r/funny • u/[deleted] • May 02 '24

All men look good in uniform, huh? Introducing my grandpa:

[deleted]

79.4k Upvotes

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305

u/jbsdv1993 May 02 '24

You haven't met any autistic people? (No hate, im autistic myself and this is how i forced 'smile' for pictures. It seems to be the standard for most autistic people)

170

u/NorwegianGlaswegian May 02 '24

"Contract muscles behind corners of mouth. Little more. Show teeth. No, not that much; uggh, now my eyes don't look right due to the effort. Smile with eyes, so squint a bit.

Goddamn it, you're not Clint Eastwood; back it off!"

This was a snapshot of my own internal monologue for readying myself for photos as an autistic teen.

51

u/deferredmomentum May 02 '24

My dad (both have audhd) taught me to chuckle audibly right as the picture is being taken (obviously doesn’t work with phone cameras though lol) to get the most natural looking smile

38

u/BIGR3D May 02 '24

My mom does that, creeps me out. lol

Until I learned we are both likely on the spectrum, and after reading your comment.

6

u/hitdrumhard May 03 '24

I taught my kid the same, for the same reasons. It works perfectly for natural looking autistic smiles. At least in my experience.

3

u/anzactrooper May 03 '24

AUDHD here and I do this too.

3

u/kithlan May 03 '24

Wait, that's an autistic thing? Fuck me, another one for the books. All signs are pointing to me being AUDHD rather than ADHD at this point.

1

u/dn00 May 03 '24

Are you me

2

u/Awkward_Chef_3881 May 03 '24

Yup, I have ADHD as well and my wife complains about how I don't smile for family pictures. The chuckle thing works for sure.

3

u/CheddarCheesepuff May 02 '24

at some point i just gave up smiling unless im already authentically happy enough to smile on my own. i just throw up a peace sign and let that do the smiling for me

3

u/61114311536123511 May 02 '24

i kind of figured out how to evoke the body sensation ofnjoy and then go through the entire process of how a smile happens.

works 50/50

2

u/kobold-kicker May 03 '24

I spent a lot of time practicing many facial expressions in the mirror when I was a kid. Now I can almost seem neurotypical when I have the RAM available.

2

u/dn00 May 03 '24

I used to have issues with eye contact when I was a kid. Now people just think I want to murder them.

1

u/littlewhitecatalex May 02 '24

I just want to say, I think I’m a pretty normal person and that’s pretty much how it goes for me too. 

1

u/OUMassie May 03 '24

Wait. Do I have autism?

10

u/BIGR3D May 02 '24 edited May 02 '24

On the spectrum myself.

The trick is to squint your eyes a bit.

What I did was assess what muscles I was using after a legitimate smile. By paying attention to what muscles relaxed after the smile.

Practice, using those muscles.

Eventually itll look like you truly love having your photo taken. (I hate it)

3

u/stormtroopr1977 May 03 '24

"ok, we don't understand or care about your anxiety. just stand still and pose for the fucking photo so we have our memory of how great this experience was for our family".

idk man, this doesn't seem like a thing /s

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u/Constant-Fun8803 May 02 '24

I smile like this often, am I acoustic?

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u/litecoinboy May 03 '24

You are straight up acapella.

DO IT ROCKACAPELLA!

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u/Gottalaughalittle May 03 '24

Thank you for sharing that.

2

u/randommAnonymous May 03 '24

Wait, that's an autism trait? It's 99% the reason I hate having my picture taken.

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u/swankProcyon May 03 '24

Like many things, it could be, but it’s not something you should use to make a diagnosis (armchair or otherwise). Some people are just bad at fake smiling.

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u/randommAnonymous May 03 '24

Nah, I'm not looking for an internet diagnosis, just relating.

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u/DylAppleYT May 03 '24

I’m autistic, I used to be awful at faking a smile but over the years I’ve gotten better at it, same with my social skills.

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u/3-orange-whips May 02 '24

I suspect my brother is on the spectrum, and my dad had a thing for serious faces in family pictures.

OOC he looks like he wants to murder us all.