That Filipina Smirk
Before coming to the Philippines, I noticed a look on many Filipina faces (via webcam). Its a look of indifference. I pick on Jessie and call it the Filipina smirk. She knows exactly what I mean too. She has a friend that is a master at it but wears it on her face too much, its too pronounced though I’m sure its natural. I don’t think this is something they do consciously. Rather I think its picked up culturally and passed from Filipina to Filipina that way.
Pretty Filpina with Smirk on her Face
The look is all in the lips. Kind of pressed down, not too much frown, not too much smile. A lot less smile though. It looks like a poker face and maybe it is. Its my impression that Filipina often avoid conflict by keeping their mouth shut and managing to get things they want them in some other way.
I’m wondering if the look might not come from hardship though. Most Filipino don’t have a lot. Many learn to be happy with what they have. I wonder if this look is a manifestation of that? Maybe you have an insight that could help me out.
I’ve not seen the same kind of look on American women. Why one culture would develop it another would not? I have no idea. Filipina roll their eyes as much as anyone, I get lots of that from Jessie. Nothing much faces me these days, which is good. I just laugh at her when she does it and harass her some more!
I’m curious, how many of you have spotted a smirking Filipina?
Tagged with: Filipina • Livingn In The Philippines • Philippine Culture
Filed under: Filipino Culture • Living In The Philippines
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Ha ha ha..I almost fell on my chair..Only you, Rusty, can write an essay about the Filipina smirk. I think this is a love letter to Jessie. Seriously, I never noticed that to my kababayans. But I know that we have a facial expressions that you only get when you grow up in the Phil. You could tell a Filipino on TV if he’s born & raised in the US even if you mute the TV just by looking on how animated he is when he talks. & yes, Rusty you can tell even in muted TV if he’s born & raised in the Phil just by their facial expressions. The shyness, the tentative smiling in pauses, it must be the kind of life we have. I don’t know either.
Jessie said she had never noticed it until I brought it up. I noticed it before I got here, webcams….
Hmm, I don’t know of a Jackson, Ms. or Memphis look though. I think I might have a bit of a clue on what your talking about in Pittsburgh Pa. That’s where Springsteen is from, right?
I do notice things others don’t know. Its a double edged sword though, can also read too much into things. 🙂 “Nobody gets as deep as I do.” Alice Cooper
I’ve never noticed that? But I guess I haven’t been here for a long time. Is it a personal thing? or racial profile?
I will let you decide for yourself on that.
Jessie never noticed it either until I pointed it out to her and now she knows exactly what look I mean.
hi rusty
i have a friend who was around filipinos in alaska and it was his observation that filipinos “point” with their lips. i dont know about that because i didnt grow up in the philippines and im not around filipinos much. have you noticed this “pointing?”
Oh yes, they do, without a doubt point with their lips! 🙂 Its not very helpful when looking for something but it does get you in the general direction.
This is probably completely wrong, but I saw a guy on a motorcycle do it one day and that made me wonder if it is because so many people drive motorbikes. Jessie didn’t think so but it does unbalance your bike a bit if you take a hand off. So maybe!
Hi Rusty, in tagalog we do have the verb for that mouth pointing. “Nguso” is not quite the mouth but it basically refers to the same thing except the mouth tends to protrude quite a bit. We often say “Hinde ko na lang sasaihin ko sino; Ingu NGUSO ko na lang” ( I won’t say who but I’ll just point to him w/ my lips ) Somehow, the translation doesn’t capture the nuance of how the language was used. 🙂
Nice Roy! I didn’t know that at all. I will try to remember to ask Jessie if they have a word for it in Waray-Waray. Don’t know who I’ll ask about it for Cebuano. Maybe Christine can help?
Rusty! how the hell would I know? I don’t even speak the language! And no, they don’t do it because they ride motorbikes, because I remember before the motorbikes became popular and affordable, people were doing it back then, when I was little.
Roy, I think (and I will probably get run out of town for this!-but what the hell, it is true!)
it has something to do with the Filipino’s love of gossips. You know, if people (women in particular) were gossiping, they don’t point their finger at someone, they use those lips (or nguso) to point towards somebody, along with the eyes, and they can point those lips sideways too! leftways, rightways or straight ahead – LOL! I tried it, and I can only point towards the right or straight ahead. Anyone else can point to the left?? Roy? Rusty? – try it….
Christine, you don’t speak Cebuano?
Hey, I’m gonna pass a xanax to Christine. 🙂
Gossip is an interesting thought.
I’m not sure that the Filipino really gossip more than any where else. In these close nit communities though, it just spreads faster. Its a lot like that in small town America too. Not quite as pronounced.
No I donot speak Cebuano or Visayan, but I can understand it. At dinner the other night, I was speaking Tagalog mix and Jessie was talking in Visayan. But I uderstood what she was saying and she understood me! Beat that-LOL! 🙂
Okay my feisty little belly dancer. 🙂
I’m surprised Jessie was speaking Visayan, she doesn’t speak it very well but I guess she’s learned enough. Jessie speaks Waray-waray. That Tagalog mix I think is very common. I think she speaks that better than Cebuano\Visayan.
I thought she was speaking visayan? Maybe I thought that, if she was speaking mix? Golly, I’m so out of touch with the language, I can’t tell which is which! 🙂
She might have been Christine since she probably thought you spoke Cebuano. She’s picked up a lot but she sometiimes get lost in “deep” Cebuano as she refers to it as.
Christine, I cannot agree more…gossipers mutual expression..lol :]..While writng this a girly doing the same thing..hang on..seems like it is pointing to me…hmmm…They are really busy person…tsk..tsk…
Rusty, it is to my hubby who makes us aware in the family when it comes to smirking…I remember when he asked us..You guys have this biting lips, smirking..Is this running in the family?..Ngeh, we don’t know about that..He knows how’s my reaction when it comes to my facial expression towards the subject or issues we were talking….
there is one expression he’d like….make a guess..:}.:
Lyngreen, thank you for agreeing with me. I’m surprised no one’s baying for my blood yet!
Rust I don’t know about Waray Waray, but in Bisaya it’s “simod” or tudlo sa simod”.
Don’t know where it started but it has been around for a long time…
Queenie thanks!
As you know, Iip is not common at all in the USA. Heck it could come from the days of hunting or ancient war for all we know.
I thought the bikes had probably been popular in the Philippines for 50 years.
Hey Rusty
I remember an observation from a British traveller to the US (somebody wellknown but I have forgotten who). He claimed that Americans wear out their face very quickly because they use their facial muscles constantly in having “an animated expression”. So you have observed the “Filipino smirk” from that cultural background
When one has for a long time been surrounded by Australians one is far less likely to catch it because the pokerface is quite common here.
Among Asians I find it conspicuous in Java, especially in Middle Java.
My own Filipina wife doesn’t have the smirk. Her eyes do all the talking. When she is angry nobody can be mistaken about that.
Ha, Jessie rolls her eyes at me all the time, even when not angry.
My monkey, now she has the glaring stare down she gives to everyone except me, especially cats.
I don’t understand how anyone could doubt me. Its very prominant. The other day I saw four Filipina on a Ferry. Well off Filipina, three had the smirk. One didn’t and she kept making eye contact. 🙂 I don’t see it as a stuck up look though, just a poker face. If they did want to get to know me, they’d never admit it. 🙂 Except for the non-smirking one.
Eye contact and a smile is about the extent of most Filipina flirting for most, only a few will actually speak and that’s usually to ask for a picture. There is that stare down they have too but it is inviting. They are usually too shy to speak English though and run for safety. 🙂
hahaha..This made me laugh… Back when I was a kid, my mother would really stare at me with the “killer eyes” when I said or did something considered to be disrespectful to our visitors.. She would always say “makuha ka sa tingin” when the visitor leaves the house. Or the “nguso” expression whenever she asks me to get something..
Hi Xeng! It was meant to be amusing. Its true though. Filipina have this look of neither good or bad, just there, neither approving or disapproving.
Now as for moms, yeah they all have the killer look I think.
Rusty my wife has that look permanently on her face. It is her natural expression. A bland neutral look.
Awwwm someone else finally admits they have seen it too. 🙂 Yes, some Filipina do it more than others. Jessie doesn’t wear it as much as some.
GOSH!!!….ikaw nah…bida ka!!!…you are the first and the only person from other country that i know…who really observe so much about filipinas…hahhha…i never thought someone would notice things like that…for me its just natural…that even me myself never notice that i did it a lot of times…hahhha
Sometimes I notice things I shouldn’t.
Jessie didn’t seem to know what I was talking about the first time I brought it up.
I talked to a lot of Filipina on a video chat program and that probably made it easier to notice. They often didn’t smile a lot. Some do it more than others. That pronounced look of indifference.
Sometimes I try to do it but Jessie says I don’t do it right.
Rusty,
Mate, every time I am in the Phils or around Filipinos here, the pointing lips are everywhere. The only time I find it a problem, is when I am driving and I ask for directions. I am looking out the windscreen and cannot hear the pointing lips move, lol. Whenever I talk politics with Pinoys, or some of the lesser Phils things, there will always be someone with the dropped lips and a stoney look on the face. I see it and try to bring them a smile or two, just to keep their usually happy face, smiling, as I altert them to the equally bizarr or stupid things that happen in Oz.
Watch Filipinos when they are talking to each other. They are usually focused on that person and looking directly at their face. I think Americans tend to look away while someone else is talking. Another of our cultural differences that can lead to misunderstandings. 🙂
LOL, Yep the Filipino’s will totally focus the person they talk to / with and I have learnt over the years, to do the same. As an Aussie, I have noticed the same thing, that many do look away when talking. To focus on a Filipino, is to ensure, there is little misunderstanding. Then it is only down to the differences in language or understanding of specific words or phrases. Yeah I know, we Aussies have such strange sayings & meanings, hehehe.
All cultures have their own sayings. 🙂 Though brits have some very cool slang and you guys might have carried on the tradition. Then again, I’m from the Southern USA and they say the same thing about us and its true. 🙂
I think Filipinos are better listeners than Westerners. I wonder if this might not be true about other Asian nations as respect is often such a big part in what little I know about other Asian cultures.
Hi! about the smirk-like thing, I think Filipinas do it often when they are thinking (including myself =))
Haha qwen, yeah they probably are thinking about something. I noticed though when girls were typing as I was chatting with them on cam.
Hi I stumbled upon your article a few days ago and got hooked on reading some more. Your open-mindedness and blunt remarks got me interested. And this one got me really laughing out loud "Filipina Smirking face". It is true we do a lot of facial expression rather than saying it out loud to avoid conflict or while thinking of uncertain thoughts. I appreciated a lot of your articles for I know it comes on handy for most expats who plans to stay and already are staying here in Phils. You have written it base on experiences so I find it true, correct and helpful on how to adjust to the ways & culture here in the Phils. Thanks for the keen observation you did to our culture and sharing it to others as well. Goodluck and hope to read some more.