"He didn't know whether to laugh or cry." Have been seeing this phrase a lot, recently. Especially in chinese novels (ATG, MGA, ISSTH, etc.) Also saw a similar phrase in Harry Potter; The Half-Blood Prince. I'm guessing J.K Rowling is a practitioner in disguise, but anyways, what do you guys think of the phrase?
It mean to be caught in a situation and have mixed feels, like should i laugh or cry. When they announced that my flight was delayed for ten hours, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Its about mixed feelings... its like feeling so happy to laught and so sad to cry at the same time.... Its like um... oh right!... Its like when you got a cute cat to live at your home... you are very happy but the cat destroys your favorite plushy and looks at you cutely and wants to play.... you dont know if you want to cry because of the cat destroyed your favorite plushy or laught since the cats is so cute and wants you to play..
overused. If MC uses it, it means he's aspirated/frustrated. If a villain then he feeling like "oh shit, why did I piss off the MC."
it probably came about from the theater I mean u do have the twin masks, (one laughing and one crying)
I guess it's possible depending on the age of the idiom since the masks are Greek in nature and represent Comedy and Tragedy and the idiom is Chinese. Not extremely distant in this day and age but another back when the Greek play where being created. As for my opinion it's WAY overused.
Situations that can generate a feeling of tears or laughter. For example, this prank on your foe is very laughable, but if the foe is a high rank person with lots of connections he can use against you, tears start to appear.
Dude, you should be feeling angry. Go demand your money back or discretely ask them to upgrade your flight priviledge. That was what I did. Got upgraded from economy to business lol
I think anger comes after the initial shook of the situation, and those are reasonable responses to the situation.
The phrase is actually quite interesting because of how laughter and tears both how two completely different meanings depending upon the context. Consider: The general usage of tears denotes sadness and depression. Yet, the expression "tears of joy" is also a common English phrase and means the exact opposite. Similarly, while laughter most often connotes happiness, joy, and excitement, it also can be used to signify despair and grief. Thus I've always found it curious that laughing and crying are used with the duality of their meaning.