are harder to use. I've strugged with synonyms for "laugh" and they all seem forced. I wish there was a word as NEUTRAL as "laugh".
Kaleigh
Invisible words
Laugh, like said, conveys information while being nearly invisible. In this Puddintane is certainly correct. Use it, it's hard to overuse. Smile and grin, while not synonyms can be used similarly and are similarly nearly invisible.
Plain words are what make the structure of a story stand out, fancier words are used where precision is necessary or where elaboration is desired. It's hard to make a mistake with said, asked, laughed, smiled or cried (meaning tears, not shouting). Sense words like saw, felt, heard, touched and simple action words like walked, ran, climbed, jumped are also nearly invisible.
Words like seemed, appeared, and looked are more dangerous; they don't mean much and what they do mean is frequently ambiguous -- use with care. This is a problem of mine, I tend to overuse such words.
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
I have my qualms on this at times ... but ... comeon
Giggle is soooo cute! There really are, like people who hate giggle? Like barf out, gag me with a spoon!
I agree it can be overused. I fear sometimes I overuse it but I use it in situations involving teens and I often put a twist on *convention* by the chief giggler being my physically and emotionally 17-year-old, chronologically and mentally 49 year old Joanie in Timeout. The giggling is a running gag of sorts in that she still surprises herself at how much a teenaged girl she has become. I use it in a lighthearted way but if I had a better alternative I would use that.
Erin is right, context is EVERYTHING. Adolph Hitler is widely acknowledged as having lead one of the most depraved political regimes in history but in the right situation, the name and man are a caricature and funny. Mel Brooks has said on a number of occasions he deliberately lampooned Nazis and Hitler as a way to marginalize them and their message. He was with US troops that liberated several death camps at the end of WWII and was profoundly shocked by it. He said in essence the best way to destroy/counter the beliefs and propaganda of someone is to make a laughing-stock of them.
John in Wauwatosa
John in Wauwatosa
A good point
You're right, giggle is usually not a verb to use for adult women. They laugh, cackle, snicker etc. etc. Giggle is behavior for a younger age, but an adult woman may let go a giggle if an action caused her to remember things from a younger age that made her laugh in that fashion.
For Part 6 of my DHCF story, I described a scene where my main character took her first ride on a horse.
After climbing two steps and being provided a gentle boost from Chuck, Hiromi was seated on the mare known as Dolly. Hiromi began to laugh hysterically almost from the moment her butt landed in the saddle.
“Having a good time?†Chuck asked.
“Yes,†Hiromi said as she continued to laugh uncontrollably.
The inspiration for that scene is the following photo.
This was taken when the wife and I were visiting Poland in 2000. It was her first time to ride a pony and Leonita was laughing her head off at having such a good time. What the photo doesn't tell is that a marching band was going by that day at the same time I took that photo in Gdansk.
I've almost certainly used giggle when I shouldn't have. My female characters are never bimbos. This writer is always open to advice, and I'll use giggle even less from now on.
"Unlike the Americans we prefer not to get our bad news from CNN."- M, fictional head of MI6 in the James Bond films.
Daniel, author of maid, whore, bimbo, and sissy free TG fiction since 2000
What the world needs is more geniuses with humility; there are so few of us left.- Oscar Levant
Giggles in TG literature
I believe both definitions of giggle above work. In fact, I would say they are necessary within our chosen genre.
An often seen line is something like 'I shocked myself by giggling along with the girls.' I hate to say this, but as most characters seen on this site start out as male, certain aspects we see either through first or limited third person views are going to be a bit sexist, especially early on in the 'transformation' when even the most effeminate of characters are still a bit boyish.
Melanie
NOOO!!!
I know a ton of women girls, and boys who like giggling, giggling RULES! Nothings wrong with taking it, I own it and don't care ^^ Don't take away my giggling from me, I know plenty of women that use that term and other kids too ^^ And I don't mean guys either ^^
I know who I am, I am me, and I like me ^^
Transgender, Gamer, Little, Princess, Therian and proud :D
I agree- strongly
The term "giggle" is a wonderfully descriptive word of a type of laughter that is spontaneous, a bit self-concious, and indicative of sharing a non-verbalized communication. Frankly, although I heartily agree that it frequently is overused, it still is a very comunicative word. I strongly suspect that the author of the original quoted definition is/was subject to misogynist tendancies (if male, or just plain bitter if female). After "raising" three daughters, a wife, two mothers and a step-mother, I can state from experience that women of all ages giggle. So do men and boys. I frequently giggle reading some of the stories on this site. It is the only form of the various descriptive derivatives of laughter that properly describes what I hear.
Old Fox
Take Back The Giggle
If we believe that giggling represents something weak and feeble minded then to depict
a character giggling would be condescending and demeaning. But I don't accept that
definition of giggling. Whoever thinks that obviously doesn't giggle.
Giggling is an uncomplicated form of laughter, but it does not follow that a giggler
is an inferior being. Rather it is a pure, spontaneous and extremely pleasurable act,
a perhaps somewhat inwardly directed form of laughter, that rarely contains cruelty
or aggression. I would say it's the ONUS on giggling that speaks of sexism.
Am I arguing with the authority of the dictionary? Absolutely, when it's
the same book that did things like confidently define homosexuality
as "a form of perversion" until very recently...
But like any word giggle shouldn't be overused, or used carelessly.
~~~hugs, Laika
What borders on stupidity?
Canada and Mexico.
.
To giggle or not to giggle
I know some characters in my stories have giggled. For me, giggling is fun. Of course, I don't do it all the time, and I try to reflect that in my stories. I hope I'll always have reasons to giggle, and if my characters find reasons to giggle as well, I sure ain't gonna try stopping them. A world without giggles doesn't sound very fun, and I'd rather not yank that from my stories if at all possible.
Are we meant to take laughing seriously?
Or is this just a giggle?
Angharad 8)
Angharad
Well, that was educational
As a writer of not very long standing, I wouldn't presume to pontificate on the rightness or wrongness of the word 'giggle' in any given situation.
I do, however, very much appreciate having read everyone's opinions on this blog; they have, as usual, taught me that it's never too late to learn.
I shall now review my stories that are in course of being written and see if I consider that the word is still appropriate.
Thank you all again.
Susie