Post: #1

Mixx's thread on Moldova got me thinking about smiling.

I recall this Moldovan girl, who loved to complain, complaining about Americans smiling too much. She found it insincere. Then that got me thinking of this French dude I met who moved from Paris to L.A. and roomed with me for a while, and he thought L.A. was the friendliest place on earth. People smiled to each other and said "hi" if you said hi to a complete stranger while walking into the grocery store. He loved it, and found Paris miserable by comparison. And lastly I recall checking into a motel in Denver last year, and the front counter lady was a 35-40 year old Polish woman who had the worst customer service ever - she'd not smile, give rote answers and just stare - it felt miserable. It felt Soviet.

That got me thinking about what countries are outgoing and like to smile. I don't think I'd like to be in a spot where people are cautious of each other and view smiling to strangers as weakness. When I get to know friends we genuinely have what I would call real laughter and smiling as well, so I don't get the outward negativity to strangers.

I imagine the U.S. is somewhere around the 90% on what I would call the smiling index - with maybe places like Brazil or Fiji or something higher. So, how do other countries compare? And what is really behind the lack of public smiling?

Post: #2

Isn't Indonesia and Thailand supposed to be heavy on the smiles?

Latvia was low on the smile meter.

Post: #3

I find it uncomfortable in the USA.
Growing up, people would always tell me to smile more. But coming from a Polish family, thats not something I learned.

I finally feel comfortable when I am in Poland, Ukraine, and Moldova.

I simply walk around all day with a blank, expressionless face. I never say hi to strangers, except when entering a store. I sometimes greet the store owner, especially late at night so I am not threatening.


Thats one of the things I love about this part of the world.
One ukrainian student of mine actually complimented me on my lack of smiles..he said he found it uncomfortable to be with Americans, but I was different in that I didn't smile too much.

Post: #4

I don't trust people that smile too much.

I would agree that the American smile is devoid of any meaning or substance. Yes Thailand is certainly the land of smiles, lovely people.

Post: #5

(02-20-2012 05:37 PM)DrainTree Wrote:  I find it uncomfortable in the USA.
Growing up, people would always tell me to smile more. But coming from a Polish family, thats not something I learned.

I finally feel comfortable when I am in Poland, Ukraine, and Moldova.

I simply walk around all day with a blank, expressionless face. I never say hi to strangers, except when entering a store. I sometimes greet the store owner, especially late at night so I am not threatening.


Thats one of the things I love about this part of the world.
One ukrainian student of mine actually complimented me on my lack of smiles..he said he found it uncomfortable to be with Americans, but I was different in that I didn't smile too much.

Haha If I saw a Ukrainian guy smile at me, I think I would be very very scared.

A lot of people say I look too serious(even the Ukrainian girls), it's quite annoying actually

Post: #6

(02-20-2012 05:38 PM)Deb Auchery Wrote:  I don't trust people that smile too much.

I would agree that the American smile is devoid of any meaning or substance. Yes Thailand is certainly the land of smiles, lovely people.

That's bull. I'm kinda tired of hearing about Americans being "phoney" because they smile and are too friendly to people they don't know. WTF man?? It's a bad thing if people act pleasant?? When I'm walking down the street, I love the fact that someone will nod their head, smile or just give a small "w'sup". I don't expect anything deep out of it. It's just a simple acknowledgement that you exist and you aren't the only person on the planet.

What the hell is so great about places like Scandinavia or Russia where strangers won't even look each other in the eye? In America you can just have a totally spontaneous, fun and random conversation with a perfect stranger on the street that came from one of these supposedly fake smiles. And meeting random people out and about is part of what makes life interesting to me, and even more so when traveling. I like that you can joke with the checkout people at the supermarket. Or that service staff at least try to be helpful and friendly. With all of America's flaws, I think this is one of our strong positives. So Americans keep up the phoney smiles. I'll take that over a stolid Russian pokerface any day.

Post: #7

What's worse in the US is the endless "HI HOW ARE YOU" ever time you do anything, from going into a small grocery or seeing some co-worker who you secretly hate.

I think a simple "HI" would be better, but this whole having to reply with "I'm doing GREAT!" is just so superficial and tiring. I haven't been to many other countries in the world that does stuff like this.

Post: #8

(02-20-2012 05:56 PM)speakeasy Wrote:  

(02-20-2012 05:38 PM)Deb Auchery Wrote:  I don't trust people that smile too much.

I would agree that the American smile is devoid of any meaning or substance. Yes Thailand is certainly the land of smiles, lovely people.

That's bull. I'm kinda tired of hearing about Americans being "phoney" because they smile and are too friendly to people they don't know. WTF man?? It's a bad thing if people act pleasant?? When I'm walking down the street, I love the fact that someone will nod their head, smile or just give a small "w'sup". I don't expect anything deep out of it. It's just a simple acknowledgement that you exist and you aren't the only person on the planet.

What the hell is so great about places like Scandinavia or Russia where strangers won't even look each other in the eye? In America you can just have a totally spontaneous, fun and random conversation with a perfect stranger on the street that came from one of these supposedly fake smiles. And meeting random people out and about is part of what makes life interesting to me, and even more so when traveling. I like that you can joke with the checkout people at the supermarket. Or that service staff at least try to be helpful and friendly. With all of America's flaws, I think this is one of our strong positives. So Americans keep up the phoney smiles. I'll take that over a stolid Russian pokerface any day.

You just read my mind. I haven't been to those places, but I think this is one great thing that America has going for it!

Post: #9

(02-20-2012 05:56 PM)speakeasy Wrote:  

(02-20-2012 05:38 PM)Deb Auchery Wrote:  I don't trust people that smile too much.

I would agree that the American smile is devoid of any meaning or substance. Yes Thailand is certainly the land of smiles, lovely people.

That's bull. I'm kinda tired of hearing about Americans being "phoney" because they smile and are too friendly to people they don't know. WTF man?? It's a bad thing if people act pleasant?? When I'm walking down the street, I love the fact that someone will nod their head, smile or just give a small "w'sup". I don't expect anything deep out of it. It's just a simple acknowledgement that you exist and you aren't the only person on the planet.

What the hell is so great about places like Scandinavia or Russia where strangers won't even look each other in the eye? In America you can just have a totally spontaneous, fun and random conversation with a perfect stranger on the street that came from one of these supposedly fake smiles. And meeting random people out and about is part of what makes life interesting to me, and even more so when traveling. I like that you can joke with the checkout people at the supermarket. Or that service staff at least try to be helpful and friendly. With all of America's flaws, I think this is one of our strong positives. So Americans keep up the phoney smiles. I'll take that over a stolid Russian pokerface any day.

A smile should be used for genuine emotion. I think in the West, especially America, it's about keeping up appearances.

The more time I spend in the FSU, the more I love the sultriness of the women. I now love the fact that some of them are hard faced, it gives me even more pleasure when I can make them smile and laugh

I even like making the hard-faced babushkas at the local store smile, they're not used to it, I think it really makes their day.