Issan and others

[CTO]

Don't follow the logic of that one

[Encore]

to take this subject back to its roots:

 

Stickman had a nice article recently by a bloke calling himself Dutch (not sure if he is, maybe not according to his email address)

 

http://www.stickmanweekly.com/ReadersSubmissions2009/reader5407.htm

 

It is a nice article, refreshing in terms that it reports on his long standing relation with a rural thai woman, and has a largely positive tone to it. This contrasts with many negative bitchy articles on that site recently.

I like the point he makes about LT farang residents needing to learn to speak and read Thai. I like the respect he shows for his neighbours, and his efforts at blending in.

 

But he puzzles me when he identifies a crucial element in his opinion of his success with his relationship:

 

>A second final thought which I write with some hesitation, because it’s probably a gross generalization and therefore perhaps a bit out of line. But nevertheless, here it goes: I believe that part of the success of our relationship lies in the fact that my wife comes from central Thailand and not from Isaan.<

 

I'd be very happy to hear more from him about this belief.

[Coss]

I have very good understanding Pu Ying come from Surin. Several examples.

 

Laos girls no understand me.

 

Girl Bangkok like my money.

[Old Hippie]

They all love us, after all, we are all handsome and sexy, and Thai man no goot!

[dave32]

>If you're talking about rural Isaan, my feeling is that while the women have real character, they tend to be uncouth and dreadfully unsophisticated. I struggle to see how a *typical* Western man thinks he can have a successful relationship with such a woman. <

 

 

kind of talking to a sheila in a rough pub in a small town on the westcoast of the South Island, eh.

 

Getting a bit classist, Sticky. Remember your roots. Or your grandparents roots.

 

You just reminded me I need to call my grandparents. it's been awhile.

 

They raised mom in a small town in West Virginia up in the Appalachias. Below poverty level. Health Insurance -- wtf is that? Gramps was a mechanic and played guitar/banjo in a band. Half Irish and Half Native-American. Grandma, Irish, sewed clothes. Both tough, both low-key good people, both still there. Parents moved to Kentucky, then Indiana (which was considered upscale).

 

I went to Los Angeles via Chicago and San Francisco. And along the route, I've heard a lot of redneck denigration. A lot. Usually chuckle for a little bit, till it's too much and then I let 'em know -- btw, you're talking to a redneck right here, and not the TV varietal either.

 

Issan sounds like a beautiful thing.

[Old Hippie]

NEVER, EVER, forget who you are, or where you came from. And NEVER, I mean NEVER EVER let anyone or anything tell you it was not good enough!

[Flashermac]

Sound like fine folks to me. My father was born in Kentucky. My family has often had money, and just as often lost it.

 

p.s. Jimmy Carter was the first in his family to finish high school! He got an appointment to the Naval Academy, was a navy submarine commander, governor of Georgia and president of the United States. Anyone gonna call him a redneck? (Now Bill Clinton is different. He's just plain white trash. Not because of his ancestors, but because of himself. )

 

 

[radioman]

I hear what you U.S. boys say and I get it. My folks hail from the fenlands. I've seen the pictures dating back to the latter 19th and early 20th century and I have no desire to be there, ever!

 

Issan farm girls rock, send me a dozen!

[gobbledonk]

I kind of got over the whole 'Isaan is a different country' when I went down to Chumphon with Ms Crazypants and her (Khorat born) GF. The GF, despite some problems with the southern dialect, got on like a house on fire with everyone down there, at least as far as I could tell. Both girls seemed to have no problems striking up a conversation with people anywhere we went, be it Bangkok/Hua Hin/Chiang Mai : there will always be people who want to maintain barriers based on where you come from/the size of your wallet, but thats everywhere.

 

As for the Balinese, they will chat up your GF right in front of you, seemingly ignorant of the fact that you speak more Indo than she does ...

[whitelotuslane]

I guess it comes about from my wife who from the North tends to cast aspersions upon Issan gals.

 

Ha.. I've seen that in a former girlfriend, who lived in an area of the North that had Muang and Issan villages intermixed. (though not within the same village, interestingly.) We'd drive through the next village and I'd suggest to go for some noodles or whatever and she'd say "WHAT! are you nuts, they're all Lao here!"

 

You see something similar in areas with different hilltribe villages.. Hilltribes have stereotypical views of each other too.

 

I guess it's human nature. How often on this forum you see a light-hearted jab at Brits, yanks, germans etc over some alleged treat.. It's human nature.

 

Thais of each region look down on everyone else. Northern Thais will tell you Bangkok people are dishonest and Isaan folks are stupid. Isaan views northerners as lazy and not willing to take on hard or dangerous jobs. Bangkok Thais say northerners are stupid, but Isaan folks are even stupider. The one thing they all agree on is that southern Thais are hot tempered and untrustworthy.

 

Except that Northerners themselves also acknowledge that Northerners are lazy. Need to look at Shan or Isan people to find hard workers, such as for being a maid or for manual labour.

 

Chiang Mai has been taken over in the past two decades by interlopers from Bangkok. They moved north to get away from Bangkok ... and are doing their best to turn CM into a Bangkok clone. Want to see my Mrs get angry? Just watch her when a Bangkok carpetbagger tries to speak Kham Muang!

 

That's.. strange.. My Mrs is from the North too and if anything she highly appreciates non-Northerners making an effort to learn the local language and customs, never mind where they originally came from be it Bangkok, Surat, Surin or Stockholm.

 

That's what I recommend anyway to (husbands of) non-Northerners resettling in the North: learn the language asap. Makes a big difference, including getting better prices when buying things and everything.

 

I suppose that applies to the other regions as well.

 

And, it's not like the languages aren't intimately related.. Kham Muang shares a whole lot of words with Lao, and a similar (or larger) number of works with (central) Thai.

 

(Just Khmer is the odd-ball out; Khmer is a lot closer to Klingon than to Thai. )