Why in Russia it is not customary to smile

Photo: depositphotos.com

Many foreigners, arriving in Russia, are amazed by the gloom and gloom of the Russians.

Edition The Village with Joseph Sternin, Doctor of Philology and the author of the article "Smile in Russian communicative behavior," decided to dot the point and in this matter and explain to everyone why in Russia it is not accepted to smile.

Russian writers often paid attention to this. In the East, the same thing. In China, there is a saying: "Who can not smile, he will not be able to open a shop». In Japan, the girls at the entrance to the escalator in large department stores are smiling and bowing to every customer stepping on the escalator - 2 500 smiles and bows per day.

Smile politeness in some cultures makes sense to protect the interlocutor from grieving in connection with the perception of the narrated. For example, Ilya Ehrenburg tells about a Chinese, who with a smile informed him about the death of his wife. But this polite smile meant: "You must not be upset, this is my grief."

Photo: depositphotos.com

In Russian communicative behavior, a smile of politeness or out of politeness is simply not accepted, and even vice versa - to a purely polite smile of the interlocutor, if it is identified as such, the Russian person is usually wary or even hostile. The Russian phrase “he smiled out of politeness” contains a disapproving attitude towards the one who smiled. The constant polite smile is called a “duty smile” among Russians and is considered an unpleasant feature of a person, a manifestation of his insincerity, secrecy, and unwillingness to discover true feelings.

3. In Russian communication it is not customary to smile at strangers. Therefore, saleswomen do not smile at customers - they do not know them.

4. In Russian, it is not accepted to automatically respond with a smile to the smile of even a familiar person. Rather, it is seen as an invitation to make contact.

5. In Russian communication it is not customary to smile at a person if you accidentally met his gaze. Our people look away, and the Americans smile back. The Russians smile is a signal of personal disposition to a person. She demonstrates that a smiling person treats another person with personal sympathy. Therefore, a smile to a stranger can be followed by a reaction: “Do we know you?”.

6. It is not customary for Russians to smile in the performance of their official duties when performing responsible business. Customs officers, sellers, waiters do not smile. It is not customary for children to smile in class.

7. The smile of a Russian person must have a valid reason known to those around him. Then a person gets right to it in the eyes of others. One university teacher once wrote a complaint to the party committee on the rector of the institute: "He mocks me - always smiling when we meet with him."

There is a unique saying in Russian that is absent in other languages, “Laughter without a reason is a sign of a fool.” One German teacher, to whom they explained the meaning of this saying, could not understand at all and asked everything: “Why does one follow from the other?”

8. In Russian communicative culture, it is not customary to smile just to raise the mood of the interlocutor. It is not customary to smile for the purpose of self-encouragement. In one Japanese documentary film about the forced landing of an airplane, a flight attendant smiled at passengers before an emergency landing, and after landing fell and huddled in hysterics. Public opinion in Russia even condemns the smile of self-encouragement: “Her husband left her, and she walks smiling.”

10. A smile in a formal setting and in a company demonstrates the good mood and friendliness of people. In the company of a smile acts as a sign of mutual goodwill and a pleasant pastime.

11. In Russians, there is a vague distinction between a smile and a laugh. These phenomena are identified. At the same time, the word “laugh” has a common Slavic root and correspondences in Indo-European languages: Latin. smietis - “laugh”, Skt. smayaty - “smile”, eng. smile - “smile”. And “smile” is actually Russian education..

The household unsmilingness of the Russian person can be hypothetically explained by such reasons. The collective nature of being a Russian person suggests that everyone should know everything about each other. Hence the desire and habit not to hide their feelings, their mood. The everyday life of the Russian people, especially the serf, for many centuries was a hard struggle for existence. As a result, concern was entrenched as a normative household mimic. The smile reflects an exception to the rule in these conditions - well-being, prosperity, good mood, and this can be in a few and in exceptional cases. This may cause questions, envy, and even hostility: “Why did you smile?”.

Market relations in the present conditions are a stimulus, on the one hand, to the even greater concern of the Russian people, and on the other hand, to the emergence of professional, “commercial” affability, which cannot but affect Russian communicative behavior.

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