About
Soyboy Face, also known as the Soylent Grin, Nu-Male Face, Nu-Male Smile, Soyface and Cuckface, is an internet slang term referring to a facial expression associated with men described as nu-male or Soy Boys who are photographed expressing surprise or excitement with their mouth agape. Online, a variation of Wojak referred to as "Soyjak" is illustrated with the open-mouthed smile.
Origin
On January 22nd, 2015, the news site Mashable[5] published an article titled "Faux surprise is the new duckface," which featured selfie photographs of both men and women holding their mouths agape (shown below).
On October 24th, 2017, a thread titled "The Nu-Male open mouth" was submitted to the /pol/ board on 4chan, which featured an illustration of two balding men with glasses posing for a selfie photograph with open mouths (shown below).[4]
Spread
On October 30th, 2017, Redditor sexy_mofo1 submitted a post titled "'Numale Mouth': Why is that everyone that seems to be against us smiles like this in photos?", followed by an MS Paint illustration of an open-mouthed man with a beard (shown below, left). In the comments section, Redditor brappablat submitted a comic in which a bearded man is shown posing with his mouth agape (shown below, right).[1]
On November 12th, YouTuber SailorDeer uploaded a video discussing the "Nu-male mouth" phenomenon. The video has since been removed. On December 26th, an anonymous 4chan[2] user submitted a post speculating that the open-mouthed smile was a signal of submission and being "lower in the social ladder" according to research on non-human primates. As a reply, another user responded that the smile should be called a "cuckface" based off the duckface facial expression.
On December 28th, a thread titled "NuMale face epidemic" was submitted to 4chan's /pol/ board, which received upwards of 290 replies, many of which included a montage of photographs of the facial expression (shown below, left). On January 8th, 2018, Redditor ClydeMason1911 uploaded a similar montage above illustrations of the face to /r/CringeAnarchy, where it gathered more than 940 points (93% upvoted) and 130 comments over the next 24 hours (shown below, right).
Soyboy Wojak
Soyboy Wojak, also known as Soyjak, is a stand-in character mocking fans of nerdy popular culture, particularly the Nintendo Switch. In September of 2017, Nintendo Wojak appeared in the original Oh No, Not Again! NSFW comic. As the nu-male smile grew popular, the character began being depicted wearing the nu-male smile and a Super Mario cap. On January 9th, an animated GIF of a Wojak illustration making the facial expression in response to a Nintendo Switch dropping from the top of the frame was submitted to the Facebook page "4chong page that actually posts stuff from halfchan."[3] The video has since been removed.
On January 23rd, 2018, soyboy compiled various iterations of the Wojak Nintendo edits (examples shown below).
Soyjak.party
Soyjak.party, also referred to simply as The Party and Sharty, is an English-speaking imageboard centered around creating, posting and sharing Soyjaks. Formed in September 2020 largely by users from 4chan's banned /qa/ board, the imageboard has been the major producer of Soyjak images online since its creation, also spawning and popularizing other memes.
Impjak
Impjak, also known as Impish Soyak Ears or The Swede refers to an edited version of the Guinness World Record Soyjak. The Impjak has been used to convey impish behavior and to portray Swedes on imageboard websites like Soyjak.party and 4chan. The Swede stereotype that the Impjak most often satirizes is a native, white, Swedish person who feels negatively about Sweden's immigration growth in the 2020s. Physically, the Impjak has a large face with a shrunken head, double chin, thin beard, big ears and a grin. It was first uploaded to Soyjak.party in late 2020, soon spreading to 4chan's /int/. Going into 2023, Impjak was used in more avant-garde Wojak comics including the Say the Line, Wojak memes.
Various Examples
Nintendo Switch Photographs
Many circulated examples of the facial expression are often shown in photographs and photoshopped images showing bearded men holding newly-acquired Nintendo Switch video game consoles (shown below).
Search Interest
External References
[1] Reddit – /r/KotakuInAction
[2] Archive.is – 4chan thread
[3] Facebook – 4chong page that actually posts stuff from halfchan
[4] 4plebs – The nu male open mouth
[5] Mashable – Faux surprise face is the new duckface
