Cheese and Smile

[boredserf]

Today, while hiking in New Mexico, my wife and I encountered a couple Chinese guys. At one of the scenic spots, we took their photo, and they took ours. I asked what the Chinese word for 'smile' was, was told 'xiao', said it before I snapped, they laughed, and I hope they got a good pic.

Afterwards, it occured to us that in the US we say 'cheese' not 'smile'. Now, 'cheese' is total nonsense. I doubt the literal translation is 'cheese'. But, what do friends, family or total strangers say to each other in Chinese before taking one another's picture?

Just curious.

[liuzhou]

what do friends, family or total strangers say to each other in Chinese before taking one another's picture?

Usually, 茄子 (qiézi) which means eggplant or aubergine and produces the same smile-like mouth shape.

[againstwind]

This is a good question.

Besides, 茄子 sometimes people say 七(qi), which sounds like chee

[gougou]

Sometimes, they won't say anything at all, but the person taking the picture will be counting out loud 一，二... Then, while the uninitiated foreigner is still waiting for the 三，the guy will quickly snap your picture. When taking a picture, I even had people laughing at me once when I actually counted till three.

[Alhazred]

I'd say that's because you actually smile when you say the word cheese with conviction.

Same way, a photographer recently came where I work for a group picture and he had us say ouistiti because we do smile when we say that word.

[Koneko]

Hmm... The one I normally use is:-

1, 2... 3

As suggested by gougou.

K.