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No-frills Posted 20 years ago
Vocabulary

Say "Cheese!", or Look Out for wrong usage

Hello there! I'm new to this board. Hope to stay on and read as much as I can. But currently I have a question to ask (a result of a heated discussion). I'm looking for native speakers' opinions mainly, but anyone who's had experience in a situation of the kind is welcome to respond as well.

A user was asking for help at a non-English board wondering what native speakers usually say when taking a picture. Certainly people advised him to say "Say Cheese!", "Cheese", "Smile!" etc. However, there was also a version of "Look out!". It raised my suspicion as in this context it would sound as "Watch out! There's danger out there somewhere!". However, the user insisted that you can attract attention like this. Why, of course you can. If you yelled "Help!" it would attract attention, but would it be relevant and appropriate in the context?

I almost have no doubts about that, but I'd really like to hear someone else's opinion for a change.

Thanks in advance!
  

Top answer

I have never heard of someone saying, "look out" when taking a photo. " No, I agree with you that unless you want a picture portaying a collection of shocked faces, I would stick with the ol' say cheese

  • I have never heard of someone saying, "look out" when taking a photo.
  • " No, I agree with you that unless you want a picture portaying a collection of shocked faces, I would stick with the ol' say cheese
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8 Answers
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I'm not sure if I understood that...I have never heard of someone saying, "look out" when taking a photo. "Say cheese!" yes, but "Look out!" No, I agree with you that unless you want a picture portaying a collection of shocked faces, I would stick with the ol' say cheese
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Emotion: big smile Thanks I almost thought I was losing my mind in here
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Some photographers shout startling phrases, to elicit a lively expression from their subjects.

I read somewhere about a female professional photographer, who always shouts "***!". It apparently gets the subject's attention.

MrP
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Look out would be a rather weird one...I think you'd get a picture of lots of people ducking.

Say cheeeeese is traditional because it stretches people's mouths out into a sort of smile (grimace). I've also known a press photographer who would get everyone to shout 'Tuesday' at the same time as the 'day' part looks more like a natural smile, albeit a slightly manic one. Shouting something
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I've started using "whiskey" - they pull out the "whi..." part and that works too. But "cheese" is the most common one I've ever heard.
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Here, we also say "wistiti!" Emotion: big smile
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hehehe thanks a lot for the replies. Had a good time reading them Emotion: smile

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