Poker faces can have some benefits. If you’re playing poker, a good poker face will prevent the other players from detecting your satisfaction with your cards. If you like to play practical jokes, a stoic countenance can keep the secret as long as you want. If you have to discipline your toddler when she has just drawn smiley faces all over your living room walls, it helps to keep a straight face.
Of course, if your toddler has been drawing smiley faces all over the place, she’s apparently unlikely to be German, or if she is, then she found her smiles somewhere else. Germans don’t feel the need to smile at everything, the way Americans do. Turns out they are just being protective of their health.
A German psychologist has found that people who smile a lot often suffer from stress, depression or even heart disease. See deutsche welle for the full story.
I guess laughter therapy wouldn’t be so successful over here. http://www.teehee.com/
Bella Stuttgart 