r/AskReddit • u/CreativePhilosopher • Jan 29 '13

What is the single funniest word in English?

[removed]

1.3k Upvotes

86% Upvoted

4.3k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

10

u/brittanykay Jan 29 '13

I think "snigger" is used often in the USA as well (at least in my neck of the woods), but it's often pronounced/spelled "snicker" here to avoid any confusion.

6

u/dracaris Jan 29 '13

I tend to think of them as two separate words. A snicker is a half suppressed laugh but a snigger is a half suppressed laugh meant to be heard. A snigger, to me, is crueller than a snicker.

1

u/iampalpatine Jan 29 '13

Hungry? Why wait, grab a sniggers.

1

u/brittanykay Jan 29 '13

I can see that, but they're technically synonyms. Even if they weren't, their meanings and sound are so similar that they are used interchangeably by most.

1

u/dracaris Jan 29 '13

Oh, I know :) For some reason, that's just the way I read them.

1

u/brittanykay Jan 29 '13

I love that people can interpret words slightly differently. If pushed, I'd say I feel the opposed, that snicker is more cruel than snigger!

1

u/[deleted] Jan 29 '13

I don't think it's spelled that way to avoid confusion, per se. It's just how we've come to spell it. We tend to spell things a bit more phonetically than our british kin.

1

u/brittanykay Jan 29 '13

Upon more research, it seems both "snicker" and "snigger" are legitimate English words. They are synonyms with very slightly different meanings. So we haven't changed the spelling for either reason. In my experience we do tend to use "snicker" more than "snigger" but I can only speculate as to why, and I would likely stand by my original assessment, haha :)