Laugh-ology mein first, baki sab mein fail

In the last few days, I had been observing how people express amusement over something through words. I even observed my own replies to commentators when they write something funny. I realised that I don't use the same words to denote laughter every time. I guess we laugh in different ways, depending on the context and the person. So I made the following list - my laughing 'stock' - in a state of blissful joblessness. It does not include descriptions of laughter such as 'LOL' and 'ROFL', but the actual laughter itself.

Hahaha!
This is the regular one, used by almost everyone, including me.

Muahahahaha!
This is possibly the best portrayal of evil laughter. I believe I saw it first in an email that my friend Arch had sent me, and I kinda imagine Ramanand Sagar's Ravan laughing like that with his head thrown back, and his hands on his hips. However, Vikram and World Gal have been fighting over ownership rights for some time now. We will let you know once a consensus is reached.

Khi khi khi
Of course, the one and only Virdi came up with this rather silly laughter, which has now become something that apparently guys are not ashamed to use anymore. And oh, ROS and Jane quickly caught on and have been using this quite regularly.

Bwahahahaha!
Saw this in an email sent by my friend Surreal Reality years and years ago. It struck me as weird and strange and very very appealing. But I still claim rights to the other form of it.

Hooo haaa!
My dear friend Hitler's Soul used it first when he got gold on my Kindies post. Very unique laughter methinks. I have never seen it since.

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
My friend Mavj is famous for her neverending 'Hahahas' in her emails. The longer they go on for, the longer they make me laugh, even if what she'd been laughing at wasn't so funny.

Heh!
This was something a Singaporean friend of mine in uni days used to write. At first I thought he was being sarcastic. Or as if the person started laughing and choked midway. I only found out years later, when my colleague Bananapen started using it in her emails, that it's also a way of expressing amusement.

Kekeke!
I first saw this in an email from a colleague. I emailed her back to ask if she'd just abused me in mandarin. I have still not figured out how one can laugh like that.

Har har har!
This is also something I encountered only in Singapore. I still can't seem to fit it into a category, or figure out how it is different from 'Hahaha'. The only 'har har' I knew was in 'Har har Mahadev'.

Hehehehehe!
I used to associate this with lecherous villains in Bollywood movies of the late 70s, because this particular laughter used to emanate whenever they had cornered the hapless heroine. Also something millionaires in the same movies used to say to their guests while accepting presents at a party. "Hehehe, iski kya zaroorat thi, Guptaji?" But lately, it's been associated with any kinda slightly embarrassed laughter.

Ha ha ha!
A friend of mine told me he will settle for nothing less than Angelina Jolie and I said, "To be close to her, you either have to be a Cambodian orphan or Brad Pitt. Which one are you?" His reply was "Ha ha ha!" Now I'd never seen this kind of spaced-out laughter before. I could almost see his tears filling up the spaces between the 'Ha's. Something like what Aamir did in Andaaz Apna Apna in the restaurant when he found out the truth about the Raveena/Kareena mystery.

Ahahahahahahaha!
I first saw this when I was talking to my cousin Sid on yahoo. I figured he was laughing so hard that he pressed 'A' before pressing 'H'. I encounter it now and then when Chapaat comment on my blog. Every time I see it, it reminds me of someone singing some shashtriya sangeet, and the guru saying "Ahahaha, kya sur hai, kya aawaaz hai."

Hiak hiak!
An editor in my team writes this in her emails. And it's funnier because I can actually imagine her laughing like that! A variation would be 'hyuk hyuk' which I have seen around too.

So tell me, what's your laughter like?