6 hours ago, webfact said:

In fact bar girls throw the comment around freely if a customer in the bar refuses to buy them a drink

Is the term ever used outside the bars and by people other than bargirls ?

Not sure why this is in the story -

Quote

99 baht is the equivalent to £2.40 in England and for sure, even in London, I can get a breakfast for that price from a good old fashioned cafe/’greasy spoon’.

I would like to know where as even on the outskirts when I was last there some years ago a full fry up with only tea (and no orange juice) was well over £4 and most places a lot more.

6 minutes ago, djayz said:

Everybody has the right to spend (or not) his money as he chooses. Doesn't make him cheap. 

Personally, I'd rather be careful with my money (and considered cheap), than run out of it and then end up having to free fall from a high-rise building because of financial reasons. 

 

Same here.  I've been skint and I've been flush with cash in my life.  And I never got into trouble for the money I spent while I was skint. 

 

It was always the money I pissed away when I was flush with cash that caused the problems later on when things changed. 

 

How many of the bargirls that label customers as being cheap Charlies ever buy the customer a drink back ?

   How may ever get their round in ?

37 minutes ago, sanemax said:

Is the term ever used outside the bars and by people other than bargirls ?

yes.

There seems to be an overabundance of snowflakes who get triggered by innocuous terms like 'Cheap Charlie' 

Harden up girls! 555 

1 minute ago, Boon Mee said:

There seems to be an overabundance of snowflakes who get triggered by innocuous terms like 'Cheap Charlie' 

Harden up girls! 555 

Innocuous? No. In many cases well-earned and to the point, snowflake objections notwithstanding.

5 hours ago, BritManToo said:

No it doesn't, 'kee neow' does not contain the same 'kee' as used for the word 'shit'.

Just as 'na gliat' does not contain the same 'na' as used for the word 'face'.

It does contain the same khi ขี้ but it doesn't mean shit here. It's acting as a prefix, as it does in so many words, meaning literally  a tendency to. For example khi kiat meaning lazy. kiat alone can mean inactive so khi kiat means a tendency to be inactive, in other words a lazy basta.d.

khi morhor is another example. morhor means angry so again the khi turns it into a characteristic, a tendency to get angry, ie hot-tempered.

neow means sticky, resilient, tough (as in meat to chew) so perhaps someone could explain why sticky should refer to being tight with money.

And then, why do we say in English he's a tight so and so to mean stingy?

555 there are more questions than answers as Jimmy Cliff said.

It is a bit of a red herring expression.  It dates back to the Vietnam war days, but is now almost exclusively used by bar-fly foreigners to goad other gullible newbie foreigners into spending money on another round of drinks.  If called this by someone, then just admit to being  Prah̄yạd ประหยัด or economical, which  is both more polite and admirable quality. 

 

The real cheap somchais go to a buffet restaurant, eat only from the salad bar and ask the staff to pack the main course to bring home for tomorrow...they also bring their babies and let them cry/scream/run around during dinner.

What is the point of calling someone a Cheap Charlie? I wouldn't put it online for fear of being sued in Thailand.

I prefer cheap skate or better yet tight wad. But yah have to scratch your head and wonder about some of the company on here when there is a thread a few times a year and SEVERAL posters seem to have melt downs when the girl at 7/11 does not give them back a 1/2 satang!!  Then some come back again and post that it’s about the “ principle” of it. You just have to leave some principles back at Swampy. 

A few year back I was queued up to go to the bathroom at JJ Market the elderly Farrang ahead of me was arguing with the elderly lady over the 10 baht entrance fee... He wanted to only pay five baht as he said he needed only to chee.... 

 

Cheap Charlie... 

Given it is a term used almost exclusively by prostitutes, it is years since I have actually heard it used in any conversation. 

 

The question that must be asked is if you are hearing it enough to find it offensive rather than amusing is "how are you spending your time, and with whom?" 

40 minutes ago, bannork said:

It does contain the same khi ขี้ but it doesn't mean shit here. It's acting as a prefix, as it does in so many words, meaning literally  a tendency to. For example khi kiat meaning lazy. kiat alone can mean inactive so khi kiat means a tendency to be inactive, in other words a lazy basta.d.

khi morhor is another example. morhor means angry so again the khi turns it into a characteristic, a tendency to get angry, ie hot-tempered.

neow means sticky, resilient, tough (as in meat to chew) so perhaps someone could explain why sticky should refer to being tight with money.

And then, why do we say in English he's a tight so and so to mean stingy?

555 there are more questions than answers as Jimmy Cliff said.

Khi means shit. Every adjective utilizing Khi is negative. 

 

It does not simply mean a tendency to. 

When I lived in View Talay 2A Jomtien (before I had a motorbike or car) I used to walk into Pattaya ..even thought the Baht Bus is only 10 Bt. (5 Bt. before it went up). I suppose some might call me a "Cheap Charlie" for walking....In fact, by walking it cost me more than 10 Bt....I would never give less than 20 Bt. to someone begging on the Soi...people I wouldn't be passing had I not walked.

17 hours ago, HAKAPALITA said:

If they are young English and Teaching. Definitely Fair. They embarrass your Nation

How about English, old, grumpy, retired and unable to meet the Thai immigration financial requirements?

Cheap Charlies … I’m thinking of the supermarket customers with baskets of durian chips, tins of tuna, sardines, squid, cello Bricks of Mama noodles. They then stuff it in their rolling suitcases and away they go ... to their hotel room.

 

Can Dan about Thailand get on that Cheap Charlie demographic for us?   

The correct term in Thailand is a Parsimonious Pornchai, not a Cheap Charlie, though some prefer a Stingy Somchai, or even a Thrifty Terdsak.

Well, Cheeseman lands in 2019,he should know a lot about kee,his blogs are full of it.

DC ''A bottle of Chang does not taste any beer if you paid more for it.''

 

He got that bit right.

18 hours ago, worgeordie said:

I would rather be called a Cheap Charlie, than a fool with his money.

regards worgeordie

i agree with this comment---there are far too many fools, who loose all their money to thai women...then they start'crying' or commit suicide....

i NEVER  leave tips for bar-not even 5thb change---they make enough money already..

but, i DO  buy lady drinks and can be very generous with tips for the right lady...

ive seldom had a problem with this attitude.

if a lady 'asks' me for money...i usually find 'another one'.

51 minutes ago, metempsychotic said:

Khi means shit. Every adjective utilizing Khi is negative. 

 

It does not simply mean a tendency to. 

It's all in the context. Khi neo translates as mean with money.

 

However, if you were poking a sticky turd with a stick khi neo does mean sticky shit in that context.

Delighted to be a Cheap Charlie, m'self: I proclaim it loud and clear to anyone with ears to listen. What's wrong with that? I save rubber bands and plastic bags of all descriptions, I order a cafe boraan for nine Baht rather than a hundred and something Baht Buckacchino, I go to the cinema only on Wednesdays, and Herself pays anyway, I fill the empty duty-free whisky and vodka bottles with Mekong and watered white spirit respectively when the in-laws visit, I am a proud drinker of Archa myself, and when shopping for beer I always check the out-of-date fresh produce at half-price in Big C - why, only yesterday I bought two delicious large tomatoes, a lettuce and two banana cupcakes there for twenty-two Baht.

Life is to be enjoyed!

There's nothing cheap about charlie.

It all depends on your perceived 'Cheap Charlie relativity index'. 

 

If you a) perceive yourself to be richer than other expats, b) have a high degree of arrogance, c) lack empathy, d) are convinced that the fickle winds of fate will never touch you or your perceived wealth - then you must be "Special" and therefore can laud over everyone whom you believe to be "Cheap Charlies" as it makes you feel superior.  But the fact that you 'need to feel superior' simply shows what a pathetic waste of flesh you really are as well as your own lack of self-esteem. 

Given this chart, most people in the world are "Cheap Charlies."  However, most of the folk ya'll are calling Cheap Charlies are in that  21.3% band or better off than 70% of the world - which make Thailand and other third-world counties attractive places to live.  So if you "Special" people are so well off, go live in Switzerland and hang out with your rich, elitist friends in Davos.  Your arrogant banter simply shows how much of an a** you are.  

 

I think you are confusing poverty with being cheap.

Khi means shit. Every adjective utilizing Khi is negative. 
 
It does not simply mean a tendency to. 

I must admit I do hear the words kee mao a lot when I walk past some of the locals, does it mean, see that chap there he likes to partake in the odd glass or 3 of Lao Khao, or does it mean swerve him he's shit faced again?...

Sent from my ARE-AL00 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

There is no cheaper charlie than a Thai! ................. Com'on guys get real. When it comes to paying bills on a night out rest assured you'll be expected to pay. It's also expected that we give all our savings away to a complete stranger & their family if you become romantically involved .......... "it is what it is" here! You just try getting your money back afterwards when you have paid for something, or loaned money in good faith etc .......... it just ain't gonna happen. I think it's a ploy to try & embarrass us into giving money away. They have learned our weaknesses & play on them. There is no such thing here as a "Cheap Charlie", especially with the rate of exchange being what it is today ....... fact. Rising costs here are becoming unacceptable for some ....... don't expect any local help when financial issues become reality.

15 hours ago, grego49 said:

With the Aussie dollar going down faster than a fat kid on a seasaw,yes i have become a cheap charlie,,,,

Me too as a Brit. Last pension came over at 22,011B  Dec. 2015 it was 28,736B.

Go figure as the yanks say.