this post was submitted on 22 Sep 2023
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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

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[–] ivanafterall@kbin.social 97 points 1 year ago (2 children)

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

Sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of your ginormous neck.

[–] madcaesar@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

I HAVE NIPPLES GREG!! COULD YOU MILK ME?!?!

[–] takeda@kbin.social 88 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Can you share example pictures what you mean?

[–] BruceTwarzen@kbin.social 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I was hoping for that comment. I'm lost.

[–] awwwyissss@lemm.ee 3 points 1 year ago

I'm lost

See the problem here is that you aren't aware the americabad

[–] TootSweet@lemmy.world 56 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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 points 1 year ago (2 children)

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.

[–] federalreverse@feddit.de 21 points 1 year ago (3 children)

People from other countries also usually don't expose their entire set of teeth when smiling...

[–] bipmi@beehaw.org 25 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

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.

[–] bipmi@beehaw.org 3 points 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 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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?

[–] awwwyissss@lemm.ee 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

dig at either US or EU/UK

Seems like that's the whole point of Lemmy.

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I rarely smile at all, but I sure will lean when the opportunity presents itself.

[–] Very_Bad_Janet@kbin.social 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They don't lean on things? Even if there's a perfectly sturdy horse or fence.right next to you?

[–] Synnr@sopuli.xyz 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Horses, cows, fences, houses, nothing. They stand on two legs like bipedal humanoids.

[–] const_void@lemmy.ml 40 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (5 children)

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".

[–] Radicalized@lemmy.one 24 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This guy looks like the β€œif humans evolved to survive high impact car crashes” figure they made a while back.

[–] OceanSoap@lemmy.ml 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This guy has literally no neck, not a fat neck. He can't look over his shoulder because his skill is attached to it.

[–] PP_BOY_@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Your mum's skill is attached to her shoulders lmao

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[–] mim@lemmy.sdf.org 5 points 1 year ago

He looks like Patrick from SpongeBob.

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[–] ithas@artemis.camp 31 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Maybe it's a focal length difference? Example

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[–] boatswain@infosec.pub 26 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's where we store our excess Freedom

[–] QuinceDaPence@kbin.social 3 points 1 year ago

The Freedom release mechanism on the B52 is activated by a flex of the neck.

[–] owenfromcanada@lemmy.world 23 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Adds stability when firing.

[–] makeasnek@lemmy.ml 21 points 1 year ago* (last edited 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. πŸ¦…πŸ¦…πŸ¦…πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²

[–] robotElder2@hexbear.net 20 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] Trebuchet@lemm.ee 17 points 1 year ago (3 children)

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 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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.

[–] Emperor@feddit.uk 3 points 1 year ago

They might like it.

[–] sparkl_motion@beehaw.org 2 points 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.

[–] shinigamiookamiryuu@lemm.ee 13 points 1 year ago

How many different populations have you observed this in? I've never observed this.

[–] Zoift@hexbear.net 10 points 1 year ago

Because my trapezii are fuckin' jacked. Straight yoked. I've been working on my sternocliedomastoid form for years with some serious cervical reps. Glad someone noticed. blushing-engels

that's where we store all our ~~oppression~~ freedom

[–] morphballganon@lemmy.world 5 points 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.

[–] buh@hexbear.net 2 points 1 year ago

Cop phrenology