gladius69 Posted July 20, 2010 Report Share Posted July 20, 2010 I once heard that you are not supposed to give weapons as gifts to Thais unless they exchange in kind. Back in 96, I gave a friend's dad in Chang Mai (cop) a couple of boxes of .45 ACP ammo that I reloaded. He then gave me a handmade hunting knife with deer handles. I want to give my 9 year old nephew a Swiss Army knife. Is this culturally okay. He comes from a well-educated family. Thanks BW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unit731 Posted July 20, 2010 Report Share Posted July 20, 2010 I have never heard of such a custom when it comes to gifts to children. Others can chime in. But is this gift appropriate to a child? A knife? I'm too old to remember my first knife. I do remember my first gun though. Some guy with a neat uniform and a very short hair cut was screaming at me. And he told me that that rifle was my "best friend" ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USVirgin Posted July 20, 2010 Report Share Posted July 20, 2010 My dad once gave my brother and me Swiss Army knives when he returned from a biz trip to Lugano when I was about 12 (I guess he was too cheap to buy us watches). I still have a nice scar on the side of my wrist to show for it. My brother took a swipe at me with his brand new knife. Barely touched me, but the thing was so damned sharp that blood spurted all over the place and you could see the exposed artery. Doc said I was lucky. Funny, but I really felt sorry for my brother when that happened, because mom was so pissed off at him and I didn't suffer any pain, to be honest. What I will NOT forgive him for is the time he was playing Sir Lancelot when I was about 8 and jousted me in the face with an iron pole and split my lip from the nose down. Totally uncool behavior. I still have a scar from that as well. PS. I found a Swiss Army knife in the garage yesterday. It can't be very old because it says "Marlboro" on it, which tells me that knives are safe in the hands of coupon saving, cigarette smoking adults who are slowly killing themselves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrownFox77 Posted July 21, 2010 Report Share Posted July 21, 2010 Not sure if its the same for Thais but the Vietnamese have a superstition about knives as gifts: - here in the states had a Viet GF whom I gave a fancy Knives set to one year for Xmas. She said Vietnamese beleive if you get a knife as a gift means you'll have a fight with the gift giver, so, she insisted on "buying" the Knife set from me for $1. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khunsanuk Posted July 21, 2010 Report Share Posted July 21, 2010 Hi, Thais too have a superstition about giving knifes. It implies 'cutting ties', on severing the friendship. Sanuk! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nervous God Posted July 21, 2010 Report Share Posted July 21, 2010 I regularly get knives and those multi purpose tool kits shaped like a rocket knife. Thai Family love it when i come home and the list is long on who get's the next ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted July 21, 2010 Report Share Posted July 21, 2010 The Thai way is to "sell" it to a person. Ask them to give you 5 baht, then hand them the knife. Still, I'd ask the uncle before giving a knife to a 9 year old. The kid might take it to school and get into trouble for having it. (It's not like the old days in the States, when every kid had a pocket knife and you played mumblepeg with them at lunch time. Try that in the States and see how soon somebody calls the cops.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boomah Posted July 21, 2010 Report Share Posted July 21, 2010 Hi, Thais too have a superstition about giving knifes. It implies 'cutting ties', on severing the friendship. Sanuk! Ran into something similar when giving/passing on a knife to the odd friend or two. Both were soldiers I served with "back in the day", one was of Korean ancestry, the other Chinese. I recall both had to give me payment for the given knife. I also remember a Chinese girl I dated, she said something about taping a coin to the blade for good luck & to prevent "cutting the firendship" as well. Now these were big blades, combat knives, large cooking knives, etc. Not sure the same would apply to a pocked knife but who knows Ahui hou, Boomah Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted July 21, 2010 Report Share Posted July 21, 2010 It applies to all knives in Thailand, even kitchen cutlery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sanddawg1 Posted July 21, 2010 Report Share Posted July 21, 2010 I have never heard of such a custom when it comes to gifts to children. Others can chime in. But is this gift appropriate to a child? A knife? I'm too old to remember my first knife. I do remember my first gun though. Some guy with a neat uniform and a very short hair cut was screaming at me. And he told me that that rifle was my "best friend" ! I was raised in the country in the 60s and 70s so we carried knives from the ages of 7 or 8. But back then knives did not have the same connotation as today; back then we carried knives as tools not weapons. These days it would depend on the kid I guess but I would be careful and ask the parents. S1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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