Why Russians do not smile?

The foreigners constantly tell that Russians are surprisingly unsmiling people. It is written on blogs and guidebooks, asked in person and told to all friends and acquaintances. Indeed, we smile much less than other nationalities, but, as it turned out, for the particular reasons. A famous scientist, Professor Joseph Sternin calls everyday unsmiling one of the features of the Russian character, and explains it by our particular mentality.

1. The smile in Russian communication is not a signal of courtesy. Western smiles while greeting mean pure politeness. The more a person smiles the more friendliness he wants to show his partner. The constant polite smile is called in Russia "a duty smile" and characterizes a person not in the best way because is interpreted as manifestation of his insincerity, reserved character and unwillingness to show true feelings. While Russian smile is a sign of personal sympathy, not politeness.
2. Russians do not smile to strangers. The smile of Russians is addressed most often to familiar people. That is why the shop assistants do not smile at customers - they do not know them. If the customer is familiar to a shop assistant, he will certainly smile!
3. For Russians is atypical to smile back. If a Russian sees a stranger smiling at him, he will seek for the reason of such fun (e.g. maybe something in his clothing or hairstyle made this stranger smile).
4. There should be an obvious reason for a Russian to smile. From the point of view of others it gives a person the right to smile. The Russian language has a unique saying that is not found in other languages: "A fool is known by his laughing".
5. Russians are unsmiling ( but not gloomy – in their majority they are merry, funloving and cheerful people). Russian habit not to smile is supported by Russian folklore, where we find a lot of sayings and proverbs "against" laughter and jokes such as “A joke will lead to no good” or “A fun and a sin” or “Other cry is an eco of laughter”.
6. In Russia it is not acceptable to smile while on duty or in the performance of any serious business. For example, customs officers at airports never smile as engaged in serious duty.

Russian smile is to be only sincere; it is regarded as a sincere expression of good mood or position to another person. So, if a foreigner smiles at you it does not obligatory mean anything, he was taught to smile at everyone, and if Russian smiles, it is because he really wants to.

28.03.2016 by Russian Army

Translated of the original article in Russian: http://topnewsrussia.ru/