Why Do Americans Smile So Much? 

....ok

What did I just read.

Hahahaha

Natasha Tylosky Lol exactly what I thought

Haha!

shayne whydoihavetohavealastnamegoogle? She said that...

You sound gay smiling at each other without words unless it’s a women but then again it’s just weird.. haha

Roman lol it's not gay It's beyond normal It's like waving if you don't smile back that's pretty lame imo

I assume Roman is not an American

Well in my country we would simply give each other a little nod

Same. xD

Yeah, I do smile a lot. Mostly when I make eye contact with someone random, so I just crack a quick neutral smile. It makes it less awkward... Unless they just don't smile back, which heightens the awkwardness, at least for me.

We smile a lot and when I was in Japan I smiled all the time and no one smiled back. I felt lonely and dumb.

Ikr! 😂

Jessie G 😂🤣😂 fans news

And their teeth are pretty bad

good one!

@@austinprice770 😂

@@austinprice770 it's a tiny country mate

The trick is to smile... Ironically

Its a good thing though 😁

yep very much so. forced smiling was something i never took to and it bothers so many people lol

People all over the world smile when they are happy or hear a good joke, not all day long fake smiles without a reason like americans....

​@@stephenamaya3301 and fake! Real smiles are ONLY when you are happy or hear a good joke! Rest of them are fake smiles... Do you americans know the difference between an natural smile and an FORCED one??

I agree

Warren Chambers Quite the contrary I sometimes can't handle corporate happiness especially if I have bad day myself. I won't enter a chain store before I haven't found my soup Nazi for the day.

I prefer to believe that the dog is the one who wrote this.

There are few things likely to make me more uncomfortable than a stranger maniacly grinning at me.

In some cultures smiling means you are up to no good. It is the devil's grin to them.

I love your dog

Smiling for no reason is a bit scary

Yes 😐

in other countries it is I guess

@@ahfei6847 there's different types of smiles. there's the greeting smile which is toothless for me. then the smile you show all teeth which is reserved for my family and friends

My problem is why do people say sorry so often? This isn't stereotypical Canada.

I get it its part of local norm, but dont you think about why would strangers care about your smile? why do you think they need your smile? why dont you just carry on your own business and leave others alone?

@@larshofler8298 Because we're all part of one nation under God indivisible with liberty, and justice for all

@@badcornflakes6374 bruh

@@badcornflakes6374 USA! best answer. Naw, I guess we're to polite and confident

Imagine unironically using the word "douche" 🤣🤣🤣🤡🤡

You're right.

Exporting fake smiling is like exporting bad fast food

you exported a lot of wars with your fake smiles on your faces

Same. Maybe we smile because we aren't afraid to show our teeth? My Dad is mostly British, and has crooked teeth. He doesn't smile much because of that. I was in braces for five years so I make the most of what I have and smile a lot!

Buddy

Haha I love that movie

Make work your new favorite

Are you Poppy?

you are crazy then

someone Half German experience here though raised 90% with the Krauts. And whenever I just arrive in the US it always takes a day and ten service industry worker whom i tell an extensive amount of how i am and what my day was like before I reconfigure back that they actually weren't really expecting more than a one liner. The other side of this of course is German Walmart (the brief time it existed) didn't hire American employees who have that (corporate america) smiling engrained into them... But they told the Germans to do that "smile" (More like Jim Carry in the Truman Show) and it didn't kick in until 3-6 seconds into an exchange and returned into a reflection of his hourly wage on "bye". Neither the customers nor the employees really knew what to make of this, the Germans have base level of customer service engagement that equates to a Comcast technician. For some jobs its indispensable but in general no one can tell you not to have a bad day by the same token if you ever wondered if one can just hang up on a nasty customer… in real life. Yes you can. »Not in that tone« _he said and kept walking right past her._ just glorious.

I grow up in Asia and I find big smiles especially weird when I see them on Asian Americans. Similarly Americans find our shyness just as weird. We didn't grow up in an environment that encourages us to be confident and expressive. Being light-hearted and blunt is impolite and inconsiderate. So it's best to show your maturity and restraint with an apologetic grin. To a certain extent I envy Americans' confidence but also despise them for their seemingly selfish or ignorant happiness. But not all Asians are like this of course. My parents were really strict so when it comes to expressing happiness I'm always very cautious.

milkyway I DON'T LIKE PRETENDING TO SMILE FOR THE SAKE OF PRETENDING FOR OTHERS. FORCING OTHERS TO BEHAVE NOT BASED ON HOW THEY FEEL IS TOXIC.

I'm American but sometimes I'm exhausted by having to smile all the time or be expected to look happy when I'm actually feeling tired and drained. After I lost my grandmother, I was visibly upset and a bunch of people in public (mostly men) told me to smile. I think this part of our culture it's a bit too much sometimes. It can amount to emotional labor for the comfort of others at one's own personal expense.

Nobody has a problem with a happy smile, but with an unsincere one. Also it is us-american manners and us-american politeness, not an universal set of values all cultures share.

Depends on which part of Asia. Southeast Asians smile a lot - Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia. As you move further north, then the smile subsides.

i apricate asians being reserved, i wish more people were like that. damn near need ear plugs just to walk around my neighborhood with all the bass, fighting, dogs barking, dump trucks, cars with no exhaust etc etc

Oddly enough, I was never able to find friendships with people who are reserved, because I lack the social skills to pick up subtle social cues. I prefer bold and brash, at least I can understand them.

💯💯

I’m sorry :( And I know that feeling

why are you smiling in your pfp then?

: |

:D

=D

>:=|

8======D~~~ D:

Dr0pkidd Same

Sounds like the German grandmother in the movie, "Lost in Yonkers".

German Americans are growing day by day

+NaPaF China has 56 ethnicities.

Yeah, but those ethnicities are becoming more homogenous

91% of the population of China are Han Chinese. The rest of the ethnicities are in the remaining 9%.

Nah, I'd say in China unwarranted smiling can be seen as deceptive and make people uncomfortable. I'm comfortable being more American around younger people my age, but I'd definitely be more reserved in front of adults. There's both a strength and weakness to the soft power communication of the Chinese. Fun topic to disect in general, communication.

Not as much in New England but still friendlier there than Europe

About as pessimistic as your view on the world is optimistic, ignoring the many places in the world where life is not just hard but rightout miserable, where surviving to live another day is often sheer luck, where there's no rule of law and even the most basic needs are a luxury for most.

It's not the smiling we consider to be stupid, it's the smiling for no reason. Pay more attention to the video you dumb amerifat.

If you see a person smiling, how do you know whether or not they have a reason?

Paget Vido Are you suggesting that pesimists are stupid?

Smiling for a picture is a good example. You don't smile for a picture because your body wants to smile, you smile because you were conditioned by your culture to smile.

it's not that americans are smiling for no reason, it's that americans are finding every reason they can.

Luke Borom America has higher rate of depression because it is a country with higher population, stupid.

No Name Despite population size, wouldn’t the rate be based on proportionate percentages...? A large population size would yield a larger population of depressed people, yeah, but the percentage ratio comparison between both countries should still be relative to each other...

John A Absolutely not, unless you will do so on a state by state basis. The people in some states are extremely better off than people in other states. Each state is like its own separate country. You will probably find that some states have higher statistics of depression or dissatisfaction based on a number of different factors.

No Name Regional variance can apply to every country. I agree that every state can be different, but they’re still a part of the whole country, operating under federal law. Every region will impact overall rate. What you’re saying is valid, but that’s straying from the original point: the rates of depression between two different countries...

lol what do you say instead?

Andreas Jackson not “good”

"How's it going?" isn't considered as part of a greeting in Russia. If you ask a Russian "How are you?", they are going to tell you how they are, literally. They're going to tell you about how they feel, how their career is going, recent changes in their lives, etc. Whereas if you go to the US, the UK, or France, for instance, "How are you?" is only a formality, no one's really asking you how you are.

very true

Maybe not, but you have to admit many Koreans walk around with very grumpy faces, especially the old people (I live in SK).

I have noticed a lot of young Koreans are very smiley and sweet

Jay Dua that’s America too

That's because Amercains and Canadians are like Labs and Golden Retrievers. Very simalir but with subtle differences. Unpopular opnion from someone English . The Canadians I have known and the Canadian women I worked with some years ago made myself and my fellow English colleagues seem painfully awkward and shy . She had to find something positive about the shithole we lived in .

ikr. like would you rather me give u a dirty look instead lmao

same girl same... i CAN'T and DON'T want to do fake things in life! The ONLY reason for a true natural smile is to be happy or hear a good joke not when you see a stranger for 5 seconds!

Exactly! At school, we're forced to smile at times, which makes me NOT want to.

I guess he is right based on my experience!!

Do you think those people in the poor countries would treat you as well if they knew you were just as poor as them?

In Ya i assume your brother in law is on a tycoon level of wealth compared to the poor people from other countries, so there might be other reasons theyre smiling and friendly to him...

In Sweden smiling is considered polite, and it encourages positive feelings. I assume it's same in Norway and Denmark!

Theaikro Yea same in Norway. I also kinda think people are nice to strangers because we have so much free time. I do believe people in the country are nicer than city people, but that's mainly me having bad experiences on the east side of my city... People in poorer countries (depending on the country) might be extremely happy people, not because of material wealth, but spiritual or social "wealth". I don't know, but i do know that after Scandinavia the happiest people are the people of the Himalayas so yeAh...

The land of the fake smile too.. THey smile at you so they catch your attention with their teeth instead of the huge knife they are probably hidding at their back...

People who claim to be high in empathy aren't

In my country, people's default faces are mostly neutral and it really seems weird to see people just smile for no reason, making them seem crazy to us or having ulterior motives. It's not like smilling is seen as negative but rather smilling without any apparent reason seems to really weird us out.

If everyone smiled at once, it would have a world wide impact . Alf, you're a bore, any smiling American would probably have more confidence and courage than you! As these are also highly valued traits in that culture. They smile often, but they also fear relatively little compared to some hush European cultures. Imagine, you can have both! Then again, you're probably just a troll.

Yep, says the emotionless robot from northern Europe, are you even human?

naa I think we are good here. No need to fake smile 24/7.

Hell no. Why should we smile to strangers for no reason. That seems to me like dishonest or coping or weird. Just smile when you are happy, with your friends, when something good happens etc.

@@dn8601 I don't mind the American smile except that if you don't smile back Americans will tend to dislike you. It's used as a hello and if you don't smile back it as if you didn't return their hello even if you actually did verbally greet them.

Don't worry, it means that you are a free person.

Nathan Ezra I think that's kind of sad. I know it's a matter of perspective but I'm a very introverted and I still make a point to smile at people because I'm trying to show them some genuine kindness. Especially if the person looks like they're having a bad day. I had a hard time not smiling when I went to Korea and got a few puzzled faces from people but it's such an ingrained habit that I practice to bring a bit more levity to people's days that I forget.

We americans are VERY fake and superficial! We have entire campaigns against men telling women to smile because of some of the dumb overly smiley grnder expectations here too.

It really depends on the smile. Those giant grins are pretty annoying and forced. But you can have a genuine, friendly smile to a stranger.

I really believe it depends if you are being genuine or not, and connecting with those around you. I smile when initiated, and I'm American. I didn't come off dumb in other countries. So yes fake is dumb.

I've never felt that way.

🤣👏👏👏 thank youu

No. Scowl and mumble like everyone else

If someone smiled me on street without a reason I would think that someone is weird.

It's not about being polite or happy! Northern European countries (especially Norway/Finland) are the countries that come out year after year as the happiest in the world, but here NOBODY smiles for no reason and the reasons for a NATURAL smile are to be happy or to hear a good joke ! This are real reasons to smile, the rest are fake/forced smiles! Here, if you smile at a stranger, he will put his head down and consider you stupid or crazy...

Shut it you yank loser

Lol this is the truth

lmaoooooo

I especially like that smile from the movie Psycho, it is very encouraging and friendly🤣😁

@@fgjjdgb3949 oh yes how can i forget that 💀

@@ggthewhale Jeff the Killer is generally the most positive guy on the planet, I have never seen him without his trademark happy smile, as if he does not know how not to smile as soon as he succeeds😂😊

@@fgjjdgb3949 genuine smile (what i initially talked about) ≠ psychopathic smile of smug contentment after committing murder/causing harm

​@@ggthewhale Exactly. But you can fake a smile. That's why I've always been worried about the fake emotions.

It's not about being polite or happy! Northern European countries (especially Norway/Finland) are the countries that come out year after year as the happiest in the world, but here NOBODY smiles for no reason and the reasons for a NATURAL smile are to be happy or to hear a good ! This are real reasons to smile, the rest are fake/forced smiles! Here, if you smile at a stranger, he will put his head down and consider you stupid or crazy...

What do Swedish think about American tourists? Do they out-smile them?

Swedes are like Americans. You guys should be one country.

It's not about being polite or happy! Northern European countries (especially Norway/Finland) are the countries that come out year after year as the happiest in the world, but here NOBODY smiles for no reason and the reasons for a NATURAL smile are to be happy or to hear a good joke! This are real reasons to smile, the rest are fake/forced smiles! Here, if you smile at a stranger, he will put his head down and consider you stupid or crazy...

Som Ebody what are you doing here, rozbelaban

laila64 haha what the hell what a coincidence

I can definitely relate to this

2 years late but you and I aren't so different

@@vanz681 :)

high five,hoot-n-holler,laugh,hug.sing,dance,

Plastic Soup.... We smile because we genuinely care that you will have a good experience!! Your good experience is our reward and makes our day brighter also!!! These are mostly genuine smiles!!! I feel so much better when a customer leaves happy!!!

No..they were saying they had to coach the German workers to smile because smiling at people doesn't come natural to Germans. Smiling at people like passersby comes naturally to Americans. We have customer service workers sometimes who don't smile or are not very friendly and it's unpleasant. If you smile and are friendly, here you are considered well-suited for customer service jobs where you would give people that warm friendly welcome to stores. Ppl here can generally tell I think if others are being genuine or disingenuous. It usually feels genuine, though not always with customer service reps

ikr. like would you rather i give you a dirty look and flip you off instead?

@@yourneighborhoodwierdo8349 Yes thats a normal day in Europe

@@zanikusari1008 lmao

Literally so true Americans will literally walk and non American will be triggered

@@yourneighborhoodwierdo8349 Nah, there's a misunderstanding here. What most people say is weird and freaky (and/or looks fake) is how often and how big the smiles are. Like, small smiles with the occasional big one is perfectly fine. But sometimes americans just have that big, unmoving smile from ear to ear and that... is quite freaky

One time I was in this restaurant and this beautiful woman in the booth across from me, kept glancing over at me and smiling at me. It was sooooo creepy. Yikes!

Then, that person is imposing of his state of being on others.

@@mojojim6458 No, it means you respect the other... Instead of being a dick and disregard what others feel, that's quite violent. Do you ever notice theres a link between American invasion of Iraq and elsewhere and the culture of smiling at strangers? Both based on indifference towards the Other and direct imposition of your own feeling and imagination.

Fully agreed. "Stupid" does mean insensitive, indifferent.

Smiles have been shown by studies to be contagious..is that imposing or caring/loving? Why don't they just read that we Americans are happy and be good with that😂 how is that insensitive

Lol I only smile half the time, and that's when I'm happy or if I'm laughing at a joke.

Good man, just keep it real

@@xpozen8994 woman*

I agree. I've always been taught to smile and be friendly because it could make a person's day- especially people working in places where they serve hundreds of customers in a day and never get a thank-you. When people smile at me it makes me more comfortable. I guess I haven't thought too much about it- I've never considered the fact that smiling might not be normal. :/

Jocey Perez See if you're not socialized with that habit growing up, it can literally have the opposite effect if I sense a waiter is having a bad day but still takes the smile and chitchat the whole nine yard I just feel endlessly sorry for him. And I don't mean he should take it out on somebody but I don't know how to put this... just break character? In personal settings i go in and out of it as i feel. While i was in school however i worked at the reception of some budget hotel/hostel that worked by a morning, evening and night shift à 8 hours. When i had exams, say by the end of the month i worked off the required minimum hours in what we called 'double-jump shift'. You start the first shift and whenever a guest enter the foyer you smile but after the first couple of guests my resting facial expression shifted to this subtle static smile, pair that with some monotone/repetitive task like guest check in procedures and my mind goes emotional blank on autopilot for hours on end, then you block a room in the system (only weekdays. Weekends occupancy rate ≅ 100%) have some sleep and then take over again from the guy that released you 8 hours prior. Actually that made smiling a lot easier because the people checking out were always visibly wondering if I was the guy checking them in the night before¹. But by the end of that i literally have to massage that smile off my face and after some time dropped it to only smile when I felt like it or else i would have had to quit. ¹ _my preference hypothetically was to take the afternoon shift for rest as the night shift was just some routine maintenance and usually very quite during the week. But two 8 hour shifts on the same workday... of course was never practised._

No

But what if you're dead inside and hate people?

We smile so that others will wonder what we are thinking. Mwahahhahahha! I smile because of the documentary God Grew Tired of Us and because my brother pointed out we don't have it so bad here.

how is it part of a job to be fake

fake smiles

@@denisiorga7368 They aren’t ‘fake’ they mean something to us. They make peoples days, they are polite and kind. I don’t understand how someone can call a smile ignorant and rude.

​@@Lemondrop157 ngl, I'm American and I gotta agree with Denis on this.

Sometimes scarily optimistic .....

I've actually been told by others to smile more, and not just in the workplace but on the streets. (Though less now compared to in the past.) Smiling can be tiring as heck when you naturally have a rbf.

So so true

We are just doing it to be polite though. I don’t expect to start a conversation with someone I cross paths with. So I don’t see your point.

What the fuck are you talking about and why is this an upvoted comment? As long as you're not scowling at people, not smiling is an acceptable thing to do in the US. Have you been walking around with a Joker smile for fear that people will react harshly if you don't?

So true. It’s always annoying when you’re relaxed and minding your own business and someone asks you if you’re ok or tells you to smile more.

ikr. just accept the fuckin smile. like is it that hard

@@tomato-tu1ow it's called courtesy dude. we smile out of courtesy. something you don't know about obviously

@finlay I guess it can come off as that. but mostly in the US, we smile as a greeting.

Can't see it that way, its empty and fake, without value behind it. Smiling If you don't mean IT is waste of time

@@thepax6390 it’s called being polite

chinmay verma the fact that the map is messed up makes me question the research put into this video

Its an art style - every country was depicted artistically. They only needed to symbolize the countries not navigate them.

TheFeralRobot dude they just lopped off the entire northeast and j&k. not the same as jagged edges

right ogdigkgy it made me so mad

I love Thailand but have found the smiles there to be more of a mask than a legitimate expression of happiness. It's probably the same with the USA, as well (I'm from the US).

You mean excited about wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and all those dirty jobs in the Middle East and Latin America? I got you buddy

This is the most ill thought out comment I have ever seen on the Internet.

Vainglory 2KW8Ω I actually relate more to the smiling wallpunchers. We're just trying to provide you GREAT SERVICE.. WHY DONT YOU SEE THAT!!!? 😁😁😁😬😁😁😁😬😁

I just smile to cover up that I’m sad It works

AudiophileTubes ...because it's Happy Hour Again!

France also works with your argument- they don't like the American smile either. I think it's just different cultural values from country to country. Fun fact, Russians have started smiling more over the past few years (at least in customer service).

I'm not sure this is based on real fact

Right, but when it's a cultural trait (not because "life is just better here," that's a crock of shit), it loses all value. How am I supposed to know if someone really is sincerely welcoming if everyone smiles? (I'd like to note that passive-aggressiveness is a much bigger thing in the U.S. than other parts of the world.) That's not to say Americans aren't more welcoming- I've found that they're more open (and seem more excited in general) to meet new people, and the smile comes par for the course with that, but having it as a widespread, socially accepted habit begs the question: What face do I make when I want to let someone know I'm truly happy?

LancesArmorStriking Motion. Arm movement.

Sugarbunny For Germany people in a personal encounter will just take it for you having a good day or being generally a nice person. Though if you make eye contact a German will unapologetic stare at you until they finished their thought, usually completing a mental grocery list.

It's easy for me to tell when it's genuine. You just grow up in it.

It also depends, in Germany, if you're in the city or the country. Smiling is quite the norm in the country side.

Natural human behaviour.

I agree, it's not very healthy to show such emmotion to someone you don't know. There is no good reason to smile or talk to a stranger. Chances are you will never see them ever again, plus (in my opinion) it's just not healthy at all to interact with someone you know nothing about.

It always came off to me as insincere when someone smiles at me for absolutely no reason. I almost feel like I'm being mocked. I'm Central European.

Awalys everything about americans is so fake and hypocritical

*cringe*