Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[BMO]

Is "laughing like a hyena" the only phrase to describe laughing very loud?

Thanks.

[CP]

I don't think the expression means that the persons laughs loudly, but more that the person laughs in a very annoying, irritating way.

And I can't think of a common expression that means that a person has a loud laugh. You'll have to make something up.

Her laugh sounds like a jackhammer with a siren attached. Her laugh is so loud, my eardrum burst from 10 meters away. You could hear her laugh in the middle of a rock concert.
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You live a new life for every new language you speak. -Czech proverb

[BMO]

Thanks a lot, CP, I always thought it meant laughing very loudly.,
bmo

[CP]

Dear BMO:

Well, you may be right. To many people, the expression probably does mean (or at least include) loud laughter. I found this in a now-defunct web site:

"Note: a hyena is a wild, dog-like animal that scavenges for food on the African grasslands and has a cry that sounds like a laughing maniac -- hence the phrase 'to laugh like a hyena.'"

Maniacs laugh very loudly, I suppose.

And Shakespeare used the expression in "As You Like It," Act IV, scene i:

"ROSALIND: I will weep for nothing, like Diana in the fountain, and I will do that when you are disposed to be merry; I will laugh like a hyena, and that when thou art inclined to sleep."

She will have to laugh loudly to wake someone up.
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You live a new life for every new language you speak. -Czech proverb