I have just browsed much of Adventures in the Atomic Age: From Watts to Washington by Glenn Seaborg, a Nobelist in Chemistry. He quoted in passing Tom Landry's dictum that "You can't think and smile at the same time.", but in the context of saying that some can: Enrico Fermi was always smiling, and always thinking.
Why Russians do not smile (2002)
41–50 of 502 posts
Re: Why Russians do not smile (2002)
#42This is such a great article imo that really captures fundamental societal and cultural differences. I would say that Sweden has a similar 'grave' approach to life and that smiling is reserved for funny situations. Much as I love the US 'etiquette smile' when passing people in the street and meeting, social pressure to conform can mask stress, anxiety and solemnity. The English used to feel pretty uncomfortable about…
I've never gotten used to the 'etiquette smile' (I have different internal terms for it) and try to watch out for it as much as possible; I also appear to be physically incapable of expressing an emotion that I do not actually feel so there is no danger of me ever doing this to others. There is a certain shallowness that often accompanies it that often puts me on guard: the larger the smile, the tighter I grab my wallet and the quicker I wish to terminate the interaction.
Re: Why Russians do not smile (2002)
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
Smiling prominently for portraits seemed to become more popular only after modern dentistry became common. I imagine most people in the Middle Ages (and much later) had chipped, missing, buckled, crooked and stained teeth. Now pristine teeth are a signal of wealth (even though they're usually 100% fake veneers, at least among actors and models) so people want to signal their wealth by smiling prominently.
Teeth in skeletons from the Middle Ages seem fine. It is later ones, after bringing sugar back from the Americas, that have lots of cavities and missing teeth.
Both beets and sugar cane are old world plants, and maize-based corn syrup wasn't used as a sweetener until the 20th century. It's true that refined sugar is terrible for dental health, but it didn't come from the americas.
Re: Why Russians do not smile (2002)
#44The thing that struck me most about this article was the frequent east/west framing. Is that common outside of the US?
Yes. Once while touring a space museum in Switzerland I was reading the placards about the Russian and US space programs. Yuri Gagarin was consistently referred to as "the communist" which seemed perfectly normal to me as an American. Then I saw one that referred to John Glenn as "the capitalist" which was a novel concept to my brain. It wasn't until that moment that I realized just how ridiculous it was for us to re…
They're both ridiculous terms.
The USA was and is a warmongering socialist state. Capitalism certainly doesn't prescribe huge spendings and nationalisation.
Russia was and is a warmongering socialist state. The redeeming factor, and likely what makes "the communist" sounds reasonable, is that the Soviets defined themselves communist
Re: Why Russians do not smile (2002)
#45Mona Lisa was special in part because it was uncommon for people to smile. In Middle Ages, someone smiling a lot would be perceived as stupid. That's why facial expressions in medieval imagery are so serious. Today, being surprised a lot is often taken as a sign of stupidity, whereas in ancient Greece an owl was the bird of Athena, the goddess of wisdom. Because, obviously, an owl is always surprised, and surprise is…
This reminds me of some articles showing smiling Victorians, like this one: [1]
Seeing them helps counter the general impression we get from seeing so many dour-faced Victorians from photographs of that era.
[1] - https://www.thevintagenews.com/2018/11/24/smiling-victorians...
Re: Why Russians do not smile (2002)
#46I wonder if any Russians can weigh in if this still feels accurate. I'm familiar with Polish Culture, which is less fun, frivolous, and happy than American culture, but a smile is certainly not an attack, just reserved for genuine occasions. Service people are in no way expected to smile unless there is some honest reason to.
I am Polish and I can not confirm that. I felt a sharp decline in "smiles" after my move to Germany where your description fits much more. I see much more people smiling for no obvious reasons when I visit Poland from time to time. Something which is not perceived as something else but friendliness by my German SO though while I've witnessed Germans being perceived as very cold by US Americans for the way they are.
I've been also smilingly welcomed by Russian friends even though they may smile less on the average. I haven't been to Russia yes so I can't tell. Maybe they are just well assimilated here.
Maybe it only is all those fake smiles you get from the US service culture which is so over the top that everything else becomes nuanced.
Re: Why Russians do not smile (2002)
#47I've heard different explanations.
Someone told me if someone is smiling to you in Russia, they are probably scamming you.
A smile given away too freely for no reason can be perceived as fake and suspicious.
Re: Why Russians do not smile (2002)
#48My personal take on smiles is that they're welcome if genuine, but can have adverse effects when forced. Many people think that displaying a fake smile for example at the workplace would help with interactions, especially professional ones, but rest assured that when I see someone faking a smile, particularly those working hard to look warm and sincere, I immediately feel I could be manipulated and get on the defensive.
...But I speak from personal experience of being shown daily the widest warm smile at the workplace from the same person that a few months later would dig my professional grave, so your mileage will probably vary.
Re: Why Russians do not smile (2002)
#49I genuinely love the narrative style of this article: every situation is described matter-of-factly, without artifice - unsmiling, in fact.
It’s a perfect vehicle for its message.
Re: Why Russians do not smile (2002)
#50I genuinely love the narrative style of this article: every situation is described matter-of-factly, without artifice - unsmiling, in fact. It’s a perfect vehicle for its message.
On a scale of 1 to 10, how much did you want to make that pun?