We recently went to a restaurant to celebrate Anne Oxfort’s birthday. We sat in a room with a long table occupied by elderly ladies obviously celebrating something. When they were getting ready to leave, some of them were taking pictures, so Claire asked if they’d like her to take a picture of the whole group — and they agreed.
When the group had all gathered for their picture, Claire said, “say cheese.” Well, I got to wondering why the heck do I say “say cheese” when I take someone’s picture or why do they say it to me when I’m having my picture taken?
After doing some extensive research, I’ve decided it’s a mystery plagued with rumors, myths, assumptions and mis-information with no factual information available.
If you’ve ever looked at old pictures, you’ve probably noticed that people didn’t smile in photographs. There’s probably a number of reasons — bad dental care, the long exposure time to take the picture and just that’s the way you’re supposed to look when having your picture taken. At some point, the serious look went away and slowly the smile became the standard facial expression for photographs. The early photographers used a mechanical birdie, usually held just above the camera and the phrase “watch the birdie” became popular — but it was more effective for kids, getting their attention, giving them something to look at and at the same time making them laugh.
Somewhere along the way, “say cheese” began to be used to let adults know the picture was about to be taken. From what I can tell, no one knows who first said it or why. One theory is that the double “e” of “cheese” creates a baring of the teeth and produces an almost automatic smile. And some people think the absurdity of saying cheese for no reason makes you laugh or smile naturally….
So once again, I’ve asked myself a question that I can’t answer — even after extensive research. I think today “say cheese” is used not so much to make one smile, but as a cue signal that the photo is about to be taken. A race is started with “ready set go,” so I suppose a picture can start with “say cheese.”
Wonder what cheese says when it gets its picture taken?
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