kwilco

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most "manners" were adopted by Georgian royalty in Britain to keep te aristocrats under control.... most "manners" were adopted by Georgian royalty in Britain to keep the aristocrats under control....mannes, sense and common sense are all cultural constructs and a lot of self-centred expats have no idea that their idea of sense and sensibilities are not the same as th ountry they are living in - hence the rubbish posted on this thread just ravel around western Europe and you'll see a huge variation in what people call "manners"

Comes from China and in many S.E. Asian cultures - people seldom say hello or yes or no. The Thai greeting "sawatdee, khrap" is an artificial express derived from the sanskrit - the language used with royalty, (and the same origin as the word "swastika".) When greeting you say some thing about the bleeding obvious - like "going shopping!" the reply being "going shopping" or just "shopping". If you are being asked a question, you generally say YES, by repeating the key word back to the person asking, or you negate that word to say NO, you are not doing that verb. - The affirmative instead of yes one tends to repeat what the other person says "is this pork"? The answer is - "pork, khap" not yes it is - If someone says "it's raining" the answer is "raining, khrap" Obviously you also add "khrp/Kha" - to these simple phrase or sometimes just the polite ending particle, Do you like pizza? A- like (it), or not... (I) don’t like (it). THe pronouns are usually removed and just the key verb or noun left THen as in China if you don't actually no what the other person is doing, you fall back on "Have you had your rice yet" - friend of mine once misunderstood this and replied no - they practia;ly stopped the train to find him some food.

do you have company details?

"your mind" - is the key to the problem

BTW - to those "thumbs down" people ---- The thumbs down icon is the digital equivalent of a grunt — no effort, no reasoning, and no contribution. If you've got a point, make it. Otherwise, it's just drive-by disapproval. Let's see who continues to grunt!

you said "too long" - what do you mean by that? What's the rationale behind that? - You have no idea how irrational you are being

If things Thai people do start making sense to you, maybe you're finally paying attention. And by the way, it's 'Thai' — capital T. Basic respect, even if the culture still confuses you.

can you actually quantify that?

you wouldn't know "sense" if it smacked you in face. -"Sense" here is really what people think is "common sense" - unfortunately you have no idea what common sense is or rather ISN"T

absolute and utter tripe! You do however make a point - once prohibition was enforced organised crime flourished and that is exactly the same with drugs - just look at the US "war on drugs" - an utter flop!

I think that those who try to divert from their own ignorance is a serious matter.

I can't figure that one out at all!!

When all you can muster is “you’re full of crap,” it’s clear you’ve hit your intellectual ceiling. Come back when you’ve got an actual argument — or at least a full sentence.

Focusing on a spelling slip instead of the actual point is just lazy deflection. If you're going to correct someone, at least get your correction right—"it's no not 'know'" isn't even grammatically sound. Try engaging with the argument next time. If your best contribution is nitpicking someone’s spelling while butchering grammar yourself—“it's no not ‘know’”—maybe take a breath and focus on the actual topic. Typos don’t invalidate arguments. Poor reasoning does.

Thread like this don’t just reflect ignorance – they amplify it!! This entire discussion reads like a parade of shallow observations wrapped in lazy stereotypes. The title alone — “Things thai People Do That Make No Sense” — sets the tone: dismissive, self-centered, and frankly xenophobic. It implies that if something doesn’t align with your personal logic or habits, it’s inherently “nonsensical.” That’s not cultural critique. That’s cultural arrogance. There’s no genuine curiosity here. No effort to understand the why. Just cheap laughs, sweeping generalisations, and anecdotal nitpicking about things like towels, traffic, and shampoo. Not once do most of these posters stop to question whether their own cultural assumptions are skewing their perceptions. “Common sense” is not universal. It’s culturally conditioned. What feels natural or obvious in Manchester or Milwaukee may not apply in Mae Sot or Mukdahan. Pretending otherwise is intellectual laziness. Worse still, the tone quickly veers into disrespect — calling women lazy, ridiculing Buddhist beliefs, mocking hygiene practices. And let’s not ignore the deliberate lowercase “thai” in the thread title — a small thing, perhaps, but it speaks volumes about the dismissive attitude of the OP. If you want to understand a culture, try asking questions instead of making declarations. Try observing with humility, not superiority. Threads like this just reveal how little some expats bother to learn about the country they chose to live in — and how much they expect Thailand to accommodate them. If you genuinely want to understand why people do things differently here, start by understanding that you might not be the default.

originally it was for Songtheaws or anything that a kid might need some setang for.

sounds like you need to learn more Thai and how greetings and small talk work and why you seldom hear Thai people saying yes or know.

again wrong they are to prevent the spread to others

this shows you don't understand the Thai highway code......anyone who drove in Erope in the 60s and 70s will understand this.

as a way to cool down during hot and humid weather. The evaporation of water from the towel helps to lower the surrounding temperature and provide a cooling effect, similar to how sweating helps regulate body temperature. This practice is a traditional way to cope with the heat, especially when access to cool water or baths is limited.

What’s with people who just drop a thumbs-down on a post without saying anything? If you disagree, say why. Otherwise, it’s just lazy—and pointless.

As said before the "gainst" brigade rely on prejudice and bigotry - everything in you post is factually incorrect.

So ...what were those "steps back"?

Legality isn’t the same as harm reduction. Slavery was once legal too — doesn’t make it right. ‘Next’ isn’t an argument, it’s avoidance.