Huffing instead of laughing
Terribly well bred horsey women do this most often, as far as I can tell. They'll be relating an hhhhhhhhilaaaaaaaaaaarious anecdote about how "little Oliver told the lady in Blackwell's bookshop to fuck off because she had put the Ogden Nash poetry anthology back in the Children's section HUHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH and then when he told his nanny about it she asked if that was the same man who wrote the poem that starts 'Spring is sprung' HHHHUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUHHHHHHH so little Ollie told her in no uncertain terms that no, Ogden Nash didn't write that - it was anonymous HHHHUUUUUUUUUUUHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH and besdies she shouldn't interrupt him while he was playing Grand Theft Auto 67 HHHHHHUUUUUUUUUUUUUUHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH which is terribly useful because it teaches him the correct way to deal with social workers and liberals and socialist and anyone else who wears tweed in the city on a weekday HHHHHHHHHHHHUUUUUUUUUUUUHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" for fifteen minutes solid.

HHHHHUUUUHHHHHHHHHHH isn't a replacement for laughter in such cases, but merely a way of signalling that you're supposed to be laughing at the user's erudition and wit, and their total and utter disdain for anyone who doesn't share their interests and preoccupations.

I share and office with one of these people (in this particular instance, a woman, though it's not limited to women) and, while she works a part-time day of five hours, at least four of them are spent braying and huffing in this fashion. Thankfully little of it is directed at me, so I can quietly get on with some of the work she's supposed to be doing. (And mooching about on b3ta, of course.)
( shinyshinyscalp less a man, more a way of life, Mon 4 Apr 2011, 15:08, Reply)