Hey There! Why The
Long Face?
On the Jordanian frown
By M.J. Rahahleh
Human beings are known to be one of a minority of creatures with the ability of smiling, a way to express happiness or joy, a sign of friendly warmth that sends waves of comfort to the person standing in front of us, but lack of display of this 'smile' is thought of as a sign of aggressiveness, toughness and to some extent, lack of hospitality. And that is something ‘we’ Jordanians are often mistaken for.
In fact, during the past few years, some newspaper articles, caricatures and even Facebook groups/pages were created to glorify our sacred frown, stating that this toughness provided by the concrete non smiling face is considered to be a huge part of being a 'Zalameh' or a real man in Levantine slang. These views vary from hetero to homo; and especially from youth to elderly.
Now basically, it’s known that in order to smile, you need to move only a few muscles compared to a whooping 44 muscles in order to frown, not to mention that either frowning or smiling too much causes early wrinkles due to constant movement of facial muscles. But what's the magical link between giving out a frowny long face and being a real man?
Well, if this is new to you, you might be delightfully shocked, but in our Middle Eastern culture, the concept of a man is the one presumed of a wall, he's fearless, emotionless, drifting-brave and doesn't show any affections or emotions whatsoever. And the more 'senseless' he gets, the more of a ‘stud’ he is considered. This dilemma of strict traditions has lead to a general stigma of frowning, especially upon Jordanians, being in a politically and socially turbulent region has resulted in a factor of preoccupation of the mind, especially when it comes to the economic side of the issue. Jordan, being one of the most expensive countries in the region and with a lower-middle class GDP per capita, this means that the middle class is prevailing in the Jordanian society, the class that is neither rich nor poor, but still has to work for a sufficient time in order to provide a relatively good life for its family members. This economic status quo made a gap between income and expenses, thus making the provider of the family being preoccupied and rather grumpy about all those expenses that are due.
But the problem doesn’t only have an economic aspect; it’s about so called ‘traditions’ as mentioned before. The Jordanian population is unique, being a mixture of ethnic Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians, Iraqis, Armenians, Circassians and Sharkasians, Turks and Iranians, sounds like one hell of a combination. This immigration started almost 150 years ago, before that, ethnic Jordanians were living as semi-industrialized workers in towns and as farmers in villages, along with Bedouins that used to roam the landscape. The tough geographical hilly landscape of Jordan, especially in the North and the Center posed special traits to be required of the family ‘man’, he has to be tough in order to conquer those steep hills and make them abide to his laws of farming and pasturing, and be able to defend his town/village from Bedouin raids or sudden Ottoman campaigns sought out to restore ‘order’. While in this bucket of requirements, lesser affection and humor (which is considered for kids and the not so adult-ish ones) is was a prerequisite.
"Always frowning, crossed eyebrows, uptight and no space for negotiation, and God forbid if someone says a joke around!"
In our days, starting off from the 60’s and later on after the formation of modern Jordan, the bureaucratic system absorbed a lot of job-seekers, making them state employees, which are ruled by the theocracy of laws in the ‘book’. And to do so, this state employ tried to be as rigid as possible, brick-like and stateless. Combined, those made the image of a real man, a grown up adult as the following:
Always frowning, crossed eyebrows, uptight and no space for negotiation, and God forbid if someone says a joke around!
Artisit and blogger, Ahmad Qatato has hosted through IKBIS.com an anger-confession session, "Detoxing Sitting", with his follow friends. The pals complained about a suppressed country, a mistreatment toward each other, how people respond to each other and how people lack the manners on how to talk… However, Qatato did complain on how the Arabian communities grew a bad habit of self-loathing, “I have a problem with how people here always refer to our own race in a negative way. How they miss use the word Arab in conversations that goals to a demeaning purpose, to our own selves. The word retard is the most used! And because it’s often used, people are starting to believe in it”
Farah and Moayad, Qatato’s friends who joined him in the sitting, had mentioned how people in the west view Arabs, and how it makes them angry. Farah started by pointing out how she dislikes the treatment people give foreigners here, later on it became the other way around. “I talked with this guy online, and I told him that my dad is forcing me to marry this guy who I don’t like, and who’s buying me, in the price, of which is a camel! I kept on saying how we’ll be living in tent in the desert. He asked me about the transportation, and I told him we’ll be using the camel itself… And he actually believed me!” Farah said, “Well, that’s how they view us, they think we live in tents and ride on camels, they don’t know we have pretty much an urban life, some would say a lot like theirs’!” Moayad added.
Xenia added how people here are pressured, how everybody impose their ideas and their beliefs on others. “Regardless, if it’s the government or between the citizens themselves, everybody projects their beliefs or ideas on others and they pressure it, everything is compressed in our brains… this country is suppressed!” She said.
The irony in it is that the Jordanian frown is often frowned upon! And while you’re probably frowning from something in your life right at this moment, don’t miss the chance to check out the Amman’s laughter festival in the upcoming winter with events set out to crack you up, and try to remove this prototype of…
Check My.Kali.mag’s special review on Ahmad Jad; main picture, up (here>)
Always frowning, crossed eyebrows, uptight and no space for negotiation, and God forbid if someone says a joke around!
Artisit and blogger, Ahmad Qatato has hosted through IKBIS.com an anger-confession session, "Detoxing Sitting", with his follow friends. The pals complained about a suppressed country, a mistreatment toward each other, how people respond to each other and how people lack the manners on how to talk… However, Qatato did complain on how the Arabian communities grew a bad habit of self-loathing, “I have a problem with how people here always refer to our own race in a negative way. How they miss use the word Arab in conversations that goals to a demeaning purpose, to our own selves. The word retard is the most used! And because it’s often used, people are starting to believe in it”
Farah and Moayad, Qatato’s friends who joined him in the sitting, had mentioned how people in the west view Arabs, and how it makes them angry. Farah started by pointing out how she dislikes the treatment people give foreigners here, later on it became the other way around. “I talked with this guy online, and I told him that my dad is forcing me to marry this guy who I don’t like, and who’s buying me, in the price, of which is a camel! I kept on saying how we’ll be living in tent in the desert. He asked me about the transportation, and I told him we’ll be using the camel itself… And he actually believed me!” Farah said, “Well, that’s how they view us, they think we live in tents and ride on camels, they don’t know we have pretty much an urban life, some would say a lot like theirs’!” Moayad added.
Xenia added how people here are pressured, how everybody impose their ideas and their beliefs on others. “Regardless, if it’s the government or between the citizens themselves, everybody projects their beliefs or ideas on others and they pressure it, everything is compressed in our brains… this country is suppressed!” She said.
The irony in it is that the Jordanian frown is often frowned upon! And while you’re probably frowning from something in your life right at this moment, don’t miss the chance to check out the Amman’s laughter festival in the upcoming winter with events set out to crack you up, and try to remove this prototype of…
Check My.Kali.mag’s special review on Ahmad Jad; main picture, up (here>)