Say cheese! isn’t the only phrase photographers use to get people to smile. Sometimes French speakers ask the subject of a photo to say ouistiti, which means “marmoset.” Omniglot has a collection of these terms from photographers around the world. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “International Versions of “Say Cheese!””
Grant, I’ve been making a collection recently of things that photographers say to get people to smile.
Like in this country, we say… cheese.
Right.
Cheese.
I remember many times in Argentina being told to say whiskey.
In Estonia, it’s hernesoup, which means pea soup.
Okay.
And the reason that I came across these is I was reading about marmosets, and it turns out that the French word for marmoset is sometimes used in France.
What’s the word?
It’s ouititi.
Okay.
Isn’t that sweet?
Oh, yeah, that’s nice.
I like it.
Yeah.
So I’m sure there are all kinds of different terms like this around the world.
I would love to hear from our listeners to see what they use.
877-929-9673 is the number to call and share your terms like that, or you can send them an email to words@waywordradio.org.
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