Miserable bunch? If you meet a stranger and make an eye contact, usually you smile. We don’t. It may orininate from times of communism, when you didn’t know who is the secret police and who will grass you up to the authorities for something you may not have done.
If you meet a friend, or if you answer the phone, you put on a ‘very happy’ voice. No matter what mood you are, will be very happy to meet the peson (even if you are not quite as much happy). We are obviously happy if we meet a friend, but not happy enough to make you sounds overly cheerful when you have a bad mood because perhaps something bad happened. When I am asnwering phone, I usually use my normal voice, not the ‘singing’ voice. (My husband always started the call with checking if I am alright because I sound sad.) I think there are many little things you won’t notice, and you may not agree with even when you read it, unless someone from different culture points it out the moment it happens. It is so ingrained in you that you may not register it. May husband never knew what I was talking about when I mentioned the singing voice of English females until I started pointing out every time it happened.