laughingis

Updated: June 28, 2025

Now you have learned why little girls should not attempt to talk and swallow at the same time, and, I may add, still less laugh; for laughingis a kind of somersault, performed by the lungs, and is always accompanied by the ejectment of a great deal more breath than is necessary in speaking, so that the jerks it occasions derange still more the wise provisions made to protect life whenever we swallow anything, and therefore we are more apt to swallow the wrong way while laughing than while speaking.

Jean Macé - The History of a Mouthful of Bread : And its effect on the organization of men and animals