haha this is a weird grammatical construct!

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Haha so up until a few months ago I never started sentences with the word "haha". But then at some point I, you know, noticed it and it seemed very strange and I decided to give it a whirl.

So those of you ILXors who have chatted with me: You have probably seen me use the construct. I use it rather a lot now; it's like a new toy. Or, really, it's like a new lexical trick, and one I'm trying to tease the meaning out of.

Haha so do you use this construct? What exactly does it mean? (And, I mean, is it even pronounced? Is it just the prefix form of the smiley or is it nuanced than that?) Or is it all just terribly annoying and should I drop it while there's still time?

― Chris P (Chris P), Sunday, 6 April 2003 06:39 (twenty-two years ago)

To me it gives the impression of the user just having had an amusing thought or idea -- or just noticed something amusing elsewhere -- and hurrying to tell ILX about it while still laughing (out loud or otherwise), so to speak.

(BTW: I felt I bit silly when I noticed I'd done this in two consecutive posts yesterday (even if one was the slightly more non-canon "heheh"). It may be a bit too easy to overuse.)

― OleM (OleM), Sunday, 6 April 2003 06:53 (twenty-two years ago)

one I'm trying to tease the meaning out of.

I have to support the use of all lexical (and in this case, syntactical, also) constructs from which anything can be teased. Up with that I shall gladly put.

― Skottie, Sunday, 6 April 2003 06:56 (twenty-two years ago)

am I the only person who thinks of it as taut/stretched-to-breaking point self-reflexivity, of actually pre-emptively sucking the fun out of stuff? (ie said, not laughed; fast+uninflected).

I may be alone in this.

― Ess Kay (esskay), Sunday, 6 April 2003 07:01 (twenty-two years ago)

I use it all the time and every time I do I think to myself "Jesus this is annoying, there has to be a better way to convey the tone in which this sentence is intended than this", but I can't think of any. I'm totally not annoyed or anything when other people use it though, I just see it as some kind of weakness in my own writing. I know I picked this up, like a highly infectious interweb STD, here on ILX.

― Dan I., Sunday, 6 April 2003 07:12 (twenty-two years ago)

I always saw it as jess origin. jess speak has influenced me in a lot of ways.

― donut bitch (donut), Sunday, 6 April 2003 07:17 (twenty-two years ago)

we've chatted quite a bit in the last week but I can't say I seen you doing this as much as me chris.

aim gives an illusion of conversation (being virtual and that): in a conversation, you can laugh etc so that's what haha is for. its telling the other person that what you just said is funny to them and that its appreciated.

it can be annoying (like most things) if its over used as you're just laughing and not adding as much as you can to the 'conversation'.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Sunday, 6 April 2003 07:28 (twenty-two years ago)

jess is a brilliant thinker and one of my favorite posters in the ILx sphere, but in no way did he start the "haha" construct. Jeez, i've seen it on the internet for years.

― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Sunday, 6 April 2003 07:33 (twenty-two years ago)

Sometimes when I start sentences with "haha" it's meant to imply a level of self-deprecation, as in "yeah, I realize how lame the following sentiment/revelation is."

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Sunday, 6 April 2003 12:59 (twenty-two years ago)

is it even pronounced?

I've begun to use it in conversation.

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Sunday, 6 April 2003 13:03 (twenty-two years ago)

oh and is my thing.

― jel -- (jel), Sunday, 6 April 2003 13:05 (twenty-two years ago)

I think it can be very useful when you are trying to keep the thread of a chat together without wasting the time that is often the essence of humor. There are often two or more threads going on in the same chat, so haha is a good shorthand way to pick up on one thread and elaborate on it to everyone's benefit. Example:

haha chris like a one-night stand

This is saying: "Hey, everyone, I found what Chris said to be funny, and would like to elaborate on his statement by saying that his subject matter is furthermore like a one-night stand."

JBR's note of self-deprecative use is also OTM, as is the notation of the prefix-form function.

― teeny (teeny), Sunday, 6 April 2003 15:37 (twenty-two years ago)

haha everyone revving up the bullshit generator since I have to write a quasi-academic article today.

― teeny (teeny), Sunday, 6 April 2003 15:38 (twenty-two years ago)

Haha Julio I totally have used it several times in chat with you. If you didn't notice it, that's because it doesn't really stand out, which makes me suspect that it is "natural" in chat situations, and thus to be encouraged.

― Chris P (Chris P), Sunday, 6 April 2003 17:12 (twenty-two years ago)

yes you have but what i was saying was that you haven't used it as much as me.

it doesn't stand out. all it says (to me anyway) is that: 'hey its funny, you made me laugh, thanks'. and as you know I really need a laugh nowdays.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Sunday, 6 April 2003 17:34 (twenty-two years ago)

It could be a Sinister Thing too...

Haha, you have fallen for my diabolical trap!

Gee, so many possible contexts/uses. It's postively an (inter)national treasure! HAHA!

― ChristineSH (chrissie1068), Sunday, 6 April 2003 18:13 (twenty-two years ago)

I use it to preface a joke -- it sets the tone for what comes after, just as you'd change yr. tone in telling the joke in the first place. So much better than a postfix like a smiley or etc.

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Sunday, 6 April 2003 20:15 (twenty-two years ago)

OMG I have been using this so much lately and it is all because of people like jess or geeta, etc. on here who have influenced me but still it's less lame than OMG since it can signify a more subtly ironic connotation than OMG, imo.

― Vic, Monday, 7 April 2003 17:22 (twenty-two years ago)

haha I only use it if I'm actually laughing. Except for just then. Actually, I am laughing now.

― Ally (mlescaut), Tuesday, 8 April 2003 02:27 (twenty-two years ago)

one year passes...

Haha = "I find what I have just thought up funny, even though (self-defence) I'm not particually expecting or asking you to?" (Thus haha : funny :: brackets : worthwhile/insightful?)

― Gregory Henry (Gregory Henry), Thursday, 8 April 2004 00:27 (twenty-one years ago)

Aaargh, this was /last/ year. I go die now.

― Gregory Henry (Gregory Henry), Thursday, 8 April 2004 00:31 (twenty-one years ago)

you know, i did invent it

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 8 April 2004 00:36 (twenty-one years ago)

I use it when I'm actually laughing. It's a spontaneous thing. Sometimes if I stop smiling by the time I'm done writing the sentence, I remove it so that the post is more "honest".

― Elliot (Elliot), Thursday, 8 April 2004 01:07 (twenty-one years ago)

I mostly use it when I'm replying to something I found funny, rather than prefacing something I'm about to say that I think is funny. though I have done that, too.

― oops (Oops), Thursday, 8 April 2004 01:09 (twenty-one years ago)

HOW CAN THIS HAVE BEEN A YEAR AGO?

Haha now I'm totally depressed.

― ...in bed. (Chris Piuma), Saturday, 10 April 2004 05:48 (twenty-one years ago)

haha :(

― oops (Oops), Saturday, 10 April 2004 06:10 (twenty-one years ago)

I do this, but use teehee instead. Gives a different spin on things.

― Johnney B (Johnney B), Saturday, 10 April 2004 07:40 (twenty-one years ago)

one year passes...

haha

― teeny (teeny), Monday, 22 August 2005 23:38 (twenty years ago)

*snort*

― Rock Hardy (Rock Hardy), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 00:25 (twenty years ago)

heh.

*hahahaha*

― lyra (lyra), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 00:27 (twenty years ago)

its strange when ppl try grammatico-legitimize it by going "ha ha" with a space.

― hold tight the private caller (mwah), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 00:50 (twenty years ago)

The space is very necessary.

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 00:57 (twenty years ago)

Haha no WMD after all.

― GWB, Tuesday, 23 August 2005 01:16 (twenty years ago)

Heh, alright.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 01:52 (twenty years ago)

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