Why the long face?
| Jen: | Hi I'm Jennifer and I'm waiting for Helen. I did see her in the corridor earlier, and she was looking a bit unhappy. Wait, here she is. Hi Helen! |
| Helen: | Hi Jen. |
| Jen: | What's the matter, Helen? Why the long face? |
| Helen: | What's wrong with my face? |
| Jen: | Nothing's wrong with your face, except that it looks a bit upset. |
| Helen: | But you just said I've got a long face. |
| Jen: | No—what I said was ... |
| Helen: | You think I've got a strange face. I KNEW I shouldn't have worn my hair like this today. |
| Jen: | No, I asked you: "Why the long face?" |
| Helen: | Is it my nose? Is it too big? Or maybe my chin is the wrong shape. Maybe I should just wear a bag over my head! |
| Jen: | No, no, no—that's not what I meant! First of all, you look LOVELY today. |
| Helen: | OK ... So what did you mean? |
| Jen: | In English, the expression "why the long face?" is used as an informal way of asking someone what's wrong if they look upset. |
| Helen: | So there's nothing wrong with my face? |
| Jen: | No, there isn't. Let's hear some examples of the phrase in use. |
| You've just got a new job, a new house and a new man—you should be happy! Why the long face? | |
| Hey there, don't look so sad! Why the long face? | |
| Helen: | So "why the long face?" is just another way of asking "what's the matter?" |
| Jen: | Exactly. You could also say "what's up?" |
| Helen: | That's very simple—you could say "what's wrong?" too. |
| Jen: | So what IS wrong? Why do you look so miserable? |
| Helen: | I've just had a really bad day—everything has gone wrong. First I lost my car keys, then I was late for a meeting and I fell over and tripped and landed in a puddle on my way. It was a horrible day. |
| Jen: | It sounds awful. I know, how about I tell you a joke to cheer you up—you'll like this one. |
| Helen: | OK, why not. Let's hear it. |
| Jen: | A horse walks into a bar. The barman says: "why the long face?" |
| Helen: | So the horse was unhappy? What's funny about that? |
| Jen: | The barman says to the horse "Why the long face?" |
| Helen: | Why would a horse be in a bar? |
| Jen: | It doesn't matter—it's a joke. It's a horse so the barman says "Why the long face?" |
| Helen: | I don't understand. |
| Jen: | Well, the horse has a long face. |
| Helen: | So it's unhappy? |
| Jen: | No, well, yes, but that's the joke. Horses have long faces. |
| Helen: | So why did it go into the bar again ... ? |