Apparently has misuse.: Noblewomans Laugh

It was brought up in this post on image picking that this trope is often being misused for, as the next post put it, "nobility/high society members who laugh" (would check the wicks, but I haven't seen enough shows to do that properly). And why not? The trope name says only that.

This should have a name light Haughty Anime Laugh, or something like that.

Well the real name for this trope is "The Ojou Laugh" as this is done almost strictly with that character type (with the rare exception)

Seriously the examples have "jabba the hut" as an example..., hell The Joker? TMMT's Splinter? The Wizard Of Oz?

edited 24th Jan '12 9:01:15 AM by Raso

I think the definition needs to stress the pose more. That in and of itself would cut out most of the misuse.

Slightly off-topic, but now I'm picturing a Hutt with a pink bow on her head, doing this trope properly.

The name still doesn't indicate that this is a stock pose as well as a laugh.

edited 24th Jan '12 9:01:06 AM by DragonQuestZ

The pose isnt 100% required for this especially in early examples like Ranma One Half while this trope was developing... she did it but not every time she laughed (prone to doing this while running and such the hand was out of position) but anything in the past 15 years though yes the pose is standard.

Damnit DQZ dont put images in my head.

And yeah the misuse seems to be just a deep laugh or something.

Again I would like to switch it with its redirect to The Ojou Laugh that's the name of the trope really.

Video examples of this trope [1][2]

edited 24th Jan '12 9:23:14 AM by Raso

The pose isn't part of the trope. As I said in the Anime Tropes cleanup thread, this is about how a certain type of laugh (ほほほ, ho ho ho) is associated with a specific character type (a refined upper-class woman). See technical details here: ""masculine laughter" is "ha ha ha" or "ahahaha", whereas "refined feminine laughter" is "ho ho ho"." Haughty Feminine Laughter maybe?

Well the pose is also common as well. Should we split that as a Sub-Trope?

I thought the Kanji was this one for the Ojou Laugh? [1]◊[2]◊[3]◊[4]◊ not that one.

edited 24th Jan '12 10:14:03 AM by Raso

ホ is the katakana for "ho", ほ is the hiragana. Different ways of writing the same sound.

The pose is commonly associated but not required. I don't think it's necessary to split them, just mention the pose on the trope page.

edited 24th Jan '12 10:15:52 AM by lebrel

Ahh ok... you had me looking for more examples so I could find an example of that sound-effect.

I would disagree the pose is required now older examples not so much, the pose came to mean this trope.

edited 24th Jan '12 10:17:04 AM by Raso

I still don't think the pose is required. I mean, you can find drama C Ds where characters use this laugh, you can hear it in anime where the character is entirely offscreen. It's primarily a sound effect (real or drawn).

If the laugh doesn't require the pose, but the post is still really common, that does make for a sub trope. And "need" is not really a valid argument for or against that, as technically this site didn't "need" to be made. It's all just for fun.

edited 24th Jan '12 10:27:01 AM by DragonQuestZ

I don't think the pose is neccesary.

Adding a subtrope for it doesn't seem necessary either.

However, if there is enough misuse I could see a point to it.

edited 25th Jan '12 12:30:28 AM by Feather7603

The pose is only seen in conjunction with the laugh, and adding it doesn't change the meaning at all so splitting it off would be beyond pointless, even ridiculous. Pose is extremely common, but not absolutely required, just the outrageous, haughty O-hohohoho! laugh, especially for older works and audio-media without visuals, like Drama C Ds.

edited 25th Jan '12 2:14:58 AM by NoirGrimoir

The article, as it currently reads, has the pose as an option, so I think it's sufficiently covered both options. It does need to say that the hand can be held like it is in the current pic as well as the vertical version.

It might not hurt to drop this into the "Almost always female (and the occasional trap)" category.

We should probably decide if this trope if a) specific to anime and b) specific to women. I haven't watched enough anime to tell if it's a widespread trope or not, but I can't think of any female examples from other media.

Yes, this trope is specific to anime. Very much so. It's about a specific stock sound effect they use and a very specific hand gesture that's not found anywhere else.

I've never personally seen a male example.

edited 8th Feb '12 10:39:36 AM by shimaspawn

"I've never personally seen a male example."

Flea is a bishonen from Chrono Trigger, is mistaken for a woman, and actually does this laugh.

edited 8th Feb '12 11:55:28 AM by DragonQuestZ

Isn't he an outright crossdresser, though?

Not really. I wrote "mistaken", not "pretending to be". He gets outright annoyed when people call him a lady.

But it sounds like they're purposely invoking Always Female tropes to aid with that confusion. He might not like it, but it sounds like he's purposely being written into women's roles.

Well he's still a male, just effeminate.

Regardless, one example alone does not invalidate the fact that this is Always Female, right? He is the exception, not the rule.

I was only responding to this comment.

"I've never personally seen a male example."

I presented one. But that does mean that if there are other males doing this, they also would tend to be effeminate.