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English is weird
Is it cold in here?:
Hmm. My knowledge is limited and long decayed, but I do remember there's a metaphorical use of a preposition in Russian. Where an English speaker would talk of "laughing at" someone, a Russian would say "laughing over".
I do not know how common this is.
Guessing what someone else means is usually foolish, but I could speculate that your co-worker was thinking of how Russian can switch a word to genitive case instead of using an "of" prefix and over-generalizing.
pwhodges:
You can use "laugh over" in English, for a situation but not a person.
"We had a good laugh over the way that went".
Morituri:
That's true. For a person it's always "laugh at."
hedgie:
Unless they're on the ground and you're standing over them.
sitnspin:
Yes, but in that instance you are literally over them.
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