{"id":63,"date":"2007-07-26T12:05:50","date_gmt":"2007-07-26T16:05:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/?p=63"},"modified":"2007-07-26T12:05:50","modified_gmt":"2007-07-26T16:05:50","slug":"the-elusive-russian-smile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/the-elusive-russian-smile\/","title":{"rendered":"The Elusive Russian Smile"},"content":{"rendered":"

Have you heard the complaint that Russians don\u2019t smile? Have you traveled to Russia to find the sales people rude or disengaged? Have you ever looked at a Russian photo album and wondered if they\u2019re not all depressed?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s true, Russians smile less than Americans, and they\u2019re well aware of it.<\/p>\n


\nI. A. Sternin wrote an essay<\/a> exploring how Russians and Americans smile differently. He says that in Russia, a smile is not a sign of politeness, nor is it considered normal to smile at strangers. And what comes as a considerable damper for eager Americans, Russians don\u2019t find it necessary to return smiles.<\/p>\n

The American smile is well known in Russia. I\u2019ve been asked several times why I smile in photographs so widely, and why I don\u2019t tone down my smile. Instead of becoming sour, I\u2019ve instead learned to smile only when I honestly feel happy. The biggest Russian complaint about American smiling, alongside the excess of American teeth, is that our smiles are fake, like candy. A Russian smile will always have a reason behind it that is clear to everyone present. That\u2019s why an extra smile in Russia is a sign of insanity.<\/p>\n

Sternin says that smiling takes up its own mental slot and needs its own dedicated moment of existence. Russians have many sayings about when to smile or laugh and when not to. The most common is, \u201c\u0421\u043c\u0435\u0445 \u0431\u0435\u0437 \u043f\u0440\u0438\u0447\u0438\u043d\u044b \u2013 \u043f\u0440\u0438\u0437\u043d\u0430\u043a \u0434\u0443\u0440\u0430\u0447\u0438\u043d\u044b,\u201d \u201cLaughter without reason is a sign of imbecility,\u201d but others are \u201c\u041f\u043e\u0441\u043b\u0435\u0434\u043d\u0438\u0439 \u0441\u043c\u0435\u0445 \u043b\u0443\u0447\u0448\u0435 \u043f\u0435\u0440\u0432\u043e\u0433\u043e,\u201d \u201cThe last laugh is better than the first (because laughing is now over),\u201d and \u201c\u0418\u0434\u0435\u0430\u043b\u043e\u043c \u0440\u0443\u0441\u0441\u043a\u043e\u0439 \u0436\u0435\u043d\u0449\u0438\u043d\u044b \u044f\u0432\u043b\u044f\u0435\u0442\u0441\u044f \u043d\u0435\u0443\u043b\u044b\u0431\u0447\u0438\u0432\u0430\u044f \u0436\u0435\u043d\u0449\u0438\u043d\u0430,\u201d \u201cThe ideal Russian woman is an unsmiling woman.\u201d<\/p>\n

Makes you look forward to learning Russian, doesn\u2019t it? At least you know that when they do smile, they really mean it.<\/p>\n

There is a complete list of such phrases from V. Dal\u2019s Dictionary of Russian Sayings at the end of Sternin’s essay<\/a>. Although many of these phrases are idiomatic, some useful word roots for this list are,<\/p>\n

\u0421\u043c\u0435\u0445, \u0441\u043c\u0435\u0448\u043a\u0438, \u0441\u043c\u0435\u0448\u043d\u043e = laughter, jokes, to be funny
\n\u0413\u043e\u0440\u0435 = grief, sadness
\n\u0428\u0443\u0442\u043a\u0430, \u0448\u0443\u0442\u0438\u0442\u044c = joke, to joke, kid
\n\u0412\u0435\u0441\u0435\u043b, \u0432\u0435\u0441\u0435\u043b\u044c\u044f = happy, fun
\n\u041f\u0438\u0432\u043e, \u043f\u0438\u0442\u044c = beer, to drink
\n\u0414\u0435\u043b\u043e, \u0434\u0435\u043b\u0430\u0442\u044c = something to be done, to do
\n\u0414\u0430 = and (a folk usage)<\/p>\n

Try entering these phrases into online dictionaries or search engines if you\u2019d like translations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Have you heard the complaint that Russians don\u2019t smile? Have you traveled to Russia to find the sales people rude or disengaged? Have you ever looked at a Russian photo album and wondered if they\u2019re not all depressed? It\u2019s true, Russians smile less than Americans, and they\u2019re well aware of it. … Continue Reading<\/p>","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-63","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}