# had them all in stitches



## geve

Hi forum, 

_...but then I launched into my best comico-pedantic style, and for the next ten minutes I showered them with a history of moon lore, replete with references to Lucian, Goodwin, and others. I wanted to impress them with what I knew, but I also wanted to make them laugh. [...] I worked myself in top form, and my sharp, staccato delivery soon *had them all in stitches*._

Is this a set phrase? Does that mean that they're impressed, aghast? That they're roaring with laughter? 
I wonder how we would translate that... but first I need to be sure of the meaning.


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## blonde02

bonjour geve
je crois que ça veut dire se tordre de rire


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## david314

geve said:


> _[...] I worked myself in top form, and my sharp, staccato delivery soon *had them all in stitches*._
> 
> Is this a set phrase? Does that mean that they're impressed, aghast? *That they're roaring with laughter? *


  It is an old fashioned statement and I'm unsure of it's origin.  Good luck mighty Geve.


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## geve

So - if I get the image right - it implies they're laughing so hard that their stomach could burst open and they might need some stitches?

I'm thinking _rire à s'en décrocher la mâchoire_ - but I'm not too convinced, I feel we're loosing something here. I'm glad I'm reading this in English (and that I don't have to translate it)!!


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## david314

I am inclined to agree with your explanation.


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## Nounours1948

Or "_se tenir les côtes_" (laughing with the arms holding the belly)


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## geve

Nounours1948 said:


> Or "_se tenir les côtes_" (laughing with the arms holding the belly)


Ah oui  Bien mieux que mon essai !


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## david314

geve said:


> So - if I get the image right - it implies they're laughing so hard that their stomach could burst open and they might need some stitches?
> 
> I'm thinking _rire à s'en décrocher la mâchoire_ - but I'm not too convinced, I feel we're loosing something here. I'm glad I'm reading this in English (and that I don't have to translate it)!!


 I just remembered that there exists a similar expression, *to bust a gut* (stomach).  This would support your explanation.


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## geve

To bust a gut? The WRD says "se mettre en quatre", which is not quite the same thing (= faire tout son possible). Is the WRD wrong or did I misunderstand what you were saying?


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## watergirl

I found this explanation in the Online Etymological Dictionary: 

stitch (n.) O.E. stice "a prick, puncture," from P.Gmc. *stikiz:
The sense of "sudden, stabbing pain in the side" was in late O.E....Sense of "amusing person or thing" is 1968, from notion of laughing so much one gets stitches of pain (cf. verbal expression to have (someone) in stitches, 1935).

Very interesting!


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## geve

Ah mais oui  Ils rient tellement qu'ils en ont des points de côté !


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## david314

It is both, behold! http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/bust+a+gut


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## geve

Indeed! "based on the idea that extremely hard physical work or laughter could damage your _gut_ (= stomach)", they say. Thanks for the clarification!

_Se bidonner_ could have the same idea... ("bidon" as in a slang term for stomach)


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## Nicomon

Hi lady Geve

_Rire à s'en dilater la rate / s'en tordre les boyaux _are possible equivalents of "to bust a gut" (me think)
There's also (though less "colorful") _se plier_ _de rire / rire à se plier en deux_


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## geve

Good suggestions indeed, Nicowomon!


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## DeSica

bust a gut = se _fendre_ en quatre (pour faire telle tâche par exemple)

bust a gut (laughing) =  être _plié_ en quatre (tellement on rit)


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## Teafrog

"to be in stitches" = to laugh uncontrollably > en mourir de rire
se tordre les boyaux, se fêler la tronche, etc

It most certainly is not, as someone suggested, an archaic term as it is used regularly in my 'neck of the woods'.
I use it all the time, so there 

A stitch is, amongst other things, an acute pain in the side of the body, induced by running, etc
I must own up here > I'm cheating! I've just quoted verbatim from my Concise Oxford dict 

I hope it helps 

btw, there are bucketfuls of expressions to express ‘ecstatic mirth’


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## orlando09

Yes - I think this expression - which I would agree is current in British English - refers to pain in the sides from laughting so much, rather than anything bursting open and needing medical "stitches". "I had them all in stitches,"then, means they all laughed a lot at my jokes.

I personally don't think it's connected to "to bust a gut" ("I bust a gut laughing at his show, it was brilliant") - a somewhat more slangy (and, probably, more recent) sort of expression. However there is also an expression "side-splitting" - meaning extremely funny, which is  a similar image to "bust a gut". "his show was side-splittingly funny" = his show was absolutely hilarious.


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## redrose

An equivalent colloquial expression only heard (so far as I know) in the North of England is "to have [someone] in pleats".  This suggests the stitched folds of a garment - the person is folded over, folded in two, or "doubled up with laughter".


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## Nicomon

DeSica said:


> bust a gut = se _fendre_ en quatre (pour faire telle tâche par exemple)
> 
> bust a gut (laughing) = être _plié_ en quatre (tellement on rit)


 
I agree with _se fendre/se mettre en *quatre*_ (it seems that fendre is mostly heard in Quebec)

But unless you're an acrobat  the expression in the sense of laughing is _plié en *deux*_ ... same as "doubled up with laughter/folded in two" that redrose suggested.


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## VictaHeri

Teafrog is absolutely right!  I think "faire rire"-- make someone laugh is roughly similar, but it loses the colloquial sense.


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## geve

Nicomon said:


> But unless you're an acrobat  the expression in the sense of laughing is _plié en *deux*_ ... same as "doubled up with laughter/folded in two" that redrose suggested.


Personally I simply say *plié de rire* - no precision as to in how many layers.


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## Nicomon

geve said:


> Personally I simply say *plié de rire* - no precision as to in how many layers.


 
I don't add _en deux_ either (I suggested both options in post #14). But if you do specify... then it is _deux._


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## geve

Nicomon said:


> I dont add _en deux_ either (I suggested both options in post #12). But if you do specify... then it is _deux._


Ah yes, sorry - I had forgotten that you had mentioned "plié de rire" in your post #12! 
I think I would say _plié en quatre_... it could also be occasionally plié en deux... but never _en trois, en six _or _en douze_.


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## Nicomon

geve said:


> Ah yes, sorry - I had forgotten that you had mentioned "plié de rire" in your post #12!
> I think I would say _plié en quatre_... it could also be occasionally plié en deux... but never _en trois, en six _or _en douze_.


 
Quelle souplesse lady Geve !  Moi, c'est tout juste si je peux me plier en deux... alors en quatre, je n'y pense même pas. 

Je me suis gourée... mon poste était le #14.


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## KaRiNe_Fr

Nicomon said:


> Quelle souplesse lady Geve ! Moi, c'est tout juste si je peux me plier en deux... alors en quatre, je n'y pense même pas.  [...]


On est donc beaucoup plus souples en France qu'au Québec, CQFD. 
On peut aussi "se boyauter" voire rire "à se faire pipi dessus"... (à cause de l'effet relaxant du rire, bien sûr !)
Dans un registre encore plus familier, on dit aussi que c'est drôle  "à se taper le cul par terre" (abrégé parfois en "astap")...


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## jonmaz

orlando09 said:


> I personally don't think it's connected to "to bust a gut" ("I bust a gut laughing at his show, it was brilliant") - a somewhat more slangy (and, probably, more recent) sort of expression. However there is also an expression *"side-splitting"* - meaning extremely funny, which is a similar image to "bust a gut". "his show was *side-splittingly funny*" = his show was absolutely hilarious.


_They nearly burst their sides with laughter_ used to be fairly common when I was a youngster.


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## Amityville

Thankyou, ô francophones (may I call you frankies ?) . Regarding 'bust a gut', we sometimes split our sides too, has it been mentioned ? * In response to a side-splitting joke or something else side-splittingly funny. We're convulsed, we just crack up....excuse me a moment......I'm helpless (sc. with laughter).


*Merci jonmaz


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## Nicomon

KaRiNe_Fr said:


> On est donc beaucoup plus souples en France qu'au Québec, CQFD.


 
Mais non. C'est moi qui manque de souplesse... pas tous les québécois. 

Toute blague à part, je comprends « plié en deux », dans le sens de "in stitches" comme mains ou bras croisés sur le ventre et en pliant à la taille, vers l'avant. Comme pour soulager une crampe ou des points de côté causés par le rire, et comme _doubled-up with laughter_. 

Se plier en quatre, c'est _to bend over backwards _et synonyme de se mettre /se fendre en quatre. 
Je peux me plier en quatre pour plaire à quelqu'un... mais je ris à me plier en deux. Enfin, c'est ce que je comprends. 



> - se mettre/se plier en quatre (fam.) = to bend over backwards
> _faire beaucoup d’effort, faire le mieux possible _





> se fendre en quatre pour faire qqch. : [Québec][Familier]se donner beaucoup de peine pour le faire.
> Je me suis fendu en quatre pour les recevoir à Noël.


 

PS: t'entendrais au Québec  rire à pisser dans sa culotte, mais je crois qu'on s'éloigne un peu de stitches, là.


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## geve

Nicomon said:


> Toute blague à part, je comprends « plié en deux », dans le sens de "in stitches" comme mains ou bras croisés sur le ventre et en pliant à la taille, vers l'avant.


Tout à fait. Et se plier en quatre n'est qu'une exagération - on rit deux fois plus fort, or deux fois deux égalent quatre.  Mais il est en effet plus logique d'être plié en deux !

Dans le registre familier, il y a aussi *être pété de rire* - mais là je crois moi aussi qu'on s'éloigne en registre de "to be in stitches"...


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