Why Russians Are Not Smiling (2011)

Re:Why Russians Are Not Smiling (2011) by softbuilder on Monday November 18, 2013 @02:39PM (#6756395)

I worked with some Russians a few years ago. Great guys. One wasn't very well adapted to American culture. He came to my cube one day. He's like "Let's go get a smoke", but his face and tone was flat, so it came across as "You've pissed me off in some way and I'm probably going to kick your ass now". I demurred. A couple more offers over the next few days and I finally relented (I don't smoke, but went to hang out). Pretty soon he was smiling and cracking jokes. A few months later he asked me, "Why do Americans always have to act happy? It's so fake."

*edit: I a word

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Re:Why Russians Are Not Smiling (2011) by VladRussian2 on Monday November 18, 2013 @03:05PM (#6756574)

>Why do Americans always have to act happy? It's so fake.

we'd like to believe it is fake. Otherwise what conclusion it would lead us to, incl. about ourselves? After more than decade here i started to come to that conclusion and sometimes i think i should have chosen the blue pill :)

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Re:Why Russians Are Not Smiling (2011) by ArbitraryLimits on Monday November 18, 2013 @05:41PM (#6757763)

> "Why do Americans always have to act happy? It's so fake."

I always tell my Russian colleagues that it's the natural outcome of not having a 3,000 year history of being pillaged by Cossacks and Mongols, and that they should try it some time.

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Re:Why Russians Are Not Smiling (2011) by zerr on Monday November 18, 2013 @03:23PM (#6756709)

I'm not Russian, but when somebody's smile is too artificial/fake - I call it American smile. I think it is quite a common term [in Europe] ;)

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Re:Why Russians Are Not Smiling (2011) by dualogy on Monday November 18, 2013 @09:08PM (#6758788)

Nah it's not.. never heard of it =)

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Re:Why Russians Are Not Smiling (2011) by kosoy on Wednesday November 20, 2013 @03:13AM (#6766891)

Hmm, I think you mixed it up a bit. "American smile" is just a smile done primarily with lip muscles that shows teeth prominently.

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Re:Why Russians Are Not Smiling (2011) by zerr on Friday November 22, 2013 @04:59AM (#6780006)

Actually, yes. There can be other types of fake smiles as well :)

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Re:Why Russians Are Not Smiling (2011) by aortega on Monday November 18, 2013 @04:56PM (#6757393)

Something that always shocked me in my travels to USA is how much people smile at you. The most weird thing is that it doesn't seem that fake, it seems complete strangers are just not afraid of you and happy to see you. Contrast it with Brazil, unlike USA people don't smile at you in the streets there, but if they know you they can't stop laughing. Brazilians parties are non-stop full-volume laughing. It's maddening!

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Re:Why Russians Are Not Smiling (2011) by return0 on Monday November 18, 2013 @07:06PM (#6758264)

It's not just the russians who would notice that. Americans are friendly and smiling, and that's great, but smiles are not always true, and a lot of it is culturally mandated. It's a great thing though , i 'd rather have a fake smile than frigid grumpiness.

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