This was nothing like your interaction though. Asking why doesn’t mean they don’t acknowledge the other person doing it for fun, it’s just that they are curious if there’s a reason.
-Haha, why?
+Found it cool and felt like it.
-That’s cool, I used to play X when I was younger but…
It can also just be a conversation starter, nothing wrong with asking why.
I think the face in the comic convey quite well that “haha why” was not a “wow, I’m interested” but “the fuck you doing, bro?”. Especially since it’s literally prefixed with “what the hell are you doing?”.
Fun thing about that video: laughter is a social signal.
Most people when they watch or read funny things alone will not laugh nearly as much (if at all) as when they see the same thing in a social setting, even if they are just as amused by it.
Because laughter is a signal that we get the joke (In a social setting where the laughter reaction is appropriate).
That’s why there are more nuanced labels, like “this caused a sharp exhalation through my nose” or “I chuckled in public and people are looking at me”. And we mostly all recognize the significance of that, because it’s rare we bust a gut solo in inappropriate settings, too.
But you can’t say “that’s really amusing” or similar, even when it is, because that’s hurtful to people as it’s phrasing often used derisively. So we pretend to have extreme reactions for hyperbolic reasons, I guess, and this is what happens.
Humans are really fascinating context dependent entities.
This was nothing like your interaction though. Asking why doesn’t mean they don’t acknowledge the other person doing it for fun, it’s just that they are curious if there’s a reason.
-Haha, why?
+Found it cool and felt like it.
-That’s cool, I used to play X when I was younger but…
It can also just be a conversation starter, nothing wrong with asking why.
Some people read “why?” as incredulity rather than curiosity.
You don’t think there’s a difference between “Why the fuck would you do that, you nincompoop?” and “Haha, why”?
I do, which is why I said that your example is not like the one of the comic.
I think the face in the comic convey quite well that “haha why” was not a “wow, I’m interested” but “the fuck you doing, bro?”. Especially since it’s literally prefixed with “what the hell are you doing?”.
Just because I type LOL doesn’t mean I’m LOL
Fun thing about that video: laughter is a social signal.
Most people when they watch or read funny things alone will not laugh nearly as much (if at all) as when they see the same thing in a social setting, even if they are just as amused by it.
Because laughter is a signal that we get the joke (In a social setting where the laughter reaction is appropriate).
That’s why there are more nuanced labels, like “this caused a sharp exhalation through my nose” or “I chuckled in public and people are looking at me”. And we mostly all recognize the significance of that, because it’s rare we bust a gut solo in inappropriate settings, too.
But you can’t say “that’s really amusing” or similar, even when it is, because that’s hurtful to people as it’s phrasing often used derisively. So we pretend to have extreme reactions for hyperbolic reasons, I guess, and this is what happens.
Humans are really fascinating context dependent entities.