Why do Thais use a limp hand to shake hands?

[JWRC]

1 hour ago, Bangkokazy said:

I do not hand greet people who have a lower rank than me.

and what branch of the forces are you in?

[Bangkokazy]

3 minutes ago, JWRC said:

and what branch of the forces are you in?

Car salesman

[worgeordie]

1 hour ago, 4675636b596f75 said:

Thank you.

 

I'll start a new poll.

Please dont....Thai Visa is in a downward spiral already.IMHO.

regards worgeordie

[roo860]

It is not their formal way of greeting so they are unaware.
But, I stopped shaking hands with Thai males after noticing they rarely wash their hands after going number 2.

You're spending too much time 'hanging' around in gents lavvies.

Sent from my SM-G920F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[scottiejohn]

2 hours ago, sanemax said:

I dont like either , much prefer a nod of the head and a 'allright ?'

I'm not sure many Thais, or many other nationalities, will understand "allright". 

Maybe they think everyone is Marxist and all left!

[DannyCarlton]

3 hours ago, EricTh said:

Many people don't realise that Wai is not unique to Thailand.

 

It's a Buddhist culture practiced in Myanmar, Cambodia and even Buddhist monks in China.

 I don't ever remember being wai'd by anyone in Cambodia or Vietnam.

[DannyCarlton]

20 minutes ago, scottiejohn said:

I'm not sure many Thais, or many other nationalities, will understand "allright". 

Maybe they think everyone is Marxist and all left!

"Na then lad" always works for me.

[losworld]

maybe the guy you shook hands with had a broken bum gun?

[scottiejohn]

8 minutes ago, DannyCarlton said:

"Na then lad" always works for me.

"Na then lad" always works for me to do what?

But why are you talking to lads?  Were you one of the people watching toilet behaviour. (see earlier number 2

(cr*p) posts)  

Still not a local "Thai" comment/dialect understandable phrase IMO.

Edited September 7, 2019 by scottiejohn
cr%p deleted edited!

[DannyCarlton]

2 minutes ago, scottiejohn said:

But why are you talking to lads?  Were you one of the people watching toilet behaviour. (see earlier <deleted> posts)  

Still not a local "Thai" comment/dialect understandable phrase IMO.

They don't understand me, I don' understand them. Smiles and nods all round. Works for me.

 

Do you have a problem with me being gay?

[EricTh]

12 minutes ago, DannyCarlton said:

 I don't ever remember being wai'd by anyone in Cambodia or Vietnam.

Click below for Cambodia. Average Cambodian person will greet you this way.

 

https://www.visit-angkor.org/blog/2013/02/24/how-to-greet-in-cambodia-the-five-version-of-performing-sampeah/

 

As for Vietnam and China, only Buddhist monks  greet you that way and not average person. Here is a Vietnamese monk.

 

Edited September 7, 2019 by EricTh

[scottiejohn]

1 minute ago, DannyCarlton said:

Do you have a problem with me being gay?

Didn't know you were gay, don't care and why do you feel you had to bring it up (pun now intended)!

[DannyCarlton]

1 minute ago, EricTh said:

Click below for Cambodia. Average Cambodian will greet you.

Have you ever been to Cambodia? I spent the best part of a year there and, as I said, I don't remember ever being wai'd.

[sunnyboy2018]

4 hours ago, wgdanson said:

Not ANOTHER silly poll.

Indeed and introduced with a fallacious statement with micro racist anti Thai sentiments.

[DannyCarlton]

1 minute ago, scottiejohn said:

Didn't know you were gay, don't care and why do you feel you had to bring it up (pun now intended)!

Sorry I really need to put more smiley face emoticons on my posts. That's 2 of my posts that have gone straight over your head.

[scottiejohn]

2 minutes ago, DannyCarlton said:

Sorry I really need to put more smiley face emoticons on my posts. That's 2 of my posts that have gone straight over your head.

What was the first one that "needed" a smiley?

They have definitely gone over my head, and probably everyone else!

[Just Weird]

5 hours ago, 4675636b596f75 said:

I may have wai'ed a Thai 3 times in all my years here.  I shake hands, because this is my custom and it travels with me.  90 percent of the time I will get a limp hand extended.  Depending on the Thai, I will teach them how to shake hands.  No Thai has ever offered to show me how to wai.

There's now a "correct" way to shake hands?  I'm ignoring the wet fish type which is obviously wrong.

[DannyCarlton]

Just now, scottiejohn said:

What was the first one that "needed" a smiley?

They have definitely gone over my head, and probably everyone else!

I may have addressed a Thai with "Na then" once or twice when I first came here on holiday. It's habitual for me. My closest friend and I always greet each other with it. We even use it in texts. However, I now speak passable Thai and Lao/Issan. I greet Thais with a shallow bow from the waist and a quick dip of the head combined with "Sawas dee cap" "Was dee cap" ore even just "was dee" if it's my next door neighbour popping round to nick one of my famous pappaya. I never wai and only shake hands if a Thai offers me their hand first.

 

I don't thik I'm gay with 2 current wives and a third in my distant past. Oh, and a couple of kids too.

 

Gocha! 555

[Just Weird]

20 minutes ago, DannyCarlton said:

Sorry I really need to put more smiley face emoticons on my posts. That's 2 of my posts that have gone straight over your head.

His head was not the only one your comment went straight over, d'you think it could it be you?

Edited September 7, 2019 by Just Weird

[Isaanbiker]

I may have wai'ed a Thai 3 times in all my years here.  I shake hands, because this is my custom and it travels with me.

 

  I prefer to Wai people, because I live in Thailand, where the younger people usually start to Wai the older ones.

 

 BTW, have you ever had Somtham and grilled chicken with people who go to the toilet where there's neither soap, nor water?

 

  Do you know why I don't shake hands with Indian people?

 

   Thais don't want to shake hands because it's their custom to Wai each other. Then comes such a guy like you and irritates them.

 

   You might be in the wrong country if you don't understand simple things.

 

  

 

  

 

  

 

   

[DannyCarlton]

Just now, Just Weird said:

His head was not the only one your comment went straight over, could it be you?

555 "It could be you!". That'll have gone over most peoples heads too. I only post to amuse myself, not you.

[DannyCarlton]

16 minutes ago, Just Weird said:

There's now a "correct" way to shake hands?  I'm ignoring the wet fish type which is obviously wrong.

For me the correct way is a firm handshake, a la Trump, and rub the middle knuckle of the other persons hand with my thumb. (whilst wispering "Mcbn").

 

Whoosh!

Edited September 7, 2019 by DannyCarlton

[Just Weird]

8 minutes ago, DannyCarlton said:

555 "It could be you!". That'll have gone over most peoples heads too. I only post to amuse myself, not you.

That's ok, you succeeded, it wasn't amusing in any way!  Well done, give yourself a slap on the back!

[Just Weird]

4 minutes ago, DannyCarlton said:

For me the correct way is a firm handshake, a la Trump, and rub the middle knuckle of the other persons hand with my thumb. (whilst wispering "Mcbn".

 

Whoosh!

What would you know first hand about Trump's handshake?  Whoosh...splat!

[daveAustin]

Bit trollish. Didn't read all replies but obvious answer is 1) it is not their custom and 2) a heavy handshake might be seen as a challenge. But who cares about the customs of your country? Where are you again? If a Thai came to your country and expected everyone to 'mid-level' wai them back (with the tips of the fingers pressed up to the nose to signify equal standing - not to the chin and not to the brow) because that is their custom and is how it is done where they come from, how would they be received?

 

I personally prefer the wai to the typical unhealthy Western greetings; fist-pumping blokes who've just been for a p1$$, smother kissing aunties ????. The wai is a daily thing and uncountable. It is the proper way to greet and show respect; your handshaking does not. Aside from Westernised Thais, only time I will shake the hand of a Thai friend is after I've wai'ed them.

 

Tips: get out a bit, get some manners, get some Thai friends.

[likerdup1]

Silly and dumb.

 

Thai's don't shake hands and it is an insult and arrogant while in someone else's country to insist they follow YOUR CUSTOMS.

 

How insensitive it is to not even make an effort to understand the culture. I have studied the culture. Understand when to Wai and when not to. I have learned to speak Thai good enough to have an average conversation with any Thai person.

 

It baffles me that there are so many expats here that still speak pigeon English to Thai people that have been in country for years! Expats that have not made any effort to even try to speak the language. They go around making cultural mistakes every day. I see it all too often.

 

No wonder the Pattaya Thais can have such blase attitudes toward service compared with Thais in other parts of the country, even Bangkok there is quite a difference in the attitude of the local people. More friendly in Bangkok the in Pattaya. Pattaya has too many arrogant tourists who don't take even a few minutes to understand and adjust to the culture.

Edited September 7, 2019 by likerdup1

[Matzzon]

6 hours ago, 4675636b596f75 said:

I may have wai'ed a Thai 3 times in all my years here.  I shake hands, because this is my custom and it travels with me.  90 percent of the time I will get a limp hand extended.  Depending on the Thai, I will teach them how to shake hands.  No Thai has ever offered to show me how to wai.

It´s exactly attitudes like this that are to common in this forum. The foreigner take their custom with them and expect people in the country he settles down in to do it his way. When they not do it to satisfaction, he complains. 

I feel truly sorry for you. Sad when people can´t understand better.

[Kwasaki]

6 hours ago, 4675636b596f75 said:

I shake hands, because this is my custom and it travels with me.  90 percent of the time I will get a limp hand extended. 

[Isaanbiker]

1 hour ago, daveAustin said:

Bit trollish. Didn't read all replies but obvious answer is 1) it is not their custom and 2) a heavy handshake might be seen as a challenge. But who cares about the customs of your country? Where are you again? If a Thai came to your country and expected everyone to 'mid-level' wai them back (with the tips of the fingers pressed up to the nose to signify equal standing - not to the chin and not to the brow) because that is their custom and is how it is done where they come from, how would they be received?

 

I personally prefer the wai to the typical unhealthy Western greetings; fist-pumping blokes who've just been for a p1$$, smother kissing aunties ????. The wai is a daily thing and uncountable. It is the proper way to greet and show respect; your handshaking does not. Aside from Westernised Thais, only time I will shake the hand of a Thai friend is after I've wai'ed them.

 

Tips: get out a bit, get some manners, get some Thai friends.

A Wai is not just to say hello and goodbye. It's also used to say thank you, to show appreciation and more. 

 

  No idea why a foreigner comes with such nonsense that Thais should shake his hands, when I wouldn't do it. 

 

     And on the third day, god created a huge zoo. 

Edited September 7, 2019 by Isaanbiker

[Isaanbiker]

30 minutes ago, Kwasaki said:

+ 1 sleeping member.