gelotophile
/ˈd͡ʒɛlətəˌfaɪ̯l/
gelotophile means A person who actively seeks and establishes situations in which others may laugh at them. It carries an Arena rating of 1655, earned across 3 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, gelotophile ranks #639 of 17,151 for The Improbable, #1,908 of 17,163 for Funniest Words, #2,767 of 17,143 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words, #2,779 of 17,104 for Most Storied Words.
gelotophile is pronounced /ˈd͡ʒɛlətəˌfaɪ̯l/.
Why “gelotophile” is a great word
A person who actively seeks and establishes situations in which others may laugh at them. From Ancient Greek γέλως, γέλωτος (gélōs, gélōtos, "laughter") + φίλος (phílos, "dear, beloved")—thus, a lover of the laughter directed at oneself. Unlike a *gelotophobe*, who flees derisive eyes in terror, or a *jester*, whose professional role is to provoke mirth, the gelotophile’s compulsion is a private, psychological need to be the target. It is the man who trips with theatrical clumsiness in a silent room, the child who mangles a phrase to hear the family’s guffaws, the friend who volunteers a humiliating story just to feel the communal breath of amusement—a lifelong negotiation where being the joke is the surest, melancholy proof of being seen.
Etymology
From Ancient Greek γέλως, γέλωτος (gélōs, gélōtos, “laughter”) + φίλος (phílos, “dear, beloved”).
noun
- A person who actively seeks and establishes situations in which others may laugh at them.e.g.““[G]elotophobia is […] the dread of being laughed at at. That makes sense to me. Who likes being laughed at? Turns out a gelatophile does.”” — 2011, Robert Mankoff, “Fear of Laughter”, in The New Yorker:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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