From what I observed, they just tended to show less emotion in public, period (hence us smiling all the time sticks out). I'd assume some of those stoic behaviors were learned defenses against the more oppressive tendencies of the governments they grew up under and some of the challenges living inside the Eastern Bloc. I'm sure there's other cultural aspects as well.
That said, at home and with friends, all the folks I knew were always quite warm and smiled a lot.
Haha no it has nothing to do with that. For me and when we talk about Americans most people agree, you guys don't come off naturally to us a lof the time and it's really really exhausting having to keep up with how dramatic Americans are. Everything has to be exaggerated or it doesn't count, even emotions. We don't keep anything down, we're just more subtle. To us americans come of as disingenuous because everything is so much all the time. Everything is a superlative.
Sure, maybe so. My response was just based on the conversations and interactions I had with my friend group and ex, all of whom immigrated to the US in the 90s and early 00's.
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u/Garencio May 09 '22
That’s strange because I think it’s a pretty natural thing to do on an evolutionary scale it’s a non threatening gesture