Huh, that explains a lot about my early teenage years.
My mouth naturally turns down at the corners. Nothing I can do about it! On a couple of occasions my boyfriend has asked if I’m upset and I say nope, this is just my neutral face. I’ve been through some shit in my life, but I don’t think it’s related. I just have fat cheeks.
Ditto, and I always want to respond “Think!” The idea that people should walk around with vacuous smiles on their faces is just another expression of US culture’s stark terror that someone among them is thinking. Not Smiling is up there with Using Big Words and Reading as one of the danger signs.
While I am often smiling just because I smile a lot, my neutral, non-smile expression looks rather grumpy. But I wouldn’t say I “suffer” from it. If it bothers people, too bad.
“By age 40, you get the face you deserve.”
However, I interpret this to mean that you, the world, deserve the face I’m presenting.
Does Joel Quenneville have this, or is he really angry 95% of the time? It’s so hard to tell with coaches.
Urban Dictionary calls it Resting Bitch Face. There’s video, which calls it bitching resting face for some reason. Hysterical.
ETA: Well, whoops; I see it’s in the link provided in the OP.
But on a related note, my husband calls his permanent scowlly face his “screen saver.”
More than once I’ve had someone make the comment “Before I actually met you, I always thought you looked like such a bitch!”
I guess I am a BRF sufferer. Maybe I should look for some kind of support group?
For the record, I am really not a bitch, but I can pretend to be if needed!
Yep. People usually think I’m pissed off or really sad over something. “No, nothing’s wrong, I’m fine! Quit asking me, or you WILL piss me off!”
I prefer the old term, mentioned upthread, “chronic bitchface.” Longtime sufferer. No I won’t smile, dammit. I’m not here as a decoration.
I always think of Jennifer Morrison (House, Once Upon a Time) as the gold standard of this syndrome.
Me too! I have been told a number of times by friends that they were ‘scared’ of me for a while before we became friendly. My BRF combined with my shyness in my early 20’s made making friends really tough.
I’m a member of the Sisterhood of the Frown. In fact, my first visible perma-wrinkle is one frown line.
Apparently I also look bored when I’m thinking.
Hey, I look like an asshole, too. I even talk like an asshole, and act like an asshole. But don’t let that fool you: I really *am *an asshole.
Yes, but I inherited it from my father. We have the same face.
I used to get told all the time just walking around that I needed to smile, what was wrong with me etc. Now I am in the habit of smiling all the time when walking down the halls or what not, if I notice another person around. My mom always told me that I had the “Family frown” (where Family is her maiden name). Seems everyone on that side of the family has a frowning face when resting… and I’ve seen pictures and agree.
That being said, the PSA was hilarious
My sweet daughter (BloodyL) is cursed with BRF. I swear she looks like grumpy cat when she’s not smiling. She hates it when people ask what’s wrong with her all the time.
Long ago, in my early waitress days, I used to wonder why other waitresses who were not as efficient as I was ended up with better tips. Then one day, I was rounding a corner, concentrating on remembering Table 2’s drink order, calculating when Table 3’s food would be ready, and getting ready to put in a slip for Table 4’s ice cream order when I caught a glimpse of myself in the giant mirror over the fountain. I had a fearsome scowl on my face, which is probably how I looked about 90% of the time. From that day on, I learned how to keep a pleasant expression on my face while I was working.
That exercise cured my BRF for the most part, but I apparently still have Scary Concentrating Face. This is not a syndrome I’m really motivated to work on, though, since it has the effect of chasing people away while I’m trying to get things done. Students and co-workers alike have been known to flee from the office when I’m working hard on a schedule.
I, too, have the Scary Concentrating Face. It works well when I’m teaching my junior high students, but my daughter scolds me all the time when I’m talking to toddlers that I’m scaring them. I’m just concentrating to figure out what they’re saying.