User:Clouddrawn/CWATL

CWATL

CWATL is internet slang for coughing while attempting to laugh or coughing wins against tortured laughter. Though not strictly a medical condition, CWATL can come in form of a potentially life-threatening medical condition called laughter-induced asthma (LIA).

In internet slang, CWATL, (pronounced /kwa-tull/, rhymes with bottle) expresses the coughing laugh, but also its avoidance, as in coughing whelms any tempting laughter. Shorter and simpler synonymous acronyms such as LIC (laughter-induced coughing) and LIA seems not to have frequented internet slang which is perhaps due to their homophonic relationship to the common English words lick and lia' (liar), respectively.

In Medicine

In some cases CWATL is an involuntary coughing reflex. Involuntary CWATL may often be attributed to a tickle in the throat which is aggravated by laughter. However, in the more serious case of LIA, laughter acts as an asthma trigger. Dr. Stuart Garay, a professor of medicine at New York University Medical Center reported to the American Thoracic Society in 2005 on a study of 235 patients regarding laughter as a frequent but ignored asthma trigger. The majority of these Asthma sufferers reported onset of symptoms while laughing.

Though laughter is a recognized (though infrequently advertised) asthma trigger, the nature of these links are not certain. Some cases of LIA may simply be an instance of hyperventilation which also is an underlying trigger for stress-induced asthma. Other links which may prove to be causal (between laughter and asthma) include increased blood flow and muscular tightness.

Asthma can be life-threatening, and by extension LIA also, though the frequency of death from laughter being attributable to laughter-induced asthma in particular is scarce.

In Popular Culture

In feature films and theatrical performances, CWATL is closely related to the fading or interrupted laugh in its purpose. While employed as a comedic device in general, CWATL may serve a variety of (mostly) similar interpretations, including:

• Physical comedy or general comic relief.
• Character's attempt to withdraw or cover up an outburst of laughter. The protagonist's reflecting combined feelings of amusement and awkwardness tends to amplify the empathetic and/or comedic emotional response of the viewer. Variations include:
  • Character realizes the laughter is socially inappropriate while in the very act.
  • Reflection of the character's embarrassment overcoming any desire for social enjoyment.
  • Character prevents himself or herself from accepting the normally enjoyed social behavior. The underlying motive is varied, with possibilities including feelings of denial, aloofness, embarrassment or conscious rejection.
• Nonverbal expression antagonistically acknowledging or interrupting another's joke or jovial expressions. However, this is often acheived without CWATL; for instance:
  • Loud or fake (obnoxious) laugh which is abruptly stopped to negate the normal association of laughter with a delightful experience.
  • Represention employing some form of immediate quietness. This quietness is in audible form to add humor to the situational irony. For instance, this quietness is demonstrated in the form of the familiar nighttime chirps of crickets or frogs.
• Employed by the antagonist or a recently antagonized character to move the plot's emotional state forward. Variations include:
  • Reflection of an underlying situational irony facing the character.
  • Allusion to an unsettling or uncomfortable situation that inhibits or restrains the character's full enjoyment.