Smile! Say cheese! (photography)

[ajo fresco]

In English, when we're taking a photo of someone, it's common to say "Say cheese!" to get them to smile.

I'm curious to know what words or phrases are used in other languages.

Thanks!

Ajo Fresco

 

[sakvaka]

Finnish: sano "muikku"! (say "vendace"!)

 

[enoo]

Well... as far as I know, in French it's often "Dites cheese !"
Maybe some other words with the "ee" sound are used, but I only remember that one. (And when I was a kid I remember wondering what "tchiiiz" was)

 

[Awwal12]

In Russian, the most equal phrase is "Улыбочку (, пожалуйста)!" - "A little smile (, please)!"
[ʊlɨbəʨkʊ pʌʐalʊstə]
There are other typical phrases of photographers, of course, but only this refers to smile, as the English variant.

P.S.: Yes, there is also "скажите [skʌʐɨt'ɪ] "cheese"" - (say "cheese"), but it is very rare, and, of course, totally informal.

 

[jazyk]

In Brazil we mostly say Xis (pronounced shees), which is how we pronounce the letter x in Portuguese. There are also other words a group of friends may use, though.

 

[Hakro]

Finnish: sano "muikku"! (say "vendace"!)

I've heard this, but I've never understood the idea. In fact, the (i) is pronounced so shortly that one's mouth has no time to take the look of smiling, especially for a typical Finn who doesn't much move his/her mouth when speaking.

In many cases when I've been the photographer, I've said a dirty word, and behold! everyone laughs. Click! (Can't be used with kids nor with older serious people.)

 

[miguel89]

Here we say: digan Whiskeeeeey!

 

[ajo fresco]

A very belated and appreciative thanks for all your replies!

I recently discovered this very thread has been referenced in Omniglot.com, so your answers will be helpful to even more people!


Ajo Fresco

 

[bibax]

In Omniglot.com there is a Czech phrase "Vyletí ptáček!" (or "Pozor, vyletí ptáček").

It means "(attention,) a birdie will fly out". But it is usually used for attracting the attention of little children and they usually do not smile.

Smile! in Czech formally:
Usměj se! (imper. sing.) Usmějte se! (imper. plur.)
Úsměv! (noun - a smile) Úsměv, prosím! (a smile, please)


informally:
(Řekni) sýr! = (say) cheese!

Sýr is pronounced seer.

 

[Favara]

In Omniglot.com there is a Czech phrase "Vyletí ptáček!" (or "Pozor, vyletí ptáček").

It means "(attention,) a birdie will fly out".

Hey, we also say that in Catalan to make children look at the camera, mireu al pardalet! or mireu, que ix el pardalet!.

I'd say the most usual "cheese!" in Catalan is Lluís /ʎu'is/, which is a masculine name (Louis). I've also heard lluç /ʎus/, meaning "hake" (the fish), but this might also be a corruption or a play on Lluís.

 

[Rallino]

In Turkish, there are a few, one of them is: 333! (üç yüz otuz üç)

Yes it's sort of weird xD

 

[N-i-c-0-o]

In french, we can say either "cheese !" or the most common is "ouistiti !" which means marmoset.

 

[Orlin]

Bulgarian: зеле (zele) - literally "cabbage".

 

[apmoy70]

I do not think we use a similar expression. According to Omniglot.com, in Greek we say «Πες τυρί» (pes ti'ri). I'm afraid that's nothing more than a verbatim translation of the English "say cheese". We say «κοίτα το πουλάκι» ('cita to pu'laci, lit. "watch for the little bird") when children are involved in the photograph (and the photographer tries to attract attention). When adults are involved, the photographer simply requests «χαμογελάστε παρακαλώ» (xamoʝe'laste paraka'lo)-->"smile please"

[c] is a voiceless palatal plosive
[x] is a voiceless velar fricative, known as the hard ch
[ʝ] is a voiced palatal fricative

 

[VRF]

in spanish, we say "pa-ta-ta"

 

[Encolpius]

How come I haven't spotted this topic before?

In Hungarian the classic old phrase is: Itt repül a kismadár! [here is flying the little bird], just like in Czech. I wonder where it comes from. From German?

 

[ThomasK]

We also generally say: 'Look at the birdie' (Kijk naar het vogeltje), but do not make them pronounce any words. (We know that does not help ;-)

(I do use a trick like the Turks, counting 1-2-3 and then going on, jumping to irregular numbers. That always helps produce a very natural smile...)

Just wondering: don't those languages using words generally refer to words containing the sound /i:/? I thought for a second it forces people to close their mouth, which is a condition for smiles. Crazy?

 

[Rallino]

...
Just wondering: don't those languages using words generally refer to words containing the sound /i:/? I thought for a second it forces people to close their mouth, which is a condition for smiles. Crazy?

That's what one would have guessed.

But in Turkish we go for: 333 which is pronunced: üç yüz otuz üç!

No i's

We could have picked a more appropriate number:

2022: iki bin yirmi iki

But no...Oh well..We're weird I admit

 

[hollabooiers]

The Estonian version makes absolutely no sense at all. We say "Hernesupp!", which just means "Pea soup!"

I suppose it's just meant to be random enough to make you laugh, but gee, you'd think they'd come up with something better than that.

I'm actually not sure how common it is, but that's what I always heard as a kid.

 

[ThomasK]

You know: (your) /ÿ/ and /i/ are not as different as you think they are. the first is as closed as the second, but the lips are also rounded for /ÿ/, not for /i/. So, I don't want to insist, but... ;-)

 

[Messquito]

In Chinese:
Taiwan:
說「七(chi)」！ Say "seven"!
A...B...C!
China:
說「茄(chie)子」！Say "eggplant"!
Both:
西瓜甜不甜？Isn't the watermelon tasty? 甜(tian)！(yes, )tasty!

 

[AutumnOwl]

Swedish:
Säg le - say smile.

 

[810senior]

Japanese:
Smile はい笑って(hey, smile) hai waratte
Say cheese はいチーズ(hey, cheese) hai chiizu