Duck face or duck lips is a photographic pose that first began in 1991 and is common on profile pictures in social networks. The lips are pressed together as in a pout and the cheeks are typically also sucked in. The pose is usually seen as an attempt to appear alluring, [1] but it can be ironic [2] or an attempt to hide self-conscious embarrassment. [3]
Fashion models frequently use exaggerated pouts, [1] and self-portraits with a pouty face go back to Rembrandt. [4] In the 1994 film Four Weddings and a Funeral , one of the lead characters, Henrietta, played by Anna Chancellor, is nicknamed Duckface for her pouty expressions. [1] Ben Stiller mocked models' pouty expressions in 1996 comedy sketches and the 2001 feature film Zoolander . The silly expressions made by his narcissistic character have retroactively been identified as an example of duck face. [5] As social networks became popular, young women frequently made exaggeratedly pouty expressions. This became a major fad by the 2010s, [6] provoking a strong negative reaction among some viewers. [1]
OxfordDictionaries.com added "duck face" as a new word in 2014 to their list of current and modern words, but it has not been added to the Oxford English Dictionary . [7] [8]
In an animal communication studies of capuchin monkeys, the "duck face" term has been used synonymously with "protruded lip face", which females exhibit in the proceptive phase before mating. [9] [10]