Don’t laugh too loud — this theatre of the world is unsafe

We smile, naturally, sometimes on our first day of life. But we have to learn to laugh — that is, we imitate the mouth motions, facial contortions and, above all, the laugh noises of our elders. This is why the way we laugh is part of our breeding. I notice every year at the Christmas season a lot of loud, infuriating and ill-bred laughter in restaurants, from people who have had a few, chiefly from shaven-headed men but also from a growing number of women. Jane Austen deplored loud laughter, believing that a fine-tuned control of the vocal cords was a sure sign of a gentleman. Her Emma was convinced that the young farmer Robert Martin, whom she considered a demeaning suitor for Harriet Smith, would laugh in an unseemly manner. Jane would not have approved of the modern Santa Claus, with his ‘Ho, ho, ho!’ like a rum-soaked buccaneer.