Smiling...

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I seem to have little expression on my face until someone comes into visual range. Then I put on a great big unnatural jackolantern smile.

I also find many things inappropriately - be NT standards - funny.

I laugh when someone yells at me,but it's more of a "I'm amused that this idiotic b***h is screaming like a loon" kinda thing.

There have been times when I would laugh at strangers galncing at me straight-faced.


-SpaceCase

I can't seem to control my face.

Most of the time when I am on my own I rarely smile, however when I meet someone I know I smile even when I don't feel like it or when the other person isn't smiling.

When I was young I used to sometimes laugh for no apparent reason especially when we were eating at the dinner table. My parants use to get angry over this behaviour because I couldn't stop laughing at something not even I could undertstand, and yet I still felt like laughing and nothing could stop me.

I've leant as I've got older that people don't like it when other people smile back, when I automatically smile at somebody I know I never give a responsive smile back, instead they look at me as though I am stupid or childish or doing something wrong, I could never understand why.
I never look at people when I smile at them, I just look down and smile.
Sometimes this uncontrolable shy response has got me bullied and misunderstood, people seem to assume that my smile interprets that I am stupid or weak, gullible.
I can't understand why this is the case, a smile is suppose to be a good thing, what conditions change the interpretation of a smile (exempting sad situations)?

I've learned that NT's don't like a smile without a reason, even though I don't know why I try my best to avoid automatically smiling when I see people I know. Otherwise I could be interpreted wrongly and labelled as something and be bullied because of it!!

I smile if nervous, i can smile when im really unhappy, or i can look really depressed when im quite content. I get small facial twitches also. People get angry if i dont make the right facial expression, but its just because they are confused so i dont take it personally.

I wonder if ASpies would be good at playing poker ??

The Missus frequently asks, wot are you smiling about? Seems I get lost in thought, and smile when it's not very appropriate.

I don't smile naturally unless I'm laughing (which is rare because even when I think something's funny I often just laugh INSIDE), and I can't do a fake smile at all. Everyone who meets me face to face thinks I hate them

EDIT: Poker! What a good idea!

I never smile when I "should" - I've had nearly 40 years of "Smile, it may never happen". That drives me nuts. As I mentioned in another thread, I usually reply with "Actually, it already has" - that sometimes phases people because they don't know if I'm joking or not

I also smile when I "shouldn't". Like when my staff are telling me all their woes with work or each other. Or when someone tells me about a bereavement or a sick relative. I often feel the corner of my mouth starting to twitch. I think this is all to do with nervousness at not knowing how to say and desperately not wanting to respond in the wrong manner.

I never did, and still don't, understand why when we feel a certain way, we should be making a certain face, and I can never remember what face matches with what emotion, so peopel always ask me why I look sad, or why I look happy when something bad has just happened, or if something is wrong, and usually i say no no I'm really happy today. They just look at me like uhhh...

I smile when someone just said something funny, when I see someone/something I like, or when I've just done something right, but usually I have a pretty blank face that shows no emotion, so no one asks me why I look a certain way.

Well, I was feeling in a pretty good mood today, and I was thinking about smiles. I actually found that I felt like smiling at one or two people who were passing by. Unfortunately, one lady immediately began begging for money. Ah, well. Back to my normal behavior.

I can relate to this...for me smile is like a mask I wear...and I've been told both that I had a beautiful smile and that there was something artificial about it. I try to keep my facial expression under control as I see that it is important to be professional and assertive in order to survive in the society...

Here's a tip for smiling "naturally" in pictures: Push your tongue against the back of your top teeth.

I swear, it works. Never took a good picture until I learned that tip -- from Farrah Fawcett, of all people.