the.com/giddiness
joy spinning so fast it loses its balance and giggles on the way down.
means A light, dizzy lightheadedness — either the literal spinning-head kind or the overflowing, can't-stop-laughing kind of frivolous excitement.
from From Old English 'gidig,' meaning insane or possessed — quite literally 'god-held,' from the same root as 'god.' The earliest giddy people weren't merely dizzy; they were thought to be filled with a divine spirit, mad in the way the gods made you mad. Over centuries that possession cooled into mere dizziness, then into the harmless flutter of silly excitement we mean today.
- inner ears
- actual dizziness once meant 'possessed by a god'
- old english
- gydig literally meant insane or god-seized
- dopamine rush
- the brain floods reward circuits like falling in love
- contagious
- giggle fits spread through groups like static
- body sign
- laughter and lightheadedness share the same breathless physiology
laughing gas demonstrations — nitrous oxide at parties and fairs since 1800s, causes euphoria and uncontrollable laughter
spinning rides at carnivals — the teacups or tilt-a-whirl, induces dizziness and delirious laughter in riders