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Lack Of Manners


khunsanuk
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I used to have a cross cultural book on Thailand, written by an American sociologist and his Thai wife ... just one of my many books that were borrowed and never returned. However, I remember the authors used a series of concentric circles to explain Thai behaviour. At the center were your family, close friends, and all who had power or influence over you (e.g. your boss or supervisors). With these people you had to be very polite and attentive. In the next ring were acquaintances and those at work who ranked lower than you. You'd still be polite, but not as much as with those of the inner circle. The outermost ring - the largest one - contained everyone else. You might be polite to them if you felt like it, but it wasn't really necessary, since they were strangers and you'd never seen them again. It was safe to be rude to them.

 

This analysis seems reasonably accurate to me. e.g. As a university lecturer I was automatically in the inner circle on campus, but outside of the university among strangers I was just another Farang. The way Thais treated me was noticeably different.

 

Probably can amend the book with a circle far from the others labeled Farang

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Hi,

 

>Farang are often referred to with the pronoun "mahn" - used for animals. (No joke!)

 

In fairness though, Thais often use this for other Thai as well. I agree though that it is NOT polite.

Remember my wife overhearing a laundry girl refer to her that way and she made both the girl and the owner come upstairs to apologize, which they did. And she flatly refused to use the laundry shop afterwards anyway.

 

Sanuk!

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Which is probably the reason not that many use it yet. By next year the one station link should be ready. Expect things to get even worse by then. They should have build the 2nd part of the purple line as well as that would have eased the problem I think. For now construction on that part has not even started.

 

The red line should not cause that much extra pressure as it would be build as a through line from the beginning.

 

A big problem is the Blue line operator not ordering more trains and making the carriages longer ...

 

Hi,

 

>What's the purple line and what's it cost?

 

https://en.wikipedia...MRT_Purple_Line

 

It connects with the blue line (first line created). Well.. kinda... you currently have to take a bus between the two end stations.

 

Sanuk!

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I noticed the Thais seem to have become much more coarse with their language particularly females (outside the bar industry). The number of times I heard "e-dock" made me cringe!

 

 

Even Thai university students are different from when I came here. While the majority are still polite, some girls are quite foulmouthed around their male classmates, not to mention chain smoking cigarettes (something only bar girls used to do). Also, while 20 or 30 years ago only the "bad girls" played around, it's not uncommon to find some today sharing an apartment with their boyfriend. That would have been scandalous once upon a time, but now it's simply shrugged at. To be fair, I should note that in the 1970s and '80s there were relatively few universities. Gaining admission was a major achievement (except for open admission Ramkhamhaeng), and a degree automatically meant a good job. The rachapats and the private universities now crank out so many graduates that a degree doesn't mean very much. Lots of luck finding a job with that piece of paper, unless it's from a "name" university or is in a special area.

 

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdHo2VLmYFM

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