Gelotophobia isn't funny

Q:When is laughter NOT the "best medicine," far from it, in fact? Gelotophobes know this one all too well.

A: "Gelotophobia," from the Greek "gelos" for laughter, means the fear of being laughed at and describes people hypersensitive to others' negative moods, says Constance Holden in Science magazine. They mistrust smiling faces and are unable to discriminate between friendly and hostile laughter, i.e., between teasing and ridicule.

This was no laughing matter in the recent school shootings in Germany where the perpetrators reportedly had a horror of being mocked.

About 10 percent of the population has some degree of gelotophobia, note researchers Ilona Papousek and Willibald Ruch in the journal "Personality and Individual Differences." In tests covering 74 countries, Scandinavians ranked among the least gelotophobic; the highest scores in Europe were from the United Kingdom, suggesting, Ruch says, that "maybe a well-developed sense of humor does not help where mockery and ridicule are cultivated too."

Q:What's the surprising condition (four-letter word) that those naughty four-letter words might help you get rid of?

A: Although the news probably won't stop parents from washing kids' mouths out with soap, cussing a blue streak may actually help alleviate p-a-i-n, says Laura Sanders in Science News. "Swear words are unique," explains psychologist Timothy Gay. "They're really the link between the language system and the emotional system."

Inspired by the unsavory language his wife let loose during the throes of labor, psychologist Richard Stephens of Keele University in England experimented with undergraduate students to see if uttering emotion-laden choice words would alter their pain perception. When the students dipped a hand into uncomfortably chilly water, the swearers were able to stand it for longer than controls uttering innocuous words, and afterward recorded feeling less pain. Swearing also increased heart rate, a possible signal of the fight-or-flight response that can increase tolerance for pain.

This goes beyond whether swearing should be frowned upon by polite society, Jay stresses. "When you try to describe swearing in moral terms — is it good or bad — it keeps you from getting at the deeper evolutionary links."

Q:Who was the "king" of modern shaving, well known to many a World War I soldier?

A: Make that King Camp Gillette (1855-1932), American inventor and businessman who in 1901, along with William Nickerson, introduced the disposable blade, some 25 years after the first safety razor, says Jack Challoner in "1001 Inventions That Changed the World." Before the invention of the safety razor, the dangers in shaving were evident in the traditional terminology of the straight "cut-throat" razor, with shaving done by barbers or trusted family members.

Defying those skeptics who believed it impossible, Gillette fashioned an ultra-thin, carbon steel, double-edged blade and eventually struck a deal to provide safety razors and blades to every member of the U.S. Army during World War I.

Later innovations included the electric — or dry — shaver by Jacob Schick (1928), the long-lasting stainless steel blade by the British company Wilkenson Sword (1965), then even safer replaceable blade cartridges (1971) and entirely disposable razors (1971). Currently on the drawing board are eco-friendly recyclable and biodegradable razors.

© Bill Sones and Rich Sones, Ph.D.