Bershon

While the concept of Bershon seems to have persisted at least since the teenage years of writer and blogger Sarah Brown, author and organizer of Cringe, the concept only started gaining traction through the blogosphere since 2004, when she posted an entry providing the following definition.

he spirit of bershon is pretty much how you feel when you’re 13 and your parents make you wear a Christmas sweatshirt and then pose for a family picture, and you could not possibly summon one more ounce of disgust, but you’re also way too cool to really even DEAL with it, so you just make this face like you smelled something bad and sort of roll your eyes and seethe in a put-out manner.

The phenomenon is acknowledged by graphic designer Michael Bierut on the design blog Design Observer in a post titled "Would It Kill You To Smile?", and suggests that although the rules of what can defined as Bershon do not apply to time and place, it is most often "associated with the act of being photographed".

Although the spirit of Bershon seems to have set in at the age of adolescence, the feeling persists into adulthood, as noted by Bierut that the expression can often be found on author photographs. His professional work has also lead to encounters with Bershon on CEOs, most commonly found on corporate promotional literature. Dick Teresi in The New York Times has this comment on portrait photography that captures the prevalence of Bershon in adulthood:

They all look like failed lounge acts appearing at your local piano bar. Mr. Updike appears ready to launch into an angst-laden version of 'Sometimes When We Touch.

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