Smile: what is the lexical meaning of the word

Among the many expressive movements of the facial muscles, there is one that we use most often - it's a smile. What is the movement expresses in fact and how it arises - in this we will try to understand further.

Physiology

The thing is that the expression of pleasure, greeting, joy, goodwill can be depicted with one simple emotion - a smile. Quite often, this movement of the facial muscles occurs uncontrollably. This is due to the fact that a smile is a brain process that occurs when the anterior zone of the hypothalamus is excited.

Further, in the limbic system that is responsible for our emotions, the flow of nerve impulses is transmitted, which leads to a relaxation of the muscle tone and the appearance of an emotion such as a smile.

What is the hypothalamus? This is the area of the intermediate brain, which regulates the emotional state of a person. It is interesting that the chain of reactions described above can also have a reverse course. In other words, when a person cuts his face muscles and smiles, a signal comes to the brain that the person is happy.

Expression of different feelings

It is interesting that the same mimic movement can mean a variety of emotions. In order to consider this issue, it is necessary to remember what a smile can be : malicious, affable, benevolent, ironic, approving. As a rule, even a small child can easily distinguish all these emotions due to the fact that he pays attention not only to the movement of the nasolabial part, but also to the view.

The totality of certain mimic movements and the general expression of the face and gives the concept of what kind of smile is being spoken about. It is also very important to note that a smile can not always be sincere. If it is caused by the excitation of the hypothalamus, then undoubtedly, this mimic movement, which is difficult to control. In certain situations, people tend to falsify an emotion, such as a smile. What is an insincere smile and how is it manifested?

Smooth smile

In order to determine the insincerity of the interlocutor, it is not necessary to be a genius, but rather turn to physiology. With a tense smile, a clear asymmetry appears on the person's face.

It is also very important to pay attention to his opinion. With a false smile, the eyes, as a rule, express opposite emotions: anger, irritation, sadness. Due to the fact that the human brain is prone to more analysis than the child, we often do not notice such insincere emotions, because we pay more attention to the words of the interlocutor and the intonation, which can easily be faked.

Animals smile too

Who from animals can do such a facial expression as a smile? What does it mean to make a pet make such a mimic movement? Of course, due to the fact that in animals the facial abilities are limited due to the structure of the jaw, few of them actually can smile. Our "relatives" of chimpanzees and gorillas are capable of this. They quite often open their mouths wide, stretch their lips and show all their teeth.

The smile of the monkey has its special meaning. They do this when they want to ask for something or smooth the conflict. During observations, it was found that primates fully control this facial expression and can repeat it if necessary.

As for pet pets - cats and dogs, their jaw structure does not allow to reproduce such a smile as a person. They show their emotions with the expression of the eyes and tail. Faithful dogs meet their owners, wagging their tail, is it possible to argue that this is not a greeting or a kind of "smile".

Functional value

Have you ever noticed that babies can smile up to 500 times a day? The meaning of a smile in this situation is slightly different from the one described above. A fine mood and toothless smile signals that the baby is all right, he is healthy and feels great.

This again is associated with the functions of the hypothalamus. The excitation of its front zone transmits a stream of impulses that promote relaxation of the facial muscles. 3-4 months after birth, babies are already able to partially control this process. Affectionate mother's voice, an exciting game and an interesting toy are able to cause the child positive emotions.

Smile in different countries

The meaning of the word "smile" for any inhabitant of the planet is the same, but the frequency with which they reproduce this mimic reaction differs significantly.

The most "smiling people" can be called Americans. Their smile is a sign of courtesy and good attitude towards a person. In addition, the manifestation of the emotion itself is radically different. Slavs as a sign of politeness only slightly stretch their lips, leaving them closed.

A wide open mouth, to a greater degree, can be seen when a person laughs. Studies show that the older the person, the less he smiles.

The "American smile" is characterized by the visible wisdom teeth. They open their mouths so wide that for Russians it seems simply inappropriate.

In the East and West, a smile in the service sector is very popular. Thus, they demonstrate courtesy. A smile, the lexical meaning of which we are considering, can mean a huge number of emotions. Everything will depend only on the specific person and situation.

Steady Speech Turns

The word "smile" is very often found in various word combinations, where its meaning may not be entirely understandable. Especially often difficulties arise when translating phraseological units, because they can not be interpreted verbatim. So what are the stable turns with the word "smile" you can meet?

Phraseologisms "sour smile" (meaning will be considered by us further), "smile augur", "Gagarin's smile". Each of the stable word combinations has its own meaning.

So, for example, the smile of an augur is an emotion, implying deception and deceit. When people agree with each other about something, we can say that they exchange augur smile. This is due to the saying "When the augur meets the augur, they can not help smiling."

In the sense of a "sour smile" everything is much simpler. Emotion implies discontent and sadness.

The first pilot-cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin always smiled and was quite a cheerful person. "Smile Gagarin" denotes a sincere emotion of joy and happiness.

The lexical meaning of the word "smile" is quite simple: it is an expression of certain emotions, characterized by stretching the lips and raising their corners. Many scientists argue that the more a person laughs, the happier and more fortunate he will be.

Anyway, a sincere smile always has to itself, gives a feeling of comfort and warmth. If the emotion is insincere, it gives a sense of deception and lies. One of the best ways to cheer up is to smile at your reflection in the mirror with a pure heart.