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“Modar” is a Thing

Stephen C

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Gemini, make a couple that looks very Mormon without including explicit symbols of Mormonism like a temple or Book of Mormon. 

“Modar” is a fun derivation (I think) of “gaydar,” but where people can supposedly identify a Latter-day Saint in the wild by sight. My Modar is pretty good, and I have East Coast, never-Mo, never-Utahn friends who claim to have it. There was even a study that confirmed that people are better than chance at guessing who is and isn’t LDS.  

My own theory about this. 

Physiogonomy

Shooting from the hip I’d guess the mean “Utah pioneer Mormon” is about 60% British, 20% other Northern European, and 20% other, and ethnically this combination adds up to the “Mormon look.” As you can see from the map below, we’re basically New Englanders with some additional blond people (tropes involving Mormon families often involve blond kids, the kernel of truth there may be the Northern European ancestry a lot of Utahns have).


Fashion

I had a colleague who did some research on Mormons who pointed out that she could always tell who the Mormons were at academic conferences because they wear light blue shirts. A few other things:

  • No tattoos. More distinctive now that they’re becoming more popular.
  • Fewer high heels (too inconvenient with kids).
  • On that note, we’re not exactly Milan runway types in general. Again, convenience is big for family living.
  • I sometimes feel like the only people who wear white short-sleeve shirts now are the techs at the office and people who have the habit from their mission.

Cultural Norms about Cheerfulness and Politeness

  • Our first Sunday after moving to Philadelphia we saw a fresh-faced, wholesome looking couple with their toddler clearly walking to church in their Sunday best. I thought they looked Mormon, and then upbraided myself for thinking that we had a monopoly on fresh-faced wholesome looking white people walking to church. And then of course we go to church and found out they were in our ward. So yes, there is something to just being a Mr. Rogers type. I’m going to add “the spirit,” “the light in their eyes” to this category since I kind of think that’s part of what that’s tracking. 

Health

  • That Modar paper actually hypothesized that the effect was from health. I’m a little skeptical. Obviously we don’t smoke or drink, and there is definitely a look of somebody who has smoked or drunk way too much. So yes, we don’t have that. That being said, I doubt we eat more fruits and vegetables than other people, we’re not Bay-area triathlete vegetarians, so I don’t think we have any more of that natural glow (demonstrated by another study) that vegetable eaters get.

Behavioral Odds and Ends

  • The other day I was at one of the few Cafe Rios on the East Coast, and there was a gregarious father there with his daughter in the middle of the day-I would have bet a $100 right there what his religion was.

Comments

13 responses to ““Modar” is a Thing”

  1. E

    I feel like clothing also factors in, especially for women, especially in warmer weather. There is a specific look that results from needing to cover garments. Maybe that will lessen somewhat with new sleeveless garments but not completely.

    As far as health, I am also skeptical but there may be something to it. Seventh Day Adventists are healthier than we are but I don’t notice a “look”. I have been in so many social situations where I think my choice of beverage gives me away.

  2. Patrick

    My wife and I engage in “Mospotting” in our local Costa Vida here in Texas. Because suburban Texas has become a destination for many Utah LDS folk for the great cost of living and booming job market, we expect many of them will find a home-away-from-home in this recognizable Utah Fresh-Mex chain. We think we’re pretty good at spotting them. We just got a Swig in the area, so we will probably try it there on a Tuesday or Wednesday evening some time.

  3. bbell

    You can totally pick out LDS families on Cruise ships.

    Also at Costa Vida outside of Utah

    This might fade away though as less and less women are now wearing garments

    Modar is real at least for now.

  4. Stephen C

    Maybe I have to turn in my temple recommend, but I never got the Costa Vida thing; now Swig I can get behind.

  5. Patrick

    Stephen C, since there aren’t Cafe Rio locations in the metro areas outside the Intermountain West, Costa Vida is the closest we can get :)

  6. RL

    MODAR was described this way in 1860-1870s in a report filed by the US Senate:
    “The yellow, sunken, cadaverous visage; the greenish-colored eyes; the thick protuberant lips; the low forehead; the light, yellowish hair; and the lank angular person, constitute an appearance so characteristic of the new race, the production of polygamy, as to distinguish them at a glance.”
    https://www.fairlatterdaysaints.org/conference_home/august-2015/rethinking-the-mormon-racial-story

    I find this funny as he’s just trying to say white pioneer stock LDS folks look like a Danish, Scandinavian, English mix.

    We still kind of look like this unless we go EX and then it’s the same look but with tattoos and more internet posting for men or a nose ring and more shoulder bearing for women.

  7. Tom

    Last time I checked, missionaries have never worn white sleeveless shirts. Did you perhaps mean white short-sleeved shirts?

  8. John Mansfield

    A decade ago, before self-scanning took over, if I went to Safeway after 9 PM on a Saturday night, I would often find myself in line for the cashier with someone else from my ward. Once three of us in a row. Another time the DC North mission president picking up a few things on his way back to the mission home. Dividing the count on the ward list by census tract totals I once came up with 1.1% latter-day saint. If I wanted to find random latter-day saints, I might try looking around a grocery store on a Saturday night.

  9. Mortimer

    I asked ChatGPT to create some art for my blog. I asked it to create a painting in the style of realism of an LDS man, no symbols. No white shirt. I prompted it with several descriptions of LDS countenances and asked AI to also extract its knowledge of LDS faces, descriptions from text of LDS countenances, as well from photos of the Tabernacle choir, general authorities, famous saints, etc. to create a compilation. I told it to try and capture the countenance and unique LDS spirit in the eyes. I did specify a middle aged male for the purposes of this project.

    It drew a white male with hazel greenish eyes and dark blonde/brownish hair and a receding hairline who wasn’t fat, but not thin, with somewhat of a full face-maybe a little overweight but not much. (Have you ever noticed how we’re never depicted as tall/thin people? People look at us as the chubby nerdy Elder or the overweight, but jovial ward clerk or bishop with a pot belly. Never the lanky President Eyring.)

    He had an innocent gaze with somewhat of a wide-eyed, perplexed/hopeful look. I noticed that the eyebrows were raised near the furrow and lower on the outsides, like a “worried” emoji”. When I kept telling AI “more” the eyebrows became more “worried” and the eyes larger- more doe-eyed and innocent/concerned looking.

    There wasn’t a smile, nor was there a frown. Serious. Hopeful/concerned.

    My painting looked like every young dad you’d ever meet in Elder’s Quorum.

    I suppose we have a lot to be innocent about (no R rated movies or wild drunken parties). We are often naive about a lot of things. We’re also hopeful in our interactions with people. And we’re also worried. We’re supposed to mourn with others, to be sober and serious, be concerned with welfare and charitable issues etc.

    It was an interesting experiment. I’d link the url, but it would put my comment in moderation.

  10. Stephen C

    @Tom: Good catch, fixing it now.

  11. Stephen Hardy

    Hey! No victories for satan. It’s COJSOLDSDAR.

  12. Stephen Hardy

    Oops. COJCOLDSDAR

  13. RLD

    Interesting…file this under “things that are different in ‘the mission field’.” If I have a vague sense that someone might be a member, it’s because I’m about to recognize them as a member of my stake. My stake is big enough that I only leave it 5-6 times a year, mostly for temple trips. So the probability of me running into someone who is a member without me knowing it is so low, they’d probably have to be wearing BYU apparel before it would be reasonable to guess they’re a member. My Modar is sadly undeveloped.

    I’m curious if Modar would hold up (i.e. recognition still better than chance) if the people to be recognized were 1) members with no Utah ancestors, 2) converts, or 3) members outside the US. That would tell us something about what gives us away.

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