4 ms·

The amount of smiling varies a lot between cultures, you can't correlate smiling with levels of happiness. Russians are known for not being big on smiling http:

by ollysb 14y ago

The amount of smiling varies a lot between cultures, you can't correlate smiling with levels of happiness. Russians are known for not being big on smiling http://blog.properrussian.com/2011/05/why-russians-are-not-smiling.html http://blog.properrussian.com/2011/05/why-russians-are-not-s.... From that article: >> There is a popular Russian saying, “A laughter without a reason is a sign of stupidity”

felipemnoa 14y ago
There is a huge difference between smiling and laughing. Yeah, laughing out loud with no reason will seem stupid to anybody.
- ollysb 14y ago
  Joining the dots a little bit for you, here's another quote leading up to this point. >> Russians need a particular reason to smile. You've heard good news and you smile to show that you consider this news as good.
mgkimsal 14y ago
There is a popular Russian saying, “A laughter without a reason is a sign of stupidity” I'd read this, and spent a couple weeks in Russia last fall, and noticed the lack of smiling a lot when I was there. The thing that struck me about that mindset, and particularly that phrase (and others like it) is that it presumes the person looking at me knows if I have a reason to smile/laugh or not. There's no doubt a lot of layers in the thinking that produced that (and similar) phrases which I can't unravel or fathom, but it's still strange all the same. To presume someone is stupid if you see them laughing is certain a cultural thing. Here (US) we'd probably just assume they were happy.
- jarek 14y ago
  > To presume someone is stupid if you see them laughing is certain a cultural thing. Here (US) we'd probably just assume they were happy. But on the flip side, a lot of people in the U.S. would assume someone is sad or angry if they are not smiling. There are examples in comments here.
- mlvljr 14y ago
  The phrase ("смех без причины -- признак дурачины") makes a statement on a cause-less laughter only, and knowing if there's a cause for it hence out of its scope. Speaking culturally, in a country with a "historic code" built around Mongol enslavement, Napoleon struggle (200 years to Borodino was just yestreday, btw) and crushing Hitler (losing around 25 million people, both civil and military), only a slightly off-his-mind person would laugh w/o obvious reasons :) [in spite of a smiley, I'm dead serious] Many (if not most, actually) not-that-cheerful old men and ladies in the streets of StPetersburg remember Leningrad blockade, for example (like my grandma), and memories like that never make one too eager to smile w/o feeling a real cause for it. We (Russians) just usually lack a "polite" smile a western-world person is used to; being perceived as honest to others is graded much higher when being formally polite, correct, or tolerant. So do not panic next time ;)
zachrose 14y ago
This is probably not to do with photography but portraiture in general. Think about all the drawn and painted portraits you've ever seen.
prebrov 14y ago
Tolstoy's and Dostoyevsky's legacy lies heavy on our minds as well as perpetual hangover and bone ache from dancing with bears. ;)

by ollysb 14y ago

felipemnoa 14y ago

There is a huge difference between smiling and laughing. Yeah, laughing out loud with no reason will seem stupid to anybody.

ollysb 14y ago
Joining the dots a little bit for you, here's another quote leading up to this point. >> Russians need a particular reason to smile. You've heard good news and you smile to show that you consider this news as good.

mgkimsal 14y ago

There is a popular Russian saying, “A laughter without a reason is a sign of stupidity” I'd read this, and spent a couple weeks in Russia last fall, and noticed the lack of smiling a lot when I was there. The thing that struck me about that mindset, and particularly that phrase (and others like it) is that it presumes the person looking at me knows if I have a reason to smile/laugh or not. There's no doubt a lot of layers in the thinking that produced that (and similar) phrases which I can't unravel or fathom, but it's still strange all the same. To presume someone is stupid if you see them laughing is certain a cultural thing. Here (US) we'd probably just assume they were happy.

jarek 14y ago
> To presume someone is stupid if you see them laughing is certain a cultural thing. Here (US) we'd probably just assume they were happy. But on the flip side, a lot of people in the U.S. would assume someone is sad or angry if they are not smiling. There are examples in comments here.
mlvljr 14y ago
The phrase ("смех без причины -- признак дурачины") makes a statement on a cause-less laughter only, and knowing if there's a cause for it hence out of its scope. Speaking culturally, in a country with a "historic code" built around Mongol enslavement, Napoleon struggle (200 years to Borodino was just yestreday, btw) and crushing Hitler (losing around 25 million people, both civil and military), only a slightly off-his-mind person would laugh w/o obvious reasons :) [in spite of a smiley, I'm dead serious] Many (if not most, actually) not-that-cheerful old men and ladies in the streets of StPetersburg remember Leningrad blockade, for example (like my grandma), and memories like that never make one too eager to smile w/o feeling a real cause for it. We (Russians) just usually lack a "polite" smile a western-world person is used to; being perceived as honest to others is graded much higher when being formally polite, correct, or tolerant. So do not panic next time ;)

zachrose 14y ago

This is probably not to do with photography but portraiture in general. Think about all the drawn and painted portraits you've ever seen.

prebrov 14y ago

Tolstoy's and Dostoyevsky's legacy lies heavy on our minds as well as perpetual hangover and bone ache from dancing with bears. ;)