Why do Russians smile so little (and Americans so much?)

http://english.pravda.ru//society/sex/22-03-2011/117282-russian_smile-0/

by cwan • 15 years ago

84 105 15 years ago

english.pravda.ru

bluekeybox2• 15 years ago

What does this have to do with startups and programming?

thamer• 15 years ago

http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

On-Topic: Anything that good hackers would find interesting. That includes more than hacking and startups. If you had to reduce it to a sentence, the answer might be: anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity.

coderdude• 15 years ago

This guideline applied when this site was populated mostly by hacker entrepreneurs. There have been polls in the past that revealed the HN userbase is now comprised of mostly "non-hackers." As this site has become more popular it stands to reason that we're in the minority now as there simply aren't that many people who identify as hackers (let alone entrepreneurs).

If you reduce it further to "anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity" then you open the gates to anything. That is why we have stories about smiling in Russia on the front page.

riffic• 15 years ago

my favorite types of hn comments are ones like these. upvoted!

tejaswiy3• 15 years ago

Actually, I've experienced something similar when moving from India to the US. In India, you just walk into a store, and say I need x, y, z and get out of the store unless you know the owner of the store personally (in which case, the transaction differs completely and you don't get to the point before chatting about the weather, how the respective families are doing and complaining about the roads/traffic or some such thing).

Compare that to the US, where a coffee shop like Dunkin' handles like a thousand people every day during rush hour and people still mechanically say, "Hi, How are you doing? What can I get for you today?" and it's inevitably met with "Good, how are you? and I'll get x, y, z..".

I'll admit to finding that transaction incredibly dishonest when I came here first, to the point that I was actually complaining about it to people. I mean, does the person at the counter really care as to how I was doing? I'm used to it now, it's almost become an instinct, but still cringe a bit when I catch myself doing it involuntarily.

Old habits, etc. I guess.

mahmud• 15 years ago

I was a barista at Starbucks and I meant every word of my greetings. The 5 seconds you make eye contact with someone and say hi to them are vital for gathering your senses, and starting this interaction a new. If you didn't say "hi, how are you", asshole clients would rub off on you and you would smear that bad vibe on all subsequent clients. However, when you greet someone, and they greet you back warmly, crap-vibes get washed away and you get good energies.

I used to look forward to my favorite clients; it's like stones in a puddle, you jump from one to the next to get to where you're going. Same with good people, they help you go through the day. So start the day positively, greet everyone cheerfully, serve loyally and enjoy yourself; the 8 hours pass QUICKLY.

tejaswiy3• 15 years ago

Interesting, never looked at it from that perspective. Thanks!

sunjain• 15 years ago

This is probably the best explanation of the effectiveness of the customary greeting extended even to strangers in US. It may sound mechanical but it does serves an important purpose.

andos• 15 years ago

Great observation! It's really up to us to imbue those apparently automatic gestures with some meaning. And maybe it shows when we do. I can see how sincerely greeting a customer could help "reset" the mood back to positive.

hoag2• 15 years ago

It seems to me that French culture finds a pretty happy medium between the two extremes: you aren't expected to engage in a "full" conversation asking how the other's day is, but a simple "bonjour monsieur/madame" and "merci monsieur/madame, au revoir" is more than sufficient.

To me this is the optimal point between being sincere and being socially cordial with a stranger, especially one whose shop you have just entered to do business.

TillE2• 15 years ago

I also like German - an interaction with someone at a store is littered with danke and bitte, but if you ask someone how they are, you actually mean it.

namityadav• 15 years ago

Completely disagree! How can a polite "How are you?" seem dishonest to you? And how's that worse than an indifferent person on the counter who's not smiling? I'm also an Indian (been in US for 7 years now) and sometimes a smile from a stranger still makes my day.

mgkimsal2• 15 years ago

How can a polite "How are you?" seem dishonest to you?

When you've heard it from 50 cashiers over a week and 99% of them were perfunctory "I have to say these words in case a secret shopper marks me down" efforts, you can get a little cynical.

I appreciate genuine feeling in those short exchanges. If someone can't be genuine, I wish they wouldn't bother saying the words.

nooneelse• 15 years ago

I've found that some other answers work just fine and show that the interaction is not always "dishonest". For instance, I've had good success with saying something along the lines of "ugh, running late, but it's my own fault, so I'll manage. I'll have an x, y, z..." That has gotten some especially fast service now and then, right when it helped me most. So I don't find it bad to risk spending that extra two seconds to be honest and communicate what I need from someone in a round-about, friendly way.

Then again, maybe it is cultural, I'm from the southern US. Being open and friendly just seems like a better way to spend life.

pessimizer• 15 years ago

I think that it really may have to do with being from the South, because those standard greetings IMO seem more honestly given. I've gone back and forth between Chicago and the South throughout my life, and in the South, those little formalities seem to have a significant chance of developing into actual short conversations, sometimes even to the point of slowing down the purchase/interaction (of course depending on how busy everybody is, if there's any big news that everybody is familiar with or thinking about currently, etc.)

My theory has always been that it has something to do with the generally well armed/violent nature of the South combined with its sometimes sparse population and resources. You're not likely to meet a ton of new people, some are going to be jumpy/dangerous around you as a new person, and resources (cultural, financial) are so tough to find information about, that it's both important and cheap to spend an extra minute on everybody.

Of course, that's going to be different throughout the South. The protocol is so tight in the sleepy little satellite hamlet/country road (of a slightly less sleepy hamlet) where my grandparents live that you're pretty much expected to wave and smile at every car that passes by, and if you're passing by people who are outdoors when you're driving by, you're expected to wave and smile back. This is not because you all know each other, just how people act there.

iskander• 15 years ago

A lot of those exchanges might be disingenuous but they also provide opportunities for short bursts of friendly contact between strangers. If the default were purely transactional then being friendly with a clerk/barista/etc... would be more difficult/awkward.

forensic2• 15 years ago

>I mean, does the person at the counter really care as to how I was doing?

Why not?

Why is it so remarkable that strangers can care about one another?

I go out of my way to smile and treat people warmly. I value other people, it spreads good emotions, it makes me happy, and yes I do care. If a Starbucks barista responded to my question, "How are you?" by saying he's doing poorly I would be happy to listen to his story and offer myself in some kind of emotional-service capacity.

Cynical people always assume no one else cares about them despite evidence to the contrary. In my opinion this is the "false consensus bias" at work. You assume others are like you, and since you don't care about others, you assume they must not care about you. This is certainly not true in many parts of the world. People do care.

tejaswiy3• 15 years ago

Actually, I honestly think the bias is on your side this time. You're assuming that you're nice and therefore everyone else is nice like you.

I've actually walked into an enterprise (the car rental company) and found one of their cards lying around that details how to start a conversation with a customer.

It goes along the lines of:

and some more non-sense like that that I forget.

Plus, you can judge by someone's tone if they really are being honest or if it's just that they've been doing it so many times, it's become fairly mechanical. In cases like that I think a simple 'Hi', works much better anyway.

But the the thing I was going for with that post was, cultural differences can sometimes throw you off quite a bit, like the original article says.

Klinky2• 15 years ago

>If a Starbucks barista responded to my question, "How are you?" by saying he's doing poorly I would be happy to listen to his story and offer myself in some kind of emotional-service capacity.

The issue with this is that the relationship is one sided. You cannot be negative to customers as an employee in a professional setting, that is a big no-no as far as customer service goes. Most customer service people have it pounded into them to "leave home life, at home", while inviting on any negativity that "how are you doing" may bring from the customer. You are also under time constraints which you and the customer are usually aware of. If someone really wants to go into the terribly surgery they're recovering from or that they lost their job the other day, you have to cut them short to move on to other customers. No one wants to hear the lonely old mans stories while he holds up the entire line. You will get dinged as an employee for not servicing enough customers if you let this get out of hand.

Additionally "how are you doing?" rarely will get a completely honest answer. It is a ritual for most people. People don't go into the deep personal crises they're having with a barista, cashier or bank teller. Nor does the company they work for really care. You personally may have compassion for the person but even if you heard the actual tragedy in someones life(which some people do go into), you have very little power to affect the situation. I guess you can say "well hope that works out for you", but that doesn't really solve the problem. Worse is when the company you work for is at fault for the problem & the company wants to wash their hands of it while putting all the pressure on you to "smooth things over" with the customer.

I think it's nice to try and be positive, but I also like to be realistic. My beef usually is more with companies who really don't give a shit about the customer, but burden their employees to represent the business as though it really does, meanwhile usually treating the employee like crap as well.

holygoat• 15 years ago

I'm English. I live in the US. I actually like the American "how are you?" ritual; it can simply act as a ritual, but it can also convey genuine welcome, or you can go "off script" as necessary.

Contrast to the older English "how do you do" pairing, which is so much a non-question that it doesn't even deserve a question mark.

In my small town, I'd venture that most how-are-you questions are genuine.

rubashov2• 15 years ago

A major function of the "phatics" of "Hello" and "How are you doing" is to calibrate to a person's speech. Saying "Hi, How are you?" before saying anything important much reduces the odds you'll have to repeat yourself. There are papers on this.

bpodgursky• 15 years ago

"The American smile does not mean anything really. Many Russians take the American smile as strange and artificial. "

On the other hand, by defining the default behavior as "smile", if somebody looks unhappy, you can actually tell that something is wrong. When the default expression is "gloom", it's impossible to separate "default gloom" from "actually unhappy."

Qz• 15 years ago

Except when the unhappy people are so used to smiling that they just force a smile because that's what's socially acceptable. Default expressions are two-faced.

weaksauce• 15 years ago

It's harder to fake a genuine smile though and a perceptive person will be able to pick up on it usually.

katovatzschyn• 15 years ago

And when the default behavior is "happy" you cannot tell when one is actually so.

kenjackson• 15 years ago

There's some research that indicates that smiling/frowning may actually change your mood. But also "hiding" your emotions may cause them to "leak" into other activities.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=smile-it-co...

Lost_BiomedE• 15 years ago

Try laugh yoga: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXgdSOxaCGI

Your body sends out the same endorphins when fake laughing or laughing for real. You are right that there is a decent amount of research showing this.

rdtsc2• 15 years ago

> When the default expression is "gloom", it's impossible to separate "default gloom" from "actually unhappy."

What happened to neutral? Isn't it a false dichotomy to presuppose that you can only have one or the other.

wladimir• 15 years ago

I guess we're in the middle here in Europe. We have both stereotypes: Americans with their fake artificial smiles, and the Russians with their unnecessarily gloomy attitude.

bluekeybox2• 15 years ago

The article contradicts itself, and thereby exposes its Russian-centrism. Read the last sentence:

... Gorbachev's success in the West is based on the fact that he became the first Soviet leader who smiled to people in public. Many [Americans] perceived [Gorbachev] as a person who was open to communication and therefore not dangerous.

So how exactly does a smile in America "not mean anything really" when it allows Americans to distinguish people in their society who are open to communication from those who aren't? That's a very clear social function, full of meaning if you ask me.

TL;DR: in American society, smile serves two functions: (1) to express emotion of happiness/satisfaction, (2) to signify that one is "open to communication, while in Russian society the role of smile is exclusively tied to (1). Failure to perceive the dual-purpose role of smile can lead a Russian to conclude that smile has no function at all in American society (not "meaningful"). Similarly, failure to perceive the singular role of smile in Russian society, can lead an American to incorrectly conclude that all Russians are "closed to communication."

anateus• 15 years ago

I think you're getting to the point of it: the smile vs. no smile decision is about the default "communicate with me" or "don't communicate with me" posture.

This is much like how midwestern and southern visitors perceive northeastern cities in the US. Although I've found strangers in Boston perfectly accommodating, they tend to be rather less ebullient about it than elsewhere in the US.

Well, this is all anecdotal, so these are my observations as a Soviet-born, Israeli-raised, now-American.

moggie• 15 years ago

I imagine that the writer is saying a smile loses meaning when it is given so readily.

Vitaly• 15 years ago

On the other hand "smile by default" doesn't tell you if the person is really happy or just wearing the default smile. As the article says "Indeed, when the Russians smile, they show a sincere and an open smile. The American smile does not mean anything really." If you see a russian smiling, you can know for almost sure that there is something either great or funny happend to him. When you see a smiling american, you just see an american that is not too upset.

dimitar• 15 years ago

I remember here (in Bulgaria) 10 years ago storekeepers and taxi drivers wouldn't even say hello or goodbye or thank you. In fact if there was any communication it would be probably be rude.

Now, everyone says hello, thanks even smiles sometimes.

It is much more pleasant and appears natural. And I guess people have learned that manners sell.

hoag2• 15 years ago

When I visited Greece several years ago, I remember reading a similar "warning" in many Greek travel guide books: that men, especially, should not smile too frequently and without reason, because it makes you look weak, immature, childish, shy, etc.

As one who is a perpetually happy and upbeat person, I found it remarkably hard to follow this admonition.

VB6_Foreverr10• 15 years ago

I'm not calling you a liar but what you say runs counter to the advice of The Eagles who sang :

[i]Just put that monster smile on them rosy cheeks 'Cause the Greeks don't want no freaks [/i]

VB6_Foreverr10• 15 years ago

It's a line from a song for God's sake

m0nastic• 15 years ago

One of my neighbors is a diplomat for the Russian Embassy, and we talk a lot (he likes that it lets him practice English, and I like to hear his perspective on things; not to mention he tells incredibly interesting stories about commanding Russian destroyers).

He told me once that the biggest difference he saw so far between Russians and American's is that if you ask an average Russian if they can do something, they'll say something like "Probably not, but I'll do my best.", whereas if you ask an average American, they'll say "Absolutely, I'm great at this." irrespective of their actual abilities.

That's a pretty broad generalization, but I think there's definitely a cultural difference between a more cynical Russian culture and a more optimistic American one.

samtp• 15 years ago

While it doesn't apply universally, a good manta I've heard for business is "under promise, over perform". Fits well with the Russian outlook

koenigdavidmj• 15 years ago

Scotty's Law? (If you think something takes N units time, say it takes 3N units, so that you look brilliant when it takes 2N units)

TheAmazingIdiot• 15 years ago

Unfortunately that's our culture at work.

People believe when you can do "Anything" because that idea of empowerment is ingrained here. Somebody who questions their own skill isn't good because they don't believe it.

I'm a Hoosier, and I see it here all the time. You have to look like that it's not a problem whatsoever. Admitting ignorance on part of a given topic is seen as sheer stupidity.

It's like a job position that I interviewed for. The District manager asked a weird situational question. I don't remember the particulars, but it was something that was pretty much 0% chance of happening. I said that I would not have a clue how to handle it on paper, but I would know if it actually occurred. Their response was that "It was not the answer we were looking for".

theoj• 15 years ago

You can sometimes get away with admitting ignorance if you promise to follow up with action. As in "I don't know the exact particulars of Y, but I'll look into it later today and get back to you tonight." This is one of the things that students getting their first job who have spent all their lives in school don't get. They are so used to the academic environment and its expectations of always knowing on the spot, that they don't realize it's sometimes permissible not to know -- you just have to state it appropriately.

timurlenk• 15 years ago

While the article is just a bit superficial the smiling issue applies to most if not all east european countries.

Indeed, east europeans will mostly have a 'neutral' facial expression which is interpreted by most westerners as a frown. It's not a frown, it's just neutral.

East europeans will smile for a good reason and will not hesitate to break in to a laughter if the situation is funny enough. However, walking about smiling for no reason is indeed considered the attribute of mad men. For example in the romanian language 'vesel' means happy but it can also mean mad, disturbed, absent minded or drunk if put in a certain context.

Not smiling can be an impediment if doing business in the western culture but east europeans eventually get it.

raquo• 15 years ago

> if you smile, those people will take it as an insult

The article is well-balanced except for this. In Russia, a smile is not frowned upon, as this may imply, it's just not on by default. Being a Russian, I just don't feel obliged to keep a smile on my face for politeness or whatever, but it doesn't mean that it's harder to break the ice with me than with anyone else.

anghyflawn• 15 years ago

I agree. I grew up in Moscow, have lived in Norway for some time now and (I think) picked up the friendlier attitude - but I've never experienced that others are somehow uncomfortable with me smiling or whatever when I'm back. (I think this is important because a lot of the stereotypes come down not to the smile per se, but to the fact that people maybe be more self-conscious about talking to a foreigner or similar.)

scotty79• 15 years ago

It's pretty much the same in Poland. http://wulffmorgenthaler.com/strip/2009/09/15/

It changes slightly now with younger people and wealth but still after comming back to Poland after few months in Italy I was amazed how gray it was here. How washed up were colours of peoples clothes and how they matched their facial expressions. Being in public space in Poland seems to be about blending into neutral grayness not broadcasting yourself into the public space in best possible light. Probably we inherited this from years of communism when being noticed could get you in trouble and from years of transition to capitalism when displaing your well being could get you robbed.

nikcub• 15 years ago

50+ years of living under dreary communism can do that to you. I see the same throughout Eastern Europe. Some countries came out of it better than others.

daimyoyo2• 15 years ago

It wasn't the 50 years of communism as much as the 400 years of imperial oppression that preceded it.

rubashov2• 15 years ago

Hungarians are really friendly and had the worst of Soviet oppression. I don't think it's history. I just think Slavs are morose by nature.

zwischenzug• 15 years ago

Stalin smiled quite a bit, if memory serves.

VB6_Foreverr10• 15 years ago

Yes but he wasn't Russian ;)

shortlived• 15 years ago

Georgians are some of the most hospitable people on this planet.

wallflower• 15 years ago

"Fly the Friendly Skies" -United Airlines motto until 1996

"Multiple regression revealed r_=.135 for ‘Q20 The crew gives real, friendly smiles’. This may indicate that whilst real, friendly smiles contribute to an overall positive perception of ‘Expressive Display’ they have a small, direct influence on overall satisfaction...

The findings have shown that it is possible to quantify the effects of 'real' smiles on service satisfaction, even though, in this case is, it is rather small. There is a strong relationship between 'real' smiles and the perception of genuine care for the consumer."

-Measuring the Value of a 'Real' Smile in Service Providers’ Expressive Display: Evidence from the Airline Industry

VB6_Foreverr10• 15 years ago

My guesses :

1: America is a nation of immigrants and the descendants of immigrants. People who emigrate from their home country tend to be more likely to be of an optimistic nature (or manic depessive.) 2: Russia's unfortunate history must make for a traumatised psyche in the population as a whole. By contrast America's has been one success after another.

spektom• 15 years ago

There's a proverb in Russian: "laugh without a reason is a sign of foolishness". I don't know where this saying came from, but it's broadly accepted to tell it to anyone who smiles. I was always told this in school, since I smiled a lot. And I'm happy it hasn't had any affect on me :-)

deepwalker• 15 years ago

Its not proverb, its teasing rhyme. And this is piece of journalista shit. All much much simpler - you just need not to smile in soviet country. But now we come to shiny capitalistic future, and people learn to smile to their clients :)

zavulon2• 15 years ago

I'm Russian-American and visit Russia every few years or so.

The first time I went back, I remember getting on the Aeroflot plane, and finding out a blanket was missing (on an 8 hour flight, a necessity). I called the stewardess over and said, with an ear-to-ear American smile "Hi, it looks like I don't have a blanket, could you please get me one?"

She gave me a nasty look, and said "No". Then she turned around and walked away.

And that's when I realized I'm back home already.

VB6_Foreverr10• 15 years ago

You should try Ryanair sometime

arethuza• 15 years ago

I'm pretty sure Ryanair charges £5 for a nasty look.

VB6_Foreverr10• 15 years ago

Wow! I must be invisible

VB6_Foreverr10• 15 years ago

Of course it's possible she misunderstood you...

zavulon2• 15 years ago

I was speaking Russian to her ...

michaelpinto2• 15 years ago

New Yorkers don't smile! (unless nobody is looking)

mshron• 15 years ago

We do and we don't. Knowing how to look closed off is very helpful for dealing with people trying to hand you things, but smiling at wait staff has always seemed to help me.

Then again, very few people I interact with in New York are actually originally from New York, so I suppose it's hard to get a clean signal on how "New Yorkers" behave.

michaelpinto2• 15 years ago

The wait staff are being nice to you because they think you're a tourist! ; D

rdtsc2• 15 years ago

A couple of observations:

* A lot of business in Eastern Europe have recently learned the value of good customer service. Many employers require that their workers smile _and_ behave politely. When there is a choice between 2 grocery stores, I noticed my mother, would rather pay a little more and go further to the store where they are polite and smile rather than the one were they frown and throw the change back at you without even making eye contact.

* A lot of the perception of "gloomy" Soviet people come from pictures people see. I lived half of my life here and half in ex-Soviet Union. Even when I show pictures of our family having fun (usually a picnic in the woods, making kabobs, playing badminton) Americans are surprised and ask "How come nobody is smiling? is it because life was so hard for you?" -- now that question always makes me smile (pun intended). They see us together obviously having fun, but because we don't smile at the camera, they assume we were suffering.

* I think there is often a confusion between "smiling" and "acting politely". Both are orthogonal. I think a forced smiling is a little disturbing, as it can be detected as such. However, I would rather take a polite and courteous attitude rather than smiling.

* As others pointed out, smiling actually ends up affecting the mood and makes the person feel and act happier. So in this case a force smile ends up becoming a genuine smile.

* In some cultures (Asian I think, anyone have a reference? ) laughter and smiling can be a sign of fear. I remember hearing about groups of civilians being slaughtered because they responded with laughter at their captors (Western soldiers). That laugher was perceived as mockery which enraged the soldiers. So it seems there are multiple interpretations for smiling depending on the cultural background.

Nick_C• 15 years ago

> In some cultures (Asian I think, anyone have a reference? ) laughter and smiling can be a sign of fear.

I remember Australians were outraged when one of the Bali bombers was shown in court laughing and smiling as the charges were read out. Later, various commentators said that, for Javanese, smiling in public didn't necessarily mean someone was happy or joyous, but was nervous or stressed.

I don't know how widespread that is in the rest of Asia, though.

varjag• 15 years ago

Protip from a native: don't smile in former USSR when dealing with service or authorities. A smile is perceived as weakness and an invitation to pwn you over.

danking00• 15 years ago

I love meeting new people. Smiling is like saying "Hey there! I'm So and So, how are you? Tell me about yourself!"

Unosolo• 15 years ago

In no particular order:

- In Russia when they ask: "how are you" they actually expect a genuine and extended answer.

- Smiles are scarce and reserved for inner social circle only.

- Men act toward any strangers as if they expected to be assaulted at any moment.

- Everyone and especially women dress up most of the time.

- When paying for goods or services change is never given straight into the palm of your hand, it's always placed into a little plate or stand instead. As if the seller is scared of any bodily contact.

- Once the communication barriers are broken and you enter the inner social circle Russian hospitality is genuine and exceeds by far any Western standards.

gruseom2• 15 years ago

Your last point is good and applies to more than Russians (though it accurately describes my experience with Russians too). I've noticed it to a lesser extent (everything is to a lesser extent compared with Russians) in East coast vs. West coast Americans. In California people are friendlier on the surface but harder to really get to know. In New York the surfaces are ruder but once you're accepted as not a stranger the interactions are warmer and more satisfying.

Somewhat related, the late cartoonist Callahan had a classic called "The Difference Between New York and LA". In one panel, labeled LA, was a guy saying "Have a nice day" and thinking "Fuck you." In the opposite panel, labeled New York, was a guy saying "Fuck you" and thinking "Have a nice day".

mdda• 15 years ago

NY vs. LA Cartoon : http://slithytove.com/media/pictures/callahan.jpg

grishick2• 15 years ago

Once, a co-worker told me post-factum that the biggest hesitation about hiring me was that I didn't look excited enough. Luckily for me it's a known stereotype and there was someone who said "he is just Russian, they are all like that". It took me a few years to get used to the American smile, and then couple more years to get used to the meaningless "how are you?". What I still cannot get used to though is the "stranger nod". Every time you look at an American, they nod at you and say "how are you", even a stranger in a shopping mall. Once, when I was visiting Moscow, I tried looking at a stranger and nodding. The most friendly reaction of a Muscovite was a confused look, the least friendly almost got me into a fight. Maybe it is just me being "Russian", but to me this nod and the meaningless "how are you", and the protective smile mean the same as a Muscovite's angry "what do you want?"

daimyoyo2• 15 years ago

I'm not Russian but I have the same reaction to people smiling without reason. There are few things that annoy me more than someone putting on a fake smile. Especially in customer service. Bank tellers seem to be the worst. "Hi! Nice shirt! How are you today?" You don't care how I am today. Stop talking and process my transaction.

bane• 15 years ago

In the early 90's I had the good fortune to participate in an exchange program with some kids from Yekaterinburg. I got to spend a little while in Moscow and the summer out in the Urals. It was a fantastic educational experience I draw on to this day.

One key takeaway that my exchange group all agreed on, in public, Russians will just as soon run you over with their car as smile, but once you get inside a close social circle, Russians are easily as warm, and probably more hospitable than any American -- full of warmth and great humor. Many laughs were to be had around the dinner table in a little Soviet-Era flat, drinking Vodka, eating, singing and dancing and telling tall-tales.

mman2• 15 years ago

My two cents as an American: fake smiling and fake tone of voice are equally annoying, apparent, and dishonest. It creates a really unpleasant feeling to see people expressing themselves in a way that's inconsistent with their current feelings. It's logical to be wary of the person. Who knows if they might deceive you in other ways?

/me purchases a one way ticket to Russia.

mman2• 15 years ago

Sorry, i meant to deliver that last line with a superfluous emoticon. =).

cageface• 15 years ago

I'm in Vietnam right now which is currently a very popular destination spot for Russians. There are far more Russian tourists here in Nha Trang than there are of any other nationality. Yet almost every Vietnamese I've talked to seems indifferent at best to them. Unlike the generally easy-going and jovial Aussies and Brits all over SE Asia, the Russians always seem gruff and taciturn. Maybe it's just a surface difference but it affects the response they get from other cultures.

jarek• 15 years ago

Sure is a lot of ethnocentrism in these comments :)

bluishgreen• 15 years ago

Were Americans always smiling? These pictures from before WW2 seem to indicate otherwise.

http://blogs.denverpost.com/captured/2010/07/26/captured-ame...

It might be because they were in a depression, but look at picture 13, that situation almost calls for a smile. So the most likely scenario seems to be the smiling is a relatively new cultural thing.

obiterdictum• 15 years ago

I'll throw in an unsubstantiated hypothesis that this happened with popularization of Carnegie's "How to Win Friends and Influence People".

harshpotatoes• 15 years ago

As a continuation on the idea that they were in a depression, but also remember that picture 13 is located in Oklahoma and a mere six years earlier they were probably experiencing the dust bowl.

trurl123• 15 years ago

That's wrong: many Russian tourists traveling to Thailand still feel uncomfortable about this country. Thailand is known as a country of a thousand smiles. Many Russians love Thailand and I don't hear about feel uncomfortable.

kds• 15 years ago

From the comments below the article: "I am an American and I do smile a lot. I am happy, content, and armed. I do not fear strangers, and I smile because I am happy to share my joy with you."

He-he... A perfect example of neurotic behavior. And fearing no strangers and being armed is something in the same league with being happy and content - that's really an awesome indicator for an open and friendly culture ;)

doublez• 15 years ago

Ppl, this is a low-fi piece journalistic trolling - the "subject matter" was growing a beard when I was a Moscow high school senior 20 years ago :).

Leaving aside the Russian tendency to take ill-informed pot shots at Americans (a national past time), cultural anthropology is an actual discipline with actual data to peruse - _lots_ of it - if you're interested. Curiosities of cultural interaction go far wider than the "happy fool/gloomy fool" non-dilemma here. ;)

Why do Russians smile so little (and Americans so much?)

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