Whileit seems that countenance is simply their facial expression, I can't think of a situation where a person has a facial expression for any other reason than indicating how they are feeling, since it is indeed an expression. Therefore it gives it to me the implied same definition of being an indication of their character or mood.
Yes, his grin works but the rest of the sentence isn't connected to countenance. It feels like it'd be the same as saying 'His raspy voice and scars and tattoos made him sound evil', like the scars and tattoos don't have an effect on the descriptive noun.
Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Synonyms (1984) parks countenance and mien in two different clusters of words. Countenance appears in a group with visage, physiognomy, mug, and puss under the lead word face. Mien appears in a group with demeanor, deportment, port, and presence, under the lead word bearing. Here's what Merriam-Webster has to say about these two word groups and about the words of particular relevance in them:
Bearing, deportment, demeanor, mien, port, presence are comparable when they denote the way in which or the quality by which a person outwardly manifests his personality and breeding. Bearing is the most general of these words; it may apply reference to a person's mental attitude to others, his conduct in society, or his characteristic posture or way o holding himself ... Demeanor applies rather to one's attitude as shown in one's behavior in the presence of others ... Mien implies reference both to bearing and demeanor, often as suggestive of mood ...
Face, countenance, visage, physiognomy, mug, puss denote the front part of a human or, sometimes, animal head including the mouth, nose, eyes, forehead, and cheeks. ... Countenance applies especially to the face as it reveals mood, character, or changing emotions ... Especially in the phrases "to keep in countenance" (maintain one's composure) and "to put out of countenance" (cause one to lose one' composure) the term denotes the normal, composed facial expression of one free from mental distress. Sometimes the word is used in place of face when a formal term is desired ... Both face and countenance may be used in personifications when the outward aspect or appearance of anything is denoted ...
Air is that combination of qualities which makes the entire impression we receive in a person's presence; as, we say he has the air of a scholar, or the air of a villain. ... Mien is closely synonymous with air but less often used in a bad sense. We say a rakish air rather than a rakish mien. Mien may be used to express some prevailing feeling; as an indignant mien.
These two reference works thus seem to agree that mien has to do with the effect or impression of character that a person makes on a second person, whereas Merriam-Webster is clear that countenance is in the first instance a predominant physical expression of the face, and more generally a person's outward aspect. It follows that we might characterize Don Quixote as having a woeful countenance but a chivalrous mien.
Mien often comes fried with crabmeat and vegetables, or as a replacement for pho noodles in a broth known as mien ga. However, my recommendation for the cooler weather of the Hanoi Autumn is mixed cassava vermicelli or mien tron.
Find your way to Ly Quoc Su in the Old Quarter and you will come across a small mien tron eatery near the junction with Chan Cam, Mien Tron Hanh. Like many other street food joints in Hanoi, this place is quite small, only fitting in one row of tables. As this eatery was originally part of an alley, at its end you will see stairs leading to the upstairs apartments of local Hanoians. Mien Tron Hanh also provides a nice little escape from the bustling activity of Ly Quoc Su, one of the busiest streets in the Old Quarter. Yet it still gives you a people-watching observation point onto the road beyond.
The eatery is located at 7B Ly Quoc Su, Hoan Kiem, Hanoi and is open from around 9am until 8.30pm. A serving of mien tron ranges from VND25,000 to VND40,000 depending on whether you order meat, fish patty, pork roll, beef or everything
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