Thread: Pfffft!

Okay, maybe this is a stupid question. How do you describe it when someone sort of laughs by expelling air. You know, not "Ha, ha, ha!" but "Sssss!" or "Pfffff!".

It's when you think something's funny, but not enough to laugh out loud, sometimes you smile while simultaneously expiring air rapidly through your nostrils.

It doesn't seem very artful to say, "He smiled while expelling air through his nose." But I can't think what word or phrase would describe this very common sort of expression. Pfft? Hiss? Chortle? Grunt?

Sometimes people use an abrupt expulsion of air to express contempt or disgust. This I would also like to use, but I have no idea if there's a word for it. He sniffed contemptuously, or something like that?

Thanks for any help!
BP

It would generally be referred to as a 'snort' or 'derisive snort'.

He snorted a laugh.

He gave a derisive snort-cum-laugh.

Snicker is the first word that comes to mind. Or suppress a laugh. Or you could onomatopoeia it and make something up. I knew a guy who laughed like this, "Tsss-tsss-tsss!"

I knew several gigglers, some chucklers, and even one or two guffawers. Pfffft, though? Yep, I'll go with 'derisive snort.'

"Tsss-tsss-tsss"? That's kinda cute!

It was pretty priceless, Hawke. Makes one wonder how the habit started.

Was he shy? Just curious. For some reason, I have a mental image of a massively huge man going "Tsss-tsss-tsss" and blushing and kicking dirt and such. Aww, too cute.

That guy I seem to recall was pretty outgoing, though I was only around him for a few weeks and that was about five years ago. He was a fellow student on a French immersion thing. I have a few memories of nights where this guy was present whether out on the town or at the University's bar, or in the dorms, and he always had this laugh. Oh man, too fun.

My uncle used to laugh like that: "Ssss, ssss, ssss!" But it was a fake-o kind of laugh that I saw through even as a 15-year-old.

"Derisive snort" is OK if it's derisive. But if it's not, then can one still say snort? He snorted. He snorted with mirth. He smiled and snorted. He laughed silently.

It's driving me crazy. I guess I'll just say "he smiled" and leave the rest to the reader's imagination.

"Snort" also means that someone might snort while laughing Steven Q Urkel style. All else fails, find a longer but better description. "With a sideward glance and smirk, Eric snorted through his nose."

Maybe it's a half-laugh, as in - he gave me a half-laugh which told me i wasn't very funny. I also like snigger, guffaw and crow...

Great question, blisterpeanuts! caelum was close with 'snicker', but it might be too close to 'nicker', a sound made by a horse! fossiliferous almost hit the nail on the head with 'snigger', but it has a bit of a negative ring to it. If your character truly thinks something was funny (but not hilarious), why not just 'chuckled' - and forget the nose thing? After trying all these sounds, I now need to clean my monitor!!