People who use this expression are probably pretty happy people. Then there are those other types – you know, people who are always grumpy. We could call someone who does not like to laugh a curmudgeon. A curmudgeon is bad-tempered, ill-natured and just generally not fun to be around.

Well, unless you yourself are a curmudgeon. If that is the case, you two could hang out and not laugh and not have fun together! You know what we say -- misery loves company. This means that some people who are miserable and unhappy like to make others miserable and unhappy, too.

On the other hand, making others laugh with you is an act of joy and kindness. However, the opposite is true when people laugh at you. That experience is lonely and no fun at all.

But at least those two phrases really show the importance of choosing the right preposition.

For example, if Anna is in a funny play and people laugh with her -- that is a good thing. However, if she messes up her lines and falls on stage, people may laugh at her. And that is not so good.

People might even call her a laughingstock. No one, not even a professional comedian, wants to be a laughingstock.

That is a really great example, Bryan. Thanks. I think.

But you’re right. Nobody wants to be a laughingstock.

If you wanna go crazy and act like a clown
Be the laughing stock all over town
That's your red wagon, that's your red wagon …
(Ella Fitzgerald, “Red Wagon”)

For example, let’s say a teacher falls on hard times and loses his apartment. So, for a couple of days he sleeps in his car outside of the school. As it happens, at night he sleeps in bright pink, full-body pajamas with a hood and bunny ears. And he holds a teddy bear.

Well, some cruel students record him sleeping in his car and share the video with their classmates. The teacher becomes the laughingstock of the whole school.

That was a mean thing to do.

Well, yes. Yes, it was. But our story does not end there.

The students post the video online, and it goes viral! More than 10 million people watch it on YouTube! So, the teacher gets dozens of offers to make commercials for pajamas and teddy bears. He makes a lot of money. Then he writes a best-selling book on how to fall asleep anywhere, anytime.

Good for him!

But wait, Bryan. It gets even better! He stars in a movie based on his life: “The Teacher Who Slept in His Car.”

So, in the end, you could say the teacher definitely had the last laugh. When you have the last laugh, you end up winning when at first you were losing.

Another way to have the last laugh, is to simply laugh off a tough situation. It shows you just do not care. For example, if the teacher is a friend of yours, you could always tell him to just laugh it off.

It may be difficult. But if you have the choice to laugh or cry, chose laughter. For one thing, you may inspire others to laugh, too.

That’s right. As we also like to say: Laugh and the world laughs with you; cry and you cry alone. This means that people prefer to be around those who are happy and cheerful.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox, a poet of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, penned this famous expression. In her poem “Solitude,” she writes ."Laugh, and the world laughs with you; weep, and you weep alone."

However, these days, we do not usually say “weep.” So, the expression now uses the word “cry.” Whatever you call it -- weeping or crying, it is always better to laugh!