| Traditional SE Asian smiles(?) | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Jun 17 2010, 10:15:24 PM (903 Views) | |
| black man | Jun 17 2010, 10:15:24 PM Post #1 |
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The Right Hand
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addenda: why do SE Asians, such as Thais and Filipinos, greet(?) others with a very "toothy" smile? Maybe some socio-historical, ethno-historical and archaeological works can help to find out the reasons for this type of their smile. And some references to East Asians might be of interest for a comparison, too. As Zumbroich confirms, tooth blackening was observed in many different ethnographic groups. He even points to the possibility of medical benefits (not to be confused with the effects of betel chewing) which could have contributed to the former spread of this practice. So I wonder which peoples never blackened their teeth. What about the pre-Han population of, e.g., what is now Hunan? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohaguro#Elsewhere Japan: - tooth blackening was a social marker in premodern Japan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohaguro Japan: - during Gempei War period (late 12th century) Taira but not Minamoto warriors blackened their teeth Blomberg 1994: "The heart of the warrior", p. 84 Nias: - "smoothing down of the teeth" ("both young men and young women") Hummel 2007: "Cross and adu: a socio-historical study on the encounter between Christianity and the indigenous culture on Nias and the Batu Islands, Indonesia (1865-1965)", p. 35 Nias: - teeth were "blackened" in northern Nias as well as elsewhere in Nias - boys got teeth filed when "around 12"; girls earlier on (8?) Suzuki 1959: "The Religious System and Culture of Nias, Indonesia: Proefschrift", p. 83 Nias: - "The teeth of the Niassans are filed down in an even line, not to point" Kennedy 1936: "A survey of Sumatra", p. 147 (Apparently, Kennedy implies that the author to whom he refers confused Niassans with the inhabitants of Siberut.) Sumba: - ideal: "short brown teeth" - "jagged white teeth were considered ugly" Vaisutis et al.: "Indonesia", p. 593 Sumatran Batak: - "Si Lopan Ipon. This name which means 'The White Toothed' marks the man as a 'foreigner' because because the Batak filed and blackened their teeth." Parkin 1978: "Batak Fruit of Hindu Thought", p. 80 Northern Tai-speakers: "the women of the Chinese Shan States area in Yunnan blacken the teeth (...) as a sign of marriageability. According to Chinese records, this custom was formerly present among all the Tai people of southern Yunnan (Lebar etal. 1964)" Daoratanahong 1998: "Introduction to Tai-Kadai people", p. 22 Thai: - "(t)he Thai peasant of the past had a mouthful of black teeth" (prior to WW2) - "a gleaming white smile in the old days, to a certain extent, was a mark of depravity" de Young: "Village Life in Modern Thailand", p. 46 Kinh: - "The Vietnamese were distinguished from the Chinese by their short hair and their betel-blackened teeth, a difference celebrated in Linh Nam chich quai." Baldanza 2016: "Ming China and Vietnam", p. 82 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tonkin_woman.jpg Cham as opposed to Kinh and Khmer: - blackened teeth: "the Annamites, the Thais, the Muongs, the Mans, the Khmers, the Mois and certain Khas" - teeth not blackened: "the Sinoids of the High-Lands, the Chinese, the Chams and certain Mois under Cham influence" Asia: Asian Quarterly of Culture and Synthesis 1951, p. 201 Philippines and Borneo: - "Filing the teeth to a point is found not only among some "Aeta" people of the Philippines, it is fairly general among the Dayak of Sarawak. Usually after filing the teeth the enamel of the front surface of the tooth may be removed, more likely to facilitate the blackening of the teeth" Roces 1977: "Filipino Heritage: The metal age in the Philippines", p. 454 old post: In modern early modern Bali (and maybe also today) the biting edge of the front teeth is considered to be ideal when it's in a straight line. Long, pointy canines are associated with a animalic or demonic character... ![]() Domett and Tayles: Tooth modification from the Neolithic to the Iron Age in Southeast Asia. AAPA 2003 abstract
Tayles: Tooth Ablation in Prehistoric Southeast Asia (1996)
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| Ebizur | Oct 3 2016, 03:54:31 PM Post #2 |
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The differences in body language between stereotypical Americans and stereotypical Japanese have interested me for a long time. These differences are reflected subtly in linguistic conventions. Among others, *"gaze," "stare at (a person)," even "eyes": Usually seem to be perceived as neutral or positive by Americans. Usually perceived as negative by Japanese, nearly explicitly so (and they usually hate to be explicit about anything). *"smile" (also "mouth"), "laugh" (also "teeth"): Usually perceived as clearly positive by Americans (except when it is made explicit that someone is laughing at another's expense). In Japan, the connotations of these words are usually ambiguous, and often seem to me to be intended to have a scary connotation. *"embrace," "hug," even "arms" (as a part of the body, not as a Romance word for "war equipment"): Usually seem to evoke warm, fuzzy, comfortable feelings for Americans. In Japan, these words have either hardcore sexual connotations or seem to evoke a sense of being trapped or restrained against one's will. It troubles me how many people translate words from one language to the other without pointing out the often very different connotations with which the words are (or historically have been) used by speakers of each language. For example, when people write that anything has been described typically as "beautiful" in Japanese historical texts, it needs to be understood that the original Japanese word in most cases of this sort is utsukushi ~ utsukushiki (> modern utsukushii). This word's etymology, like the etymologies of most Yamato kotoba (i.e. non-Sinitic, non-Indic, non-European Japanese words), is unclear, but a look at some similar words that may be related should be a decent start: itsu (厳, 稜威) "holy, sacred, sanctified; forceful, powerful, impetuous" itsuku (斎く, 傅く) "to purify oneself and serve a kami; to respectfully care for, to wait upon, to attend on" utsukeru (空ける, 虚ける) ~ utsuke "to become hollow, to become empty in the center; to become blank-looking, to become vacant, to become absent-minded, to become careless; an idiot, a fool, a dummy" utoi (疎い) "to be ignorant of, to know little of, to be out of touch with, to be unknowledgeable; to be unacquainted with, to be unfamiliar with; not to feel intimate with, to be estranged" utoutoshii "to be cold and distant, to be chilly and formal, to be reserved, to be uninterested, not to give off an aura of familiarity or interest (in another person)" utsu-utsu ~ uto-uto ~ utsura-utsura "half-awake, half-asleep, in a dozing manner; in a daze, blankly, vacantly, absent-mindedly; vividly, clearly, like real" uttori "rapt (with admiration), enraptured, enchanted, spellbound, captivated, fascinated, in a trance, moonily" utsutsu (現) "reality; consciousness, one's right mind; the state of being half-awake and half-asleep, being just barely awake, on the verge of unconsciousness, unclear consciousness; living (persons), existent" utsu (全, 空, 虚) "completely, utterly, totally, wholly, entirely; empty, vacant, hollow" kushi (奇し) ~ kushiki "strange, odd, weird, eerie" (Generally not used in present-day Japanese except in the fossilized adverbial form kushikumo "strangely enough, oddly enough, miraculously.") itsukushi (厳し, 美し, 慈し) ~ itsukushiki "stern, solemn, majestic, dignified, appearing powerful and forceful (as a kami, a tennou, etc.); handsome, clean-cut (especially of a male's physical appearance); graceful, elegant (especially of deportment, motion, or action)" itsukushimu (慈しむ, 愛しむ) (formerly also utsukushimu or utsukushibu) "to love, to cherish, to care for, to show affection to, to have mercy on" (cf. 悲しい kanashii "(to be) sad" vs. 悲しむ kanashimu "to consider to be sad, to be sorrowful about, to grieve over" -- note that in Ryukyuan dialects, cognates of these kanashi- words, rather than utsukushi- ~ itsukushi- words, are generally used to mean "to love, to cherish, to show affection to," to indicate one's beloved like English "dear, darling," or to indicate respect like English "Sir, Madam, Lord, Lady, Mr., Mrs.") |
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| black man | Oct 4 2016, 01:20:30 PM Post #3 |
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The Right Hand
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Very interesting. Thanks, JCA. According to Newbold 1834, Malays in the 19th century called their traditional tooth filing ceremony berasa gigi. gigi usually means tooth/teeth. And the other meanings of gigi (edge, tine, cog, prong, peg, serration) IMO imply that teeth were originally not considered to grow in a perfectly straight line by nature. They are obviously expected to primarily have a practical mechanical rather than visually aesthetic function. The present-day translation of berasa seems to be to feel or to taste. ber- can be a prefix, asa means hope; but the latter is IMO probably from India (being an originally Indo-Iranian word). I.e., splitting berasa into ber and asa might not be appropriate since tooth filing was spread beyond the Hindu realm, too, wasn't it? Then again, Hindu ideas might have influenced the way people thought about the perception of the ceremony. So tooth filing might have (had) a kind of ascetic ("yogic") vibe when practiced by Malays. |
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