Blogtastic

That just seems strange. Because the laughter produced by ticking armpits is the agonized, painful "No, stop! Help! WOOT! I'll wet my pants!" variety -- a defense mechanism rather than an expression of happiness.

So maybe they are saying that laughter IS more a defense mechanism, used to defuse a potentially hostile situation. Like people who laugh and smile all the time in hopes that other people will like them more? Like the baring-of-teeth submissive gestures seen in baboons and certain other ape species?

Yessss, I think it works. People are afraid of me because I don't smile often enough -- well, that and the way I carry a loaded rocket launcher.

If laughing is a defense mechanism, it's a rather poor one, as it renders the subject completely uncapable of moving or escaping, let alone fiercely attacking the tickling perpetrator.

Also, in movies, when the dumb goon bollockses something up and the mean boss-man looks at him angrily, then the goon usually starts laughing. The boss will go along, .. just before he blows the guy's head off.

If anything, laughing is a way to taunt if you're on the winning side (or the mean boss) and a fatal human design flaw if you're on the bullet-receiving or getting-tickled side.

Just to be on the safe side, I'll laugh no more, .. and I'm getting a gun.