Isabella Demetral Writing 100 Definition Essay It was a late frigid snowy night, the kind of night where a thick layer of ice forms over the mounds of snow on the ground. As a natural klutz, I was already prone to slipping and falling from the icy sidewalks, however, this night took my clumsiness to another level. Hurrying back to make it before our curfew, my two friends and I had the challenge of sneaking into the back basement door. This door was all the way down a steep hill in my friends backyard. All three of us started to scamper down the hill soon to realize the thick layer of ice on top of the snowy hill. Suddenly, I lose my balance and tumble down the hill taking down my two other friends. We half-fall, half-slide all the way, and seconds later, pure laughter filled the winter air. We were dying of laughter. Still to this day, we bring up this night and never fail to mention that “we were dyinnnn”. The word dying can mean a variety of things. It depends on which context the word is used. For me, it’s used in a situation where I am laughing a lot, as mentioned in the scene above. The majority of people will have the main definition as “ceasing to live, expiring, decease, death”, as noted from OED. With the predictable pop culture and younger generations of this century, it seems like there is a twist or slang word for everything. Sentences like “It’s to die for” and “I’m dying to see you” are common slang phrases that now our society can easily pick up on. It’s common knowledge, it’s how we talk. The Urban Dictionary likes to put it as “laughing uncontrollably due to a joke which someone said” for the definition of the dying. Interestingly enough, the word dying can be used to describe the extremes. I mean, have you ever heard of someone literally dying of laughter? For example in Shakespeare's play The Taming of the Shrew, the expression was used: “Went they not quickly, I should die with laughing.” With time, the meaning of the word dying has been use more and more frequently. The word dying is used daily to describe a multitude of emotions. Dying of embarrassment, laughter and sorrow are common colloquial phrases used in everyday conversations. It’s common for people to exaggerate their emotions and using the word dying seems to fit perfectly. Drama is added to peoples statements, conversations and writings by using a word that indicates life being threatened as a whole. On Urban Dictionary, the related words that popped up when searching the words dying, are “death, dead, die, lol, sick, dyed, suicide, hair, laughing, died, dieing, wibe, paint, funny, living, emo and life.” It’s notable that all the different ways the word dying can be used are very meaningful and show a spectrum of emotions. As a student interested in the health science field, I researched the medical reason of death due from excessive laughter. Little did I know laughter in some cases might not be the best medicine. Death from laughter can be caused from a variety of ways. Pressure on the brain from a good hearty laugh can cause an increased pressure on the skull. This may result in a brain aneurysm. Another way would be from a hernia. Clenching stomach muscles while laughing can force parts of the bowel through the abdominal wall, therefore risking crucial blood flow to the bowel. Unfortunate enough, there have been over nine registered cases of people who have died from laughing. Bizarre instances such as Ole Bentzne, a danish Physician, who died in 1989 due to laughter have been publicized. Wikipedia claims that Bentzne’s heartbeat raised anywhere between 250 to 500 beats per minute while watching a comedy film named “A Fish Called Wanda”. This ultimately lead him into cardiac arrest. These Urban legends, true or not, show that people seem to think these reports are relevant to them. “Laughing my head off” and “I was laughing so hard I couldn't breathe” are more expressions that have hints of literal death in them. Without your head, what are you? Without air, is there breathing? These hidden literal meanings of a word we just oh…toss around may cause an impact someone of us are unaware of. My mothers first thoughts on the word dying is sad and that it’s used too loosely. Phrases like “I’m dying to meet you” and “I’m dying to try that restaurant” in our modern language is an effective way to express something that can show a high level of interest and excitement. Even though it’s not being properly used, it’s a great way to communicate feelings of enthusiasm. On the other hand, this could cause an offense to a person who is sensitive to the real, literal meaning of the statement. While using the word dying in conversation, not only does the listener absorb the fact that the speaker is exaggerating their emotion, but they absorb and process the impact of the words and what it means to them. For example, someone might say “I’m dying of starvation”. However, the literal meaning could offend someone who knows or has experienced situations of actual death from starvation. In fact, a World War II survivor has said to me personally “I know what it’s like to starve, you don’t, and it’s something I never want to hear you say again. You can wait a little longer for supper” after I complained about how much I was dying of hunger. Although this was just my grandma scolding me, it shows this word has a possible impact of upsetting someone by making light of the word. The word dying is a small example of a word use in the world of exaggeration. Other words such as rape can be overused causing a more tangible effect on people. For instance, in context someone could make rape jokes as way to describe how much someone or something just defeated them. “That hard math test just raped me!” and “You just got raped playing that video game” are examples. Words like these have a level of severity in terms of exaggeration and in order to prevent offending others, people can learn to master getting their point across without the fear of hurting someones feelings. Even if you don't use dying as a useful synonym, there is the sensible argument against censorship. Nonetheless, speak your mind but maybe first understand that the word dying has a particular traumatic meaning to it and the reality of it should not be diminished It’s quite extraordinary how we got from dying as in death, to dying as in laughter. Or even the literal meaning of dying from laughter. Perhaps, coming to the end and dying, is only the beginning. The beginning of describing new emotions that are being explored, emotions you never thought you could have. Soon those new emotions can be exaggerated in the generations to come with a new word. Dying can be a new tool to describe new feelings and emotions yet to be explored. Why put a stop to life, dying can infact be the new living. A way of living life with new pure emotions the spectacular world has to bring. Bibliography Gregoire, Carolyn. "Teen Slang: Why The Word 'Rape' Should Never Be Used Casually." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 09 Jan. 2012. Web. 9 July 2014. Shakespeare, William. "THE TAMING OF THE SHREW." SparkNotes. SparkNotes, n.d. Web. 14 July 2014. <http://nfs.sparknotes.com/shrew/page_142.html>. "Serious Facts -." Serious Facts. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 July 2014. "Death from Laughter." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 13 July 2014. Web. 11 July 2014. "Dying from Laughter . Literally." InsidersHealth.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 July 2014. "9 People Who Died Laughing." Canongate.tv. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 July 2014. "La Petite Mort." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 07 May 2014. Web. 12 July 2014. "Death." The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. 1989. Print. "Dying." Urban Dictionary. Urban Dictionary, n.d. Web. 14 July 2014. .