Stramash Posted March 30, 2011 Report Share Posted March 30, 2011 How much wood could a Thai wood chuck chuck if a Thai wood chuck could chuck wood? absolutely none as wood chucks are not indigenous to SE Asia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stramash Posted March 30, 2011 Report Share Posted March 30, 2011 Umm.. interesting question ummm..Because, one of many thai beliefes is giving (something/someone ) life will bring good luck, so there have some people devoted themselve catch the birds just for those people release it later and feel good. so are the people catching the birds going to 'hell'? Or because by their insidious actions they allow others to do a good deed, do they in turn get a 'merit commission'? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stramash Posted March 30, 2011 Report Share Posted March 30, 2011 How much wood would a Thai chick take if a Thai chick could take wood? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigKus Posted March 30, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 30, 2011 Would it kill Thais to learn the difference between different farang nationalities? If you come to most farang countries we call you Asian (if unsure of your country of origin or in describing your race) or Thai. Seldom would you be referred to as "foreigner." Yes, you going to change our history. Thais in the past were just set new things for them (here is 'foreigner' ) into their comfort and very very first foreigners who came to TH were whitey from Holanda. And If i saw you, Dave and Iain were siting together and I want to tell my grandma that you guys are my friend , what should I say to my grandma "Grandma, those american, english, scottish are my friends ??" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
admin Posted March 30, 2011 Report Share Posted March 30, 2011 Umm.. interesting question ummm..Because, one of many thai beliefes is giving (something/someone ) life will bring good luck, so there have some people devoted themselve catch the birds just for those people release it later and feel good. Yes, but you do see the circular logic there, don't you? Many Thais believe that releasing captive animals brings them good luck, winning lottery numbers, whatever which spurs an industry to capture animals that would have normally never been captured in the first place. I think farang logic here would be to not pay anybody money to release their animals so that nobody would have a financial incentive to capture animals. For instance, I have always loathed people bringing elephants into Bangkok to beg for food for the elephants. When I would be walking down Sukhumvit and one of these guys would hold a bag of bananas in front of me I would just say "Take the elephant home." I refuse to give them a financial incentive to come out tomorrow night and the next night abusing these animals. And if I see tourists being hustled, I tell them elephants don't belong in Bangkok and that it's just encouraging these guys to mistreat the animals so they can make some tourist dollars. I know the Buddhist origins of freeing animals. However, if your desire to free animals is the cause of them being captured in the first place how do you reconcile that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigKus Posted March 30, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 30, 2011 It's true that lying is universal... However, I think if you ask expat residents, they will agree that lying is more common in Thailand.So my question is why do Thai people lie more? Sorry, i cant take one experiences and come out with conclusions, at least I should find expat residents to ask first because i dont think lying is common for thais Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigKus Posted March 30, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 30, 2011 so are the people catching the birds going to 'hell'? Or because by their insidious actions they allow others to do a good deed, do they in turn get a 'merit commission'? No, they are not going to hell, they dont kill them they just try to make some money. Oh.. yes, right ... they will also gain some good kramma as a merit commission because they devoted (as i said eariler ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigKus Posted March 30, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 30, 2011 Yes, but you do see the circular logic there, don't you? Many Thais believe that releasing captive animals brings them good luck, winning lottery numbers, whatever which spurs an industry to capture animals that would have normally never been captured in the first place. I think farang logic here would be to not pay anybody money to release their animals so that nobody would have a financial incentive to capture animals. For instance, I have always loathed people bringing elephants into Bangkok to beg for food for the elephants. When I would be walking down Sukhumvit and one of these guys would hold a bag of bananas in front of me I would just say "Take the elephant home." I refuse to give them a financial incentive to come out tomorrow night and the next night abusing these animals. And if I see tourists being hustled, I tell them elephants don't belong in Bangkok and that it's just encouraging these guys to mistreat the animals so they can make some tourist dollars. I know the Buddhist origins of freeing animals. However, if your desire to free animals is the cause of them being captured in the first place how do you reconcile that? Oiyyy.. my head hurt.., why farangs have so many questions.. btw, did you read the 'note' from the OP... so this question will be answer next day Help desk tonight is closed... z z z ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
admin Posted March 30, 2011 Report Share Posted March 30, 2011 Yes, you going to change our history. Thais in the past were just set new things for them (here is 'foreigner' ) into their comfort and very very first foreigners who came to TH were whitey from Holanda. And If i saw you, Dave and Iain were siting together and I want to tell my grandma that you guys are my friend , what should I say to my grandma "Grandma, those american, english, scottish are my friends ??" No, you should say, "Those are my friends." That's it. Do they look Thai? Does your grandmother need that additional piece of information to sort out whether or not Dave is Thai or not? I can't help but laugh at the thought of being anywhere else in the world and having someone introduce me as a foreigner. If I'm so much of an obvious foreigner it should require no special attention to that fact. If I'm visiting a family in Ghana it's pretty fucking obvious I'm a foreigner. However, if I'm in Canada (sometimes it's hard to tell between an American and Canadian accent) and someone introduces me they might say "And this is my American friend." This is why I say that I don't think you can explain Thai culture to us without knowing how we see and experience Thai culture. First off is understanding the context of the word. Foreigner is a word that immediately conjures up certain psychological responses for native English speakers (and many non-native English speakers). It's a negative term. It creates a us vs. them attitude in people's minds. Second, I can't even count the number of times I've been out in Bangkok and other places in Thailand and had a small child start yelling "Falang!! Falang!!" Most recently it happened to me on Wireless Road when I had lunch after going to the US embassy. The kid's mother almost died of embarrassment. I just laughed it off and told the mother not to worry but if you came to the US and I had a baby and it started yelling "Asian!! Asian!!!" or "Foreigner!! Foreigner!!" I would slap the kid so hard it would never happen again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
English_Bob Posted March 30, 2011 Report Share Posted March 30, 2011 OK... It's my observation that Thai people don't plan for the future well. Here are some examples... Short term - When playing pool, they rarely think about the next shot, or where the white ball will be. They just hit the easiest ball on the table as hard as possible. Medium term - They get paid on Monday and spend much of their salary by Friday and need to borrow money. They buy expensive items like iPhones and BBs even though it costs more than they can afford. Long term - They don't save for their future, retirement etc They sell their land to get money quickly and then need to rent back their own land for farming. They rarely build a long term relationship with a customer, rather they want the money NOW and don't care that they will lose all future business. Is that your experience Kus? I don't just mean you and your friends - I mean Thais in general. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
admin Posted March 30, 2011 Report Share Posted March 30, 2011 Sorry, i cant take one experiences and come out with conclusions, at least I should find expat residents to ask first because i dont think lying is common for thais Go back to my first post on why you're unqualified to answer any questions in this thread. We have a different standard of what's acceptable for lies. Since you are not farang you can't understand our standard and only see the Thai standard which we view as being very accepting of people lying. That's why you don't think that lying for Thais is common. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
English_Bob Posted March 30, 2011 Report Share Posted March 30, 2011 No, you should say, "Those are my friends." That's it. Do they look Thai? Does your grandmother need that additional piece of information to sort out whether or not Dave is Thai or not? I can't help but laugh at the thought of being anywhere else in the world and having someone introduce me as a foreigner. If I'm so much of an obvious foreigner it should require no special attention to that fact. If I'm visiting a family in Ghana it's pretty ******* obvious I'm a foreigner. However, if I'm in Canada (sometimes it's hard to tell between an American and Canadian accent) and someone introduces me they might say "And this is my American friend." This is why I say that I don't think you can explain Thai culture to us without knowing how we see and experience Thai culture. First off is understanding the context of the word. Foreigner is a word that immediately conjures up certain psychological responses for native English speakers (and many non-native English speakers). It's a negative term. It creates a us vs. them attitude in people's minds. Second, I can't even count the number of times I've been out in Bangkok and other places in Thailand and had a small child start yelling "Falang!! Falang!!" Most recently it happened to me on Wireless Road when I had lunch after going to the US embassy. The kid's mother almost died of embarrassment. I just laughed it off and told the mother not to worry but if you came to the US and I had a baby and it started yelling "Asian!! Asian!!!" or "Foreigner!! Foreigner!!" I would slap the kid so hard it would never happen again. Firstly, I keep better company than to sit with Bill and Iain at the same table at the same time... However, as for the 'insult' of 'farang', I don't care. In this particular case, it's a question of people taking offense when none was intended. I remember when I first came here, Thai people used to say, 'Hey you you you.' There was even a magazine called 'You you you'. I thought it was rude to call someone 'you'. But now we know it's a simply a direct translation of 'khun' which is actually polite. There's no need to take offense at something just because it's not the way we do things. Thais will also say, 'Hey you are fat.' But they do it amongst themselves too. And it's considered OK. I met a girl, and my back-home line was, "...and you're in luck, 'cos I quite fancy fat chicks." There's no way I'd have done that in the West - but here it was funny (and successful). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stramash Posted March 30, 2011 Report Share Posted March 30, 2011 Firstly, I keep better company than to sit with Bill and Iain at the same table at the same time... Couldn't handle the competition eh? ; ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
admin Posted March 30, 2011 Report Share Posted March 30, 2011 Firstly, I keep better company than to sit with Bill and Iain at the same table at the same time...However, as for the 'insult' of 'farang', I don't care. In this particular case, it's a question of people taking offense when none was intended. I remember when I first came here, Thai people used to say, 'Hey you you you.' There was even a magazine called 'You you you'. I thought it was rude to call someone 'you'. But now we know it's a simply a direct translation of 'khun' which is actually polite. There's no need to take offense at something just because it's not the way we do things. Thais will also say, 'Hey you are fat.' But they do it amongst themselves too. And it's considered OK. I met a girl, and my back-home line was, "...and you're in luck, 'cos I quite fancy fat chicks." There's no way I'd have done that in the West - but here it was funny (and successful). Well, I agree and disagree at the same time. If a Thai person was visiting me in the US and they told me it was very, very rude to touch them on the head because of their religion and I constantly touched them on the head and said "Hey, chill out. In America it's cool to touch people on the head." I would pretty much be an asshole. I don't blame people who don't know better but when you tell them that it's insulting and you do it anyway that's when you realize where they view you. This goes back to the thread we had not too long ago. Several people said that they understood that Thais didn't mean farang to be insulting but it comes off as insulting and at least three Thais stood their ground that we should just accept that they're going to call us that and if we're insulted by it it's our problem. Is that too hard for you Limey, football hooligan, dentally challenged jerkoff to comprehend? But don't be insulted by that because in my culture that's just how we refer to the English. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
English_Bob Posted March 30, 2011 Report Share Posted March 30, 2011 Well, I agree and disagree at the same time. If a Thai person was visiting me in the US and they told me it was very, very rude to touch them on the head because of their religion and I constantly touched them on the head and said "Hey, chill out. In America it's cool to touch people on the head." I would pretty much be an a**hole. I don't blame people who don't know better but when you tell them that it's insulting and you do it anyway that's when you realize where they view you. This goes back to the thread we had not too long ago. Several people said that they understood that Thais didn't mean farang to be insulting but it comes off as insulting and at least three Thais stood their ground that we should just accept that they're going to call us that and if we're insulted by it it's our problem. Is that too hard for you Limey, football hooligan, dentally challenged jerkoff to comprehend? But don't be insulted by that because in my culture that's just how we refer to the English. Americans? Culture? lol But your hypothesis fails in that you would need to tell EVERY American about the head thing because you were complaining about strangers shouting 'farang'. The vast majority of Thais have never been told some Westerners are offended by the term. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stramash Posted March 30, 2011 Report Share Posted March 30, 2011 one nil to the football thug, one nil to the football thug... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
admin Posted March 30, 2011 Report Share Posted March 30, 2011 Americans? Culture? lolBut your hypothesis fails in that you would need to tell EVERY American about the head thing because you were complaining about strangers shouting 'farang'. The vast majority of Thais have never been told some Westerners are offended by the term. Okay, so when Thais account for nearly 10% of the GDP of the US I will inform the rest of my brethren about Buddhist customs. We're not as important to Thailand as we sometimes think we are (many sex tourist assume 99.999% of Thailand's economy is their bar fines) but we do provide this country with a fairly substantial amount of tourism, and expat revenue (at least 10% and maybe as high as 20%). But that's the point though. If I decide to take a long weekend out in Buri Ram and some farmer doesn't know I don't like to be referred to as "FARANG!!!!!!!!!" I don't take insult. In fact, I pretty much have a good old laugh about it. But when you hear a Thai friend say "I'm having dinner with THE FARANG" (obviously in Thai) rather than friend, my American friend, or whatever you really shouldn't have to explain it to Thai people that that is a very impolite way to address other people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David100 Posted March 30, 2011 Report Share Posted March 30, 2011 MMHH...JUST FEW TO START: -WHY DO THAIS BELIEVE IN FUTURE TELLER? -WHY THAIS WALKING IN A PATH DO NOT KNOW IN WHICH SIDE TO STAY? -WHY THAIS BADLY FEAR IN CROSSING STREETS? -WHY SECURITY GUYS HELP CAR DRIVERS IN PARKING OR GET OUT IN THE MAIN ROAD COSTANTLY (maybe my previous question depend in this one)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
koolbreez Posted March 30, 2011 Report Share Posted March 30, 2011 Oiyyy.. my head hurt.., why farangs have so many questions..btw, did you read the 'note' from the OP... so this question will be answer next day Help desk tonight is closed... z z z ... With your constant referring to us as farangs, and passing it off as just how it has always been done, then I should assume it is ok to refer to all Thais as my grandparents did, and everyone before them, and how many still refer to people from South East Asia as simply "slant eyes". My grandparents did not view it as an insult, just as an accurate description of all people from South East Asia, and were simply using the term that had always been used. That is how I view what you are saying, and so see no harm in using the term my grandparents used to describe all people from the far East. From your way of reasoning there is no reason to change from using this term, because it is not meant as an insult, no matter what you say. It's just the term that has always been used. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
English_Bob Posted March 31, 2011 Report Share Posted March 31, 2011 But when you hear a Thai friend say "I'm having dinner with THE FARANG" (obviously in Thai) rather than friend, my American friend, or whatever you really shouldn't have to explain it to Thai people that that is a very impolite way to address other people. ...in your opinion. I wonder how many people are offended. I don't find it rude at all. I use it to describe a race - 'a couple of farang guys walked into a bar...' Lol - I just realised I have it on my avatar shirt. I keep my outrage for deliberate insults. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CiaranM Posted March 31, 2011 Report Share Posted March 31, 2011 ...in your opinion. I wonder how many people are offended. I don't find it rude at all. I use it to describe a race - 'a couple of farang guys walked into a bar...'Lol - I just realised I have it on my avatar shirt. I keep my outrage for deliberate insults. i don't find the term farang usually offensive ... i'll even talk about farang food or farang bars or farang movies ... but when ppl who know U refer to U as a farang that's at best impolite/rude/lazy !!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigKus Posted March 31, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2011 where are we now ? Oh.. im totally lost... would take some times for me to catch up... :-/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CiaranM Posted March 31, 2011 Report Share Posted March 31, 2011 where are we now ?Oh.. im totally lost... would take some times for me to catch up... :-/ okie dokie .... see u next life then !!! ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
English_Bob Posted March 31, 2011 Report Share Posted March 31, 2011 i don't find the term farang usually offensive ... i'll even talk about farang food or farang bars or farang movies ... but when ppl who know U refer to U as a farang that's at best impolite/rude/lazy !!! Or is it simply Thai culture? Let's face it, Thais refer to themselves by name. They have dozens of pronouns. Pig, Rat and Fatty are common nicknames. I think it's just a different culture. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigKus Posted March 31, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2011 okie dokie .... see u next life then !!! ;-) Hell no.., i wont come back in next life.. I m well satisfied with my one and only life I have now.., thanks, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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