Both men and women. Is it to do with the way they smile/pose for the camera or something? Seriously, I can almost tell someone is American by the way their neck looks in a photo

  • ivanafterall@kbin.social
    981·
    1 year ago

    HEY OP, YOU CAN’T JUST ACCUSE AN ENTIRE NATION OF HAVING THICK NECKS AND DISAPPEAR WITHOUT ELABORATING. DO I HAVE A THICK NECK!?

  • TootSweet@lemmy.worldEnglish
    571·
    1 year ago

    As an american, I find this thread extremely entertaining but also perplexing. Now I want to see side-by-side comparisons of photos of americans and photos of non-americans. As others have said this is nothing I’ve ever noticed, but now I want to know if this is actually a thing or not.

  • Synnr@sopuli.xyz
    42·
    1 year ago

    This is interesting. Even skinny Americans? I’ve never heard this, but I have heard you can tell someone is American because people from elsewhere don’t lean on things when standing.

      • bipmi@beehaw.org
        261·
        1 year ago

        I am an american and I have lived here my whole life, and I never got this. Almost every person I know IRL except me smiles with all their teeth out like a fucking demented shark or something, and if I dont show my teeth like Im about to bite someone then other people chide in like “come on you arent even smiling!”. For some reason americans just bare all their teeth like dogs when we smile and its disgusting and weird

        • Synnr@sopuli.xyz
          61·
          1 year ago

          Would it be wrong to assume you are self-conscious about your teeth (crooked, missing, etc)? This is the case with every American I know that doesn’t like to smile on photos, although sometimes they’re people who are happy to do full-burst laughter showing all in small trusted group settings.

          • railsdev@programming.dev
            5·
            1 year ago

            I have very white, straight teeth (always get complimented, it’s weird) yet I can’t stand smiling in photos either. I always look like a dementor or serial killer; a natural smile? Sure but posing for the camera all cheesy? Hell no

            • Synnr@sopuli.xyz
              3·
              1 year ago

              I don’t know if this is the case with you but if you have naturally wide eyes (say, anxiety for example) then a full tooth smile is creepy looking. Relaxed eyes on the other hand (think pictures of happily stoned people) are fine showing full mouth IMO.

              Although some people “grit” or “bare(/bear?)” their teeth in an attempt to fake a natural laughter smile and… no. The muscles around the mouth should be relaxed not tense. There’s no substitute for a candid laughter smile. But not many people can fake the crows feet in the eyes of a real smile, so if someone is more comfortable smiling with no teeth showing, that’s more than fine.

              I’ve done a bit of photography in my day.

              • railsdev@programming.dev
                4·
                1 year ago

                If I can think of something funny on the spot and laugh a little bit I feel less creepy, but sometimes it’s just difficult to do that right then and there.

                As for bearing(?) the teeth, a few times I caught myself doing this unintentionally as I get older; I always feel like an idiot afterward because I’ve always known this isn’t the way. It could be due to the fact that I’m (happily) rarely involved in these sort of photos as life goes on.

          • bipmi@beehaw.org
            3·
            1 year ago

            Im not particularly conscious and I do sometimes smile with some teeth showing, like if I was laughing super hard and my teeth just happened to be showing I wouldnt try to hide it. But if I am, say, taking a group photo, I dont smile with all my teeth out. Its just weird to me.

      • QuinceDaPence@kbin.social
        186·
        1 year ago

        Two jokes I can make out of this. Which could dig at either US or EU/UK

        1. I paid for it, I’m gonna show it off.

        2. Have you seen the British?

          • Synnr@sopuli.xyz
            31·
            1 year ago

            Well, it is federated and the main lemmy.ml site is full of tankies in disguise. So I imagine it spreads.

            If we could get rid of the corruption and feel some sense of duty and control over our countries again instead of land mattering more than people when it came to the voting process, and getting fucked every which way from Saturday in the process, maybe people would feel less apt to dig.

  • const_void@lemmy.ml
    446·
    1 year ago

    Car culture is huge in the United States. Most folks I know drive everywhere even if it’s only a mile away. Add fast food drive-throughs like McDonald’s to this and you get obesity and thick “necks”.

  • makeasnek@lemmy.ml
    232·
    1 year ago

    In addition to being overweight, there is the problem of your posture getting stuck in a position if you are always in that position. You know how in other countries people take public transit and walk or bike places? This allows the posture to reset after sitting at an office. Americans never get that chance because they go from sitting at the office to sitting in their car to sitting on their couch. So their neck and shoulders never really gets much of an opportunity to not be pushing kind of forward. Add to this that they are often looking down at their phones and you can imagine how the combination of these two postures can result in a thicker appearing neck.

    Edit to also add to this: Americans are also on the higher end of the average height globally. This means if you take a picture of one, there is a better chance the American will be looking somewhat downwards at the camera, which also increases the size of the neck. If you interact with Americans in real life and you are shorter than their average height, this perception trick will also happen. It’s one of the many insidious ways we maintain our dominance over other countries. 🦅🦅🦅🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲

  • Trebuchet@lemm.ee
    205·
    1 year ago

    Guessing football and wrestling in high school, growth hormones in their meat, and an element of obesity. These are all guesses though, not shitting on the yanks.

    • BruceTwarzen@kbin.social
      10·
      1 year ago

      When i was 16, two of my friends went to study in america for a year or so. They went individually and didn’t know eachother. One of them cam back obese and the other one was shredded and gained like 20kg.

      • railsdev@programming.dev
        9·
        1 year ago

        I had a French roommate that put on 20 lbs while on a three month tourist visa. He was actually pretty skinny but he was nervous about flying back because he knew his friends/family would give him shit for putting on so much weight.

        At the same time, in his last few weeks he wanted to hit every burger joint he could before leaving. He even tried Mountain Dew just because vegetable bromide is illegal there.

    • sparkl_motion@beehaw.org
      2·
      1 year ago

      This is me. Competitive swimming and wrestling as a youth, along with many years of rock climbing.

      My upper back and neck is disproportionately larger than my lower torso and legs.

  • morphballganon@lemmy.world
    61·
    1 year ago

    You’re looking at football fans, who obsess over overeating and competitive sports. While the US has a lot of those, they are not the only demographic.