"У него странное лицо."

Translation: He has a strange face.

[ColeDonnelly]

S A V A G E

A

V

A

G

E

[ph516503]

I don't get this comment, but 7 people have upvoted it. What am I missing?

[Samuel.bkn]

The internet has its own culture. This is a cultural thing from the internet, where referring to an action or statement as "savage" would be to consider the statement as very blunt (this is common to do in African American culture as well), and then to write it out both horizontally and vertically would be to emphasize the fact that the person believes that what has just been said or done is "savage".

If we were to visualize what Cole is saying, it would look like this: https://youtu.be/GPXkjtpGCFI?t=10s

[ph516503]

Thanks for explaining it to me. I thought I was relatively up on this sort of thing, but that's completely new to me. I'm so last year.

[jaiirapetjan]

I know my students would rebut with, "You have a strange face!"

[MS_Genius88]

Weird should also be accepted, no?

[JanisaChatte]

Of course. Added it.

[mosfet07]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Xaver_Messerschmidt

[daughterofAlbion]

Fascinating - but on the whole strange facial expressions rather than unusual phsiognomy.
Have you ever heard of the ancient sport of gurning?
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/anne-woods-winner-of-the-womens-world-gurning-title-at-the-egremont-crab-fair-in-cumbria-a-record-28-10153298.html

[mosfet07]

Heh, a Russian would call it "кривля́ние" (making faces). Is that really a sport? What are the rules?

[daughterofAlbion]

Yes, it really is an old rural sport, still practised in Cumbria (alongside greasy-pole climbing and Cumberland wrestling). Contestants have a certain amount of time in which to pull their most impressive faces through a braffin (which is a horse-collar). I believe that actual deformity is excluded, but I have heard of competitors having teeth removed in order to improve facial mobility and increase their chances of winning!

[john.newbe]

Called Gurning

[daughterofAlbion]

Is the speaker being ethnically insulting (or otherwise rude about someone's features)?
Or is it more likely to refer to facial expression i.e. the person referred to is "pulling a face"?

[mosfet07]

I'd say both. Not necessarily ethnically and not necessarily rude. Just a weird face.

[Milosh.P]

Obviously a Western spy

[hanalearnsfrench]

Why is лицо pronounced with an -o ending instead of an -a? The "o" is unstressed here.

[Superuncia]

The o is stressed here. Listen carefully!

[DonaldYTKA]

"His face is strange" is rejected

[_Polimata_]

Jajaa , que tendrá el pobrecillo

[MadelineSc16]

Isn't that what I said? I said, "he has a strange face." Why did it say I was wrong?