What a Russian smile means - How culture and history make American and Russian smiles different

This was a level and well written article. Having worked in customer service for a long time, I thought about emotional labor a lot; that idea that capitalism was taking the signifier (the smile) and pointing it towards its own ends/skimming it for increased value. I think a large part of the destabilizing effect of capitalism is its re-purposing of signifiers. Thank you for sharing.

This is very interesting. In Brazil we have a culture of not only smiling a lot but hugging (any sex) and cheek kissing (only man&woman or woman&woman), even with people you've just met sometimes

I don't see any of the cultures as superior or inferior, it's just a way to go about your life and some diversity is always interesting :)

EDIT: Another cool trait we have here that I enjoy a lot is to laugh about one's own bad luck/disgrace/unfortunate situation. I heard stories from foreigners who found it rude, but for us it's a way to make ourselves and friends at least laugh from a difficult situation and help us have a more light-hearted life :P