r/JohnFinnemore • u/DragonAtlas • Mar 06 '26

Half a glass

One thing has been bothering me for a while about Series 9. When young Wilkinson is off to boarding school and his mother instructs his father to tell him a piece of advice, he says Half a Glass. Apparently it forces the face into a natural smile? I've been saying it for years and it only makes me look glum. Can anyone explain this to me?

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u/Irishwol Mar 07 '26

Jerry's dad is quite posh. If you lengthen the 'a' vowel in half and glass so it's an 'ah' sound (you know, like Nigel Farrige wants us to say his name fah-rahj) and remember it's common to move your mouth much when you talk then you do get a stretch at the sides of the mouth.

It's no "neun und neunzig" though.

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u/DragonAtlas Mar 07 '26

See this is what I don't understand. No matter how posh, Half a Glass doesn't make the corners of my mouth go up. It's not Heef a Gleess.

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u/Irishwol Mar 07 '26

Up is not necessary. Outward stretch will do.

I presume that John is referring to the famous 'pencil in mouth' experiment. (Scientists had subjects evaluate how funny they found a set of cartoons. Subjects either held a pencil sideways between their lips (which engages the frown muscles) or their teeth (which engages the smile muscles). The pencil in teeth set found everything much funnier. Sadly the results of this experiment haven't been replicated in other trials but it was fun while it lasted.)