# Is there a term for this awkward stance used in group photos? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 21, 2024, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-this-awkward-stance-used-in-group-photos/1000568 "2024-04-21T03:55:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2024, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-this-awkward-stance-used-in-group-photos/1000568/61 "2024-09-07T18:32:38Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > I think this is a big part of it. All the things people would normally do with their hands and arms in a photo are things that are trained out of military guys. You want to fall back to a parade-rest default, but that also looks stupid if you’re not standing in formation. You might fold your arms in front of you, but you’re probably wearing some type of webgear that makes it difficult. so your only option is pretty much the hands-crossy thing. One of the useful things about carrying a weapon is that it always gives you something to do with your hands. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2024, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-this-awkward-stance-used-in-group-photos/1000568/62 "2024-09-08T15:53:55Z")
[Moderating] > [@needscoffee](#): > > If you’re standing up in front of a group at a function like this in your official police duty, and trump is bloviating on for a full hour, and you know you’re going to be photographed, you don’t have a lot of options for your hands. > > Hope the assholes get fined the full amount. The political potshot adds nothing to either your post, this thread, nor the FQ forum. This is an official Warning for politicking in FQ. ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2024, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-this-awkward-stance-used-in-group-photos/1000568/63 "2024-09-12T07:32:48Z")
Then there is this group of butlers. I will assume they are not previous military or homophobic. Maybe it’s just a regular ole pose afterall. [![](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/1920xn/p03fxn37.jpg.webp) ](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/1920xn/p03fxn37.jpg.webp) ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2024, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-this-awkward-stance-used-in-group-photos/1000568/64 "2024-09-12T07:51:55Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > It could be worse. You could be in Asia where everyone needs to give the peace sign. From what I’ve read in the past it does seem to largely be a cultural thing. I recall reading of a study years ago where it turns out that it was possible to tell with good reliability if an American photographer was white or black by looking at the poses they asked people they photographed to take. White photographers have a tradition of lining up people in formal poses, black photographers have one of encouraging their subjects to emote. There’s not really an 'objectively correct" way to photograph people, so it does come down to culture in the details. [Another example](https://www.boredpanda.com/smiling-chinese-man-eating-rice-1901/). An old photo of a Chinese farmer was presumed by many to be false because he looked “unserious”. But it’s just that Chinese farmers in the early 1900s didn’t follow early 21st century photography rules. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2024, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-this-awkward-stance-used-in-group-photos/1000568/65 "2024-09-12T08:06:17Z")
I’ve always loved that picture and what it says about people on many levels. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2024, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-this-awkward-stance-used-in-group-photos/1000568/66 "2024-09-12T12:17:08Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > Your hands clasped in front of you like that offer evidence that you’re not holding a firearm or bladed weapon. You could just hide a knife up under your forearm, though. I often don’t know what to do with my hands in photos. Pockets seems rude, so I kinda hold one forearm with the other hand. Kind of a semi-fig leaf? Still not sure what to do. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2024, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-this-awkward-stance-used-in-group-photos/1000568/67 "2024-09-12T12:29:45Z")
> [@Bear\_Nenno](#): > > Maybe it’s just a regular ole pose afterall. I still find it a weird awkward pose. I think it’s a pose used by people who don’t want to look like they are relaxed or at ease. Which makes sense for butlers. “Hey, we are here to serve you”. I guess it makes sense for police, too. I have literally never been in a group photo where that’s done, and I’ve been in a lot of group photos. But it’s been photos of a family or a group of like-minded people vacationing together. (Or a photo with too many people to spread them out like that.) > [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > White photographers have a tradition of lining up people in formal poses, black photographers have one of encouraging their subjects to emote. I’ve definitely had white photographers encouraging their subjects to emote. They may have been gay photographers, though. That makes for better photos, honestly. Much more fun to look back at. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2024, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-this-awkward-stance-used-in-group-photos/1000568/68 "2024-09-12T18:40:13Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > But it’s just that Chinese farmers in the early 1900s didn’t follow early 21st century photography rules. Or maybe he was just a goofball. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2024, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-this-awkward-stance-used-in-group-photos/1000568/69 "2024-09-15T19:52:37Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Or maybe he was just a goofball The issue is that people only developed the concept of acting silly at around the same time that colors came into the world. Before that, everything was black and white all the time (or sepia out in the American West), and people didn’t have fun. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2024, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-this-awkward-stance-used-in-group-photos/1000568/70 "2024-09-15T21:55:48Z")
Calvin’s Dad said it, I believe it, and that settles it. [![Imgur](https://i.imgur.com/4rPGp.jpeg "My all time favorite Calvin and Hobbes - Color photos of a black and white...") ](https://imgur.com/all-time-favorite-calvin-hobbes-color-photos-of-black-white-world-4rPGp) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-this-awkward-stance-used-in-group-photos/1000568.md?page=3)