Gecko123

For the last time, she did not say "person of color" in the intro. She referred to the guy as a "person with colored skin" which you erroneously, and in your eagerness to jump on the anti-woke bandwagon, misinterpreted as "person of color." At least two other posters have tried to explain this to you as well. If you're going to just pursue a hard headed ideological agenda I can't stop you, but when you pose a question about the Thai language as you did, at least have the decency and intellectual honesty to appreciate it when people try to improve your understanding of the language.

Your first post expressed (faux) alarm that a term such as "person of color" might have worked its way into the Thai vernacular. As this term is viewed as "politically correct" by some and "woke" by others, I would say that fretting about this possibility crossed the line from casual observation into the realm of political commentary. If it makes you feel any better, (piw sii ผิวสี) would more accurately be translated to "colored skin" or simply "colored" rather than "person of color." As I said earlier, this term has been in usage for decades, if not longer, in Thailand. The usage of "colored" to describe people of African descent is now viewed as unacceptable in the West due to its usage during the slavery and Jim Crow eras in America and apartheid era in South Africa. The use of "colored" to describe dark complected foreigners in Thailand is tolerated, at least for the time being, because without the above mentioned historical baggage, the term is not viewed as racially charged but simply descriptive. I don't think you need to worry about "woke" language encroaching into the Thai language. The usage of politically correct or, if you insist, "woke" language has gained traction in the West in an effort to linguistically force people to respect one another's racial and cultural differences. In my opinion, Thais are light years ahead of most Westerners in this department so the need to erect these type of linguistic guardrails here is minimal.

Your attempt to politicize the Thai term (piw sii ผิวสี) is misguided. This term has been around for a very long time, and to the best of my knowledge it is a home grown term that was not adopted out of any pressures from abroad to be politically correct. It is simply a non-offensive euphemism to describe dark complected foreigners, usually of African descent.

Seemed to be enjoying all the attention. My guess is he is a tourist who was off his meds, or inebriated. Agree with "lay off the hate" sentiment expressed above.

When the snake sh*ts out a pair of sandals and white socks in a couple of weeks, it'll all be 'I guess we kinda forgot to check on Mr. Nigel.'

These threads always bring out posters who are proud of how little they spend or how much they spend. Most of us who have been here a while have a pretty good idea of how much things cost, and there are few if any areas where overall expenses (excluding housing) can drastically be kept below average costs for Thailand. When someone posts they only spend 2,500 baht a month on food, chances are they are either eating like a bird (and perhaps drinking like a fish) or the quality of their diet is being compromised (highly processed, high sodium, few anti-oxidants, low fiber, low in fresh fruits and vegetables, etcetera. Someone claiming to spend 30,000 for one person on food is probably combining groceries with eating out expenses, eats enormous amounts of food, wastes enormous amounts of food, shopping at high end grocery stores, and undoubtably eating a lot of imported food. Record keeping is another issue. People say they only spend 2,500 a month on food, while forgetting all the other months where they spent much more. It is also true enough that many, if not most, locals live on less than 20,000 per month (excluding rent), but when you start getting into the weeds and looking at their quality of diet, medical and dental care, savings for retirement, wardrobe, ability to finance children's higher education, ability to own a motor vehicle, etc., it quickly becomes apparent that significant compromises in lifestyle and standard of living are being made out of necessity, not by choice.

Thank you for the timely reminder that becoming destitute in a foreign country is always an available option.

People ignore that you can't realistically spend your entire budget because you have to set aside money for all the contingencies which may arise: currency exchange, inflation, medical and dental expenses, repatriation (voluntary or involuntary), casualty losses (injuries, fire, theft), repair and replacement of appliances and furniture, potential raising of immigration requirements, etc. If you only have 20K/month, and subtract out all the set asides listed above, the money left over for daily expenses is more like 10K than 20K.

Hello Gecko : I agree with what you wrote, but I don't think the issue is whether you can manage to live on 20K for a year or two long stint, but whether you can do it on an ongoing basis in retirement (10-20 years). I get the rural lifestyle: 2K row house, farmer's market on Tuesdays and Saturdays, mountain biking and shooting hoops at the local elementary school lifestyle, but over time other issues/"wants"/needs emerge which will likely make a 20K budget constraining, especially as you get older and may have more medical expenses. Maybe not true for everyone, but true for many.

It can be done, but you will pay a price either in terms of your diet, medical/dental care, modes of transportation, wardrobe, recreational activities, extent of travel, or your ability to recover from an unexpected property or casualty loss.

I give "gifts" at New Year's and occasionally at Songkran mainly to delivery drivers. I avoid tipping at each delivery because it creates an ongoing expectation that they will be tipped every time, and if you don't tip the next time there's often this resentment/disappointment vibe which I prefer to avoid.

I could be totally wrong, but I have a hard time believing that MaMa noodles as a Christmas bonus is a well-received gift.

I do wonder sometimes if the security guards in these go-go bars don't go overboard sometimes showing off in front of the ladies. How hard is it to stick your head out the door and call for some police backup help? I also wonder if the reason these incidents escalate into violence so often is because of language barriers. I have a feeling foreign language proficiency isn't at the top of the list of job requirements for security guard recruits.

As much as I am amazed by the prolific output of a certain few posters, I have long felt that it does not reflect well on the health of the forum when a handful of posters generate the majority of topics. When a small handful of posters dominate the forum, it has a crowding out effect and inhibits casual participation by the wider audience. I also have serious doubts about whether it is healthy for forum management to pay content producers to generate topics, especially with assistance from AI, in order to generate traffic on the forum. For the most part these types of posts come across as the contrived posing of hollow questions, often with little follow up interaction, interest, or appreciation for the responses on the part of the OP. This may well generate clicks over the short term, but, long term, it detracts from a sense of community, which I think is a key component for a successful expat forum.

I think this was one of your best topics, and I would encourage others to discuss the topic more seriously as it may provide beneficial insights.

I endured a lot of psychological and emotional abuse from my mother during my pre-teen years. I got the black sheep scapegoat treatment, but what I never realized at the time was that my siblings, other families in the neighborhood, school teachers were indoctrinated with the narrative that there was something wrong with me. It was like everywhere I went, people had been forewarned about me, or something. When I was 14, I had a fresh start moving to live with my father and his new wife (my new step-mother), but decades later I realized that in order to justify no longer wanting to raise me, my mother likely portrayed me to my father (who I barely knew in early childhood) as an incorrigible likely future serial killer (which couldn't have been further from the truth). My father no doubt passed this narrative along to his new wife who in turn passed it along to all my step siblings. So the narrative just kept getting perpetuated on and on. While inflicting incredible damage on my self-esteem growing up, this mistreatment had two upsides. First, it caused me to delve very deeply into my innermost psyche, and it provided me with a deep sense of knowing who I am, which is something I have come to realize not everyone has. The second benefit was that it caused me to seek validation away from the home, and I became very motivated (and successful) academically and career-wise. But the damage to my social self-esteem was very lasting, and for this, to this day, I harbor a lasting anger, dare I say hatred for my mother. In some ways, the feeling that she inculcated in me that I was an unloveable and dislikable person might explain why forming romantic relationships back home always seemed to be so frustrating, and why I may have ended up looking for love in Thailand. But to end on a more upbeat note, Thailand has provided me with some things for which I will be eternally grateful. First, it provided me with the physical distance from my family which enabled me to gain profound insights into my family dynamic and to begin the healing process. Secondly, the social and cultural environment here in Thailand has provided me with a sense of being accepted as part of a community, which is something I never experienced back home. So I have a deep sense of gratitude towards Thailand for having provided me with an environment where I could heal and grow psychologically and heal emotionally. I'm only sharing this in the hope that others might be able to relate to my experience.

A group of Thai teenagers trashes your car and beats you up just to get their jollies and absolutely nothing precipitated the attack? Possible, but in my opinion, very improbable.

cowhide chew bone

I would say elective cosmetic surgery, especially when undertaken to conform to Western beauty standards (nose/ boob jobs, etc.) fall into the category of things that if a person wants badly enough they should pay for themselves. If you say to a woman that you like the way she looks just the way she is, and she still wants to have the surgery, to me, that's a red flag about her motivation for the surgery as well as whether she might have psychological issues beyond body dysmorphic disorder. It has been my observation that many Thai women seem to have issues with their physical appearance, (prevalence of teeth braces is one indication). At the risk of sounding paternalistic, I would steer heavily towards trying to bolster her self-confidence rather than indulging her often poorly thought out fantasies of transforming herself into a Barbie doll under a cosmetic surgeon's scalpel.

We are living in scary times.

You think class resentments are bad now? Wait and see what happens during the next financial crisis when Trump decides to take a Herbert Hoover approach and decides to let banks fail and not honor FDIC commitments. Wait until Trump's tariffs start driving up consumer costs on everything imported. Wait until housing inflation and homelessness continues to rise because of growing corporate control of the housing market Wait until the next pandemic and Trump's HHS secretary decides a vaccination program isn't needed. Wait until it dawns on people that Trump's tax cuts heavily favor corporations and the wealthy while tossing a few crumbs to the working poor and under classes. Wait until it becomes increasingly apparent that climate change is a prime driver behind food inflation and 'drill baby drill' is exacerbating the problem. Wait until an 'anti-wok', but incompetent and inexperienced secretary of defense has to manage a major military conflict. Wait until social security, medicare, medicaid and Obamacare are scaled back. You think class resentment and anger are bad now? B-b-b-baby you ain't seen n-n-n-nothing yet.

Trump got himself elected by playing on fears about changing racial demographics in America. The Brian Thompson assassination was a reminder that the the real enemy is the super rich oligarchs who have been allowed to corrupt virtually all of America's democratic institutions, including the Supreme Court and the press. It is a long overdue wake-up call for the Trumps, Musks, and Zuckerbergs of the world that guerrilla class warfare and assassination have long been tools of last resort in the fight against tyranny and oppression.

I'm sure Donald Trump feels safer tonight, but does anyone else?

a foreigner asking a Thai person 'pen arai?' (what's wrong? เป้นอะไร?) is not going to shock the average Thai anymore than a Thai person saying 'Thank you' in English is going to shock the average foreigner.

You have been asked the same question many times on this forum, Bob.