On Monday 13 March 2006 12:54 pm, Gail & Scott Finke wrote: > The way I remember it, someone posted a web site of attendee photos at an > American SCA event. A member who was a portrait photographer set up shop > and took pictures of anyone who wanted them, as people do at dances and > other functions. The original poster, I think, wanted information about a > particular costume. But people were looking at many of the photos, and > someone asked why it was that he/she could tell that this was a group of > Americans without being told ahead of time. Various guesses were posted -- > I remember someone saying that it was because so many had white, straight > teeth -- but the concensus was the large variety of facial types.
My husband claims to have an answer to this one, and this isn't it. Facial expression. In particular, the postions of American English speakers' mouths. Apparently our habital non-speaking mouth positions are more open and less pursed than those of Europeans. That's his theory, anyway. I forget the details of his rationale, but it has to do with the difference in vowel types (and the way they are pronounced) in American English versus most of the other European languages. I don't remember for certain whether the British look more like Europeans than Americans under this theory, but I'd bet the answer is yes because although they speak English, they pronounce their vowels much "closer" than most Americans do. Otherwise, I think a lot of Americans look at least outwardly European. My husband (who spent most of his childhood in various parts of Europe and once spoke both Italian and Spanish fluently) is invariably mistaken for a native in parts of Germany, Switzerland, and even Scandanavia. -- Cathy Raymond <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> "Physics is like sex; sure, it may give some practical results, but that's not why we do it."--Richard Feynman _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
