Surely You’re Being Gelastic
Gelastic: Provoking Laughter
Comedians, for example, are gelastic (hopefully).
Just up the page from the word gelatification, which of course describes the act of turning something into gelatin, is the word gelastic. The dictionary deems today’s word rare — which is too bad, given the saddening times we’re living in.
Gelastic has Greek origins, I’ve read. The word laughter in Greek is γέλιο, which is gélio written in our alphabet. (Sounds a bit like “yellow” when you pronounce it in Greek.) So, the resemblance is clear.
Like every other word I’ll cover here, my idiotic browser doesn’t know it:
If you’re laughing, you’re enjoying a gelastic moment. The muscles used during laughing could be described as gelastic. If you trip and fall in front of a group of demented people who find that kind of thing humorous, you’re being gelastic from their POV (just as much as if you’d told a joke yourself).
Unfortunately, for some, there’s a medical term here, as well. Apparently, a fairly uncommon type of epileptic fit is known as a gelastic seizure, which actually involves a prolonged bout of involuntary laughter or crying. (The article linked to describes a related condition known as gelastic syncope, in which one can faint after a laughing spell:
