Gregarious Laughter

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Eric George calling from Burlington, Vermont.

Hello, Eric. Welcome.

What’s up? What can we help with?

So right now I have three dictionaries open on my desk, all to the three words they start on are greenbacker, gratify, and greet.

And the word I’m trying to find out about is gregarious.

Gregarious.

Yes. And so this came up because I was on the phone with my partner and my family was in the background and having a good time.

And everyone was laughing, and she said, yes, I can hear the gregarious laughter.

And for some reason, it didn’t sit right.

And I realized that I’d only ever heard gregarious used to describe a person or a type of way of being for an organism, like a gregarious walk of animals, that kind of thing.

But I’d never heard it used in that way before.

And we started talking about it, and we realized that we disagreed about the word gregarious.

And some bets were made, and here I am on the phone with you.

Bets were made.

You made bets.

What’s on the line?

Maple creamies.

You know, Martha, you know.

So my dog.

Wait, your dog?

What?

You bet an animal?

It’s a long-running joke.

Okay.

He’s a good yes.

I would never part with him and will probably end up taking care of him together at some point anyway.

Okay.

Might as well just put him up.

He doesn’t know.

I haven’t told him.

And here’s the thing is I, over the past few weeks, I’ve been starting to question myself and wondering, am I, you know, is my idea of this word too strict?

You know, I love writing and reading poetry and I love flexibility with language.

And so I’m sort of wondering about the cultural implications of being so strict about this word.

So I’m very excited to hear what you have to say.

Gregarious laughter, is it a thing?

That’s what you’re asking, right?

Yes.

And what did she mean by gregarious laughter?

Yes.

People were, we were merry.

We were just having a good time and it sounded,

And the reason I thought that it worked is it sounds inviting.

You know, it’s welcoming as in, you know,

A gregarious person is welcoming and sociable and easy to talk to.

The gregarious laughter I’d imagined may have been inviting.

You know, I’m kind of on the fence about this.

If I were editing someone else’s text, I would definitely, as a copy editor, put a note in the side, you know, pointing to the word gregarious and say, did you mean gregarious or did you mean contagious or some other word?

I would query.

But on the other hand, if the author steaded the change and wanted to leave it, I think I would let it go.

Because I think it does, as you very aptly put it, I think it does say this is the kind of laughter that wants you to join.

This isn’t the kind of laughter that excludes and alienates.

It strikes my ear a little odd.

Yeah.

Because you think of a gregarious person being somebody who’s super sociable and gregarious left.

I mean, maybe a gregarious dog.

If you’re just speaking aloud, it’s kind of one of those things.

I’ll give you literary license for it, right?

But if you were writing it, I think I might, like I said, call it into question and say, are you sure?

So what would you say?

Group laughter?

You said contagious?

Contagious, maybe.

Yeah, yeah.

She was trying to connote the idea of the whole group, just uproarious.

Or somehow rewrite the phrase if it were in print and indicate that, like, the laughter was happening and they were inviting us into the group and making us feel welcome.

You’re talking about poetry, really.

It’s a poetic.

Right, exactly.

Yeah, literary or poetic license really lets us, this is one of the ways that we toy with language.

And we’re all always experimenting and trying new things.

And I think it sounds like you knew what she meant, but it did strike your ear, which definitely warrants a conversation with us, I think.

Anytime something is like, what?

And you have to call Martha and Grant and find out.

I would say that you both get to keep the dog and you have to move in together.

Count me in.

Okay.

All right.

Well, thank you so much.

I really appreciate it.

Eric, thank you so much, and give us a call sometime.

Give that dog some pets and treats for us, all right?

Thanks, Eric.

Take care.

Take care.

Bye-bye.

All right.

Bye-bye.

Eric mentioned a herd and a flock, and, of course, that’s the root of the word gregarious.

It comes from the Latin grex.

So congregation, maybe?

Possibly.

Possibly.

I know that the term egregious comes from the same root, G-R-E-X, in Latin.

Outside of the group?

Yeah, outside of the flock.

Because the E means absent from or removed from.

Exactly.

Interesting.

Cool.

Right? Yeah, cool, right. There’s all this underlying tango.

I always imagine, you ever heard about these giant fungi who, like, they have roots spreading over acres of land?

Yes, yes, that’s a great analogy.

And you don’t realize that the one five miles over there is actually the same plant that’s over there?

Welcome to my brain, yes.

Language is like that.

Underneath, it’s all connected.

It is, and it’s gorgeous.

Let’s talk about it.

877-929—9673, or send your stories about language to words@waywordradio.org.

Thank you.