Have you ever noticed that in pictures from over 100 years ago that people never smiled?
https://www.vox.com/2015/4/8/8365997/smile-old-photographs
https://time.com/4568032/smile-serious-old-photos/
metmike: I find it odd that they insist that the lack of smiling had nothing to do with happiness.
Take anybody from 2020 and put them back in circa 1860 to finish their lives and tell me they would not be extraordinarily miserable and have almost none of the things that bring great enjoyment and ease to our lives.
These people worked their arses off and struggled to have enough food, keep warm and had no medical care with the average life span less than 40 years.
Most families lost children to diseases. Many country folk already had empty wooden coffins built and stored outside of their homes, in preparation to use when the expected child died from one of the many diseases that have been eradicated today.
Read this summary of what people died of in the US in the years 1850 and 1860.
Seriously, it's a wake up call to anybody that thinks the good old days were good.........and this is just the list of fatal diseases!
Keep in mind that the population in 1850 was only 23 million, more than 15 times smaller than the current population.
MORTALITY OF THE UNITED STATES. 239 SPECIAL DISEASES.
https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/1860/statistics/1860d-10.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1850_United_States_Census
The United States Census of 1850 was the seventh census of the United States. Conducted by the Census Office, it determined the resident population of the United States to be 23,191,876—an increase of 35.9 percent over the 17,069,453 persons enumerated during the 1840 Census. The total population included 3,204,313 slaves.
Average life span for a male born in 1850 was 38.3 years!
https://www.infoplease.com/us/mortality/life-expectancy-age-1850-2011
Over the course of the nation’s history, there has been a slow but steady decrease in the size of the average U.S. household – frThe long-running decline in American household size can be tied to at least two demographic trends. The size of immediate families has declined over time as women have had fewer children. In 1790, the total fertility rate of white women was 7.0 births (meaning a white woman had, on average, seven births in her lifetime). By 1870 it had fallen to 4.6 births, and by 1940 it stood at 2.2. For black women, the total fertility rates were 7.7 and 2.8 births for 1870 and 1940, respectively.
Furthermore, the rise of the nuclear family resulted in fewer extended family living arrangements and smaller households. In 1850, almost 70% of those ages 65 and older lived with their adult children. By 2000, fewer than 15% did so. These demographic changes may reflect more fundamental societal changes such as industrialization, urbanization, rising living standards (especially for older adults) and constricted immigration in the first half of the 1900s.
None of these is the correct reason. The reason is simple: cheese hadn't yet been discovered meaning the photographer couldn't ask the people being photographed to say "cheese".
By the way, interesting thread. Actually, I'm finding this to among the, if not the, most interesting threads here ever.
Thanks cheese lover (-:
This is one of my favorite threads that is very appropriate here and at this point in time:
How to make the world a better place Jan. 9, 2020
5 responses |
Started by metmike - Jan. 9, 2020, 10:23 p.m.
Larry,
I'm grateful to you for making this great comment about cheese.
There is a fascinating story to be told about it that I just learned.
And now the thread is even more interesting thanks to your contribution!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Say_cheese
In the late 19th century, different aesthetic and behavioral norms required keeping the mouth small, which led to photographers using "say prunes".[1]
Other languages have adopted this method, albeit with different words that sound similar to cheese to get the desired effect of shaping the mouth to form a smile.
I have always been convinced of the connection between the hard lives and lack of smiles in old photo's but it appears that nobody anywhere agrees with me.
So I will adjust my opinion to account for the other explanations, relating to exposure time of photo's and societal norms(which sort of lines up with my position-society had those norms because people did not have alot of fun and entertainment in their lives and that is the environment that brings out the most smiling and laughter).
It would be interesting to see if people in rich countries smile and laugh more than people in poor countries.
https://www.quora.com/Why-doesnt-anyone-smile-in-old-photos
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-4694619
Laughter is primarily a form of bonding; we are 30 times more likely to laugh if we are with others than if we are alone.
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/04/most-positive-countries-paraguay-gallup-poll-2019/
No teeth
Who needs teeth John??
OK, I guess teeth are good for more than chewing food (-:
I first thought you were joking about saying "prunes" lol.
I never heard of it before either Larry.
Amazing..........all the things tha we can learn about on the internet.
https://www.womansworld.com/posts/entertainment/early-photography-strange-history-171512
