How True is "the smiles are fake"?

[Brian Nose]

The old (often bitter) guys will tell you that over the years you will see that the smiles hide something. Is it true?

[ChaiyaTH]

The smile can be fake, what the reality is, is that there are various smiles with different meanings. 

 

So if your question is if many of the smiles, are not the same genuine smile as we know it in the west, that is true indeed. 

Edited August 26, 2022 by ChaiyaTH

[HappyExpat57]

I've found generally  if you are genuinely nice to them, they will respond in like kind. If you p!ss one of them off, however, you better have your affairs in order.

[Iamfalang]

simply talking, not fake.

 

if they want your money, probably fake.

 

if they have your money and want more, definitely fake.

 

if they want anything from you, likely fake.

 

kids, almost never fake.

 

old people, very rarely fake.

 

ages between like 30 and 50..........the fakeness meter rises

[Dmaxdan]

With a genuine smile, the eyes will move as well as the mouth.

[OneMoreFarang]

Some time ago I read a book with an example of a car accident in Thailand. Both parties come out of their cars and smile. I don't remember the details. As far as I remember the smiles were "used" for different reasons.

 

All in all I like the smiles. I.e. if I go to a shop and ask for something and they don't have it then I am pretty sure in Thailand the sales people will smile at me.

Try the same i.e. in NY and probably there will be another kind of response... 

[Photoguy21]

Often it hides embarrassment

[plus7]

Are you sure western/american smiles are really sincere ?

 

[The Hammer2021]

https://www.ywamthai.org/office/culture

 

The Killing Smile Trilogy

https://www.amazon.com/Killing-Smile-Land-Smiles-Trilogy/dp/9749233573

Try reading a books

 Christopher G Moore is an expert on Thai  Language  and Culture including 'heart language'

And the Language of smiles.

[mnomad]

I remember them years ago, hoping they come back one day, but presently it's rare to have an interaction with a Thai outside your social circle that isn't masked or double masked. Any body language you can infer from the eyes is usually fear - the farang is near, - or confusion - why the farang is maskless?

[1FinickyOne]

Smiles have many different meanings here...

 

If you think that every smile means 'I am hot for you' - then yes, in your world the smile will often be fake.. 

 

If you learn about the culture and when and how smiles are used, you might come to like it here. 

 

 

[OneMoreFarang]

43 minutes ago, plus7 said:

Are you sure western/american smiles are really sincere ?

Always!

 

[ChaiyaTH]

4 minutes ago, mnomad said:

I remember them years ago, hoping they come back one day, but presently it's rare to have an interaction with a Thai outside your social circle that isn't masked or double masked. Any body language you can infer from the eyes is usually fear - the farang is near, - or confusion - why the farang is maskless?

It's just herd behaviour if you ask me. If you see islands where there is many farangs, who not wear masks, you also notice that many of the Thais are no longer wearing them.

 

Yet those, gov employees for examples, do all wear them, on the islands (as all their coworkers do so as well). I think a big part has to do with potentially risking to lose face too, always avoid confrontations etc etc. BKK everyone wears them, its crazy.

 

No different than with fashion, with most of the girls all wearing the same type of jeans, that look awful and the white sneakers, preferable Fila's.

Edited August 26, 2022 by ChaiyaTH

[1FinickyOne]

1 hour ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Try the same i.e. in NY

How much you know about NY? 

[OneMoreFarang]

1 minute ago, 1FinickyOne said:

How much you know about NY? 

I watch lots of Louis Rossman videos.

And I "know" a few people who lived there.

[Kinnock]

I'm not sure where the myth of the Thai Smile came from.  It's not as if Thai people go around grinning like fools all day.

 

Most Thai people seem to like having fun, second only to Philippinos, and then they will smile.

 

Perhaps it's something to do with the wonderful Thai eyes?  When a Thai person smiles, their whole face lights up.

 

[Andre0720]

54 minutes ago, 1FinickyOne said:

Smiles have many different meanings here...

 

If you think that every smile means 'I am hot for you' - then yes, in your world the smile will often be fake.. 

 

If you learn about the culture and when and how smiles are used, you might come to like it here. 

 

 

I like it here.

But I see lots of fakes smiles.

Particularly those that are expressed for half a second while looking at you, then the face quickly reverts to a blank look.

A real smile, starts slowly, remains constant for a while, and fades away slowly.

And I am so happy when I see one, that it is impossible for me not to smile back, as it is the case for many people I am sure, as it is the contagious one...

[1FinickyOne]

56 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

I watch lots of Louis Rossman videos.

And I "know" a few people who lived there.

I used to live there - - but what I used to know about NYC is surely not very relevant to the NYC that is there today... 

 

Rossman? 

 

I lived in the NYC that was a Woody Allen movie... I never saw a Rossman in it? 

[Fat is a type of crazy]

1 hour ago, plus7 said:

Are you sure western/american smiles are really sincere ?

 

For some reason a video turned up on youtube about this guy. How he was minding his own business and a guy said he'd like to take photos of him in different poses - in an office, as a doctor etc. Got a tiny payment if I recall. Next think he knows he's internet famous. Is often stopped in the street etc. 

[1FinickyOne]

16 minutes ago, Andre0720 said:

Particularly those that are expressed for half a second while looking at you, then the face quickly reverts to a blank look.

That is not a fake smile - it is a real smile that has a meaning - that is a smile that means i don't really want to be here... [and maybe - but I am trying to make the best of it to be polite to you ] nothing fake about it unless you have only one interpretation of what a smile is supposed to mean.. 

 

You know, if you don't recognize that there are different ways of communicating in different cultures, you are probably not going to get it... 

[OneMoreFarang]

18 minutes ago, 1FinickyOne said:

I used to live there - - but what I used to know about NYC is surely not very relevant to the NYC that is there today... 

 

Rossman? 

 

I lived in the NYC that was a Woody Allen movie... I never saw a Rossman in it? 

He is an expert in repairing Apple devices. And over time he became an advocate for right to repair. And he lived and worked in NY for many years.

Louis Rossmann - YouTube

 

[peterfranks]

17 minutes ago, Fat is a type of crazy said:

For some reason a video turned up on youtube about this guy. How he was minding his own business and a guy said he'd like to take photos of him in different poses - in an office, as a doctor etc. Got a tiny payment if I recall. Next think he knows he's internet famous. Is often stopped in the street etc. 

https://www.dailydot.com/unclick/hide-pain-harold-interview/

[zzaa09]

3 hours ago, ChaiyaTH said:

The smile can be fake, what the reality is, is that there are various smiles with different meanings. 

 

So if your question is if many of the smiles, are not the same genuine smile as we know it in the west, that is true indeed. 

Local and regional enigmatic magic. 

All of which requires connecting to be comprehended.......

Outsiders don't have the ability to recognize what is and what isn't. 

[sqwakvfr]

1 hour ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Always!

 

Only took the 12th response before circling back to Trump. 

[NanLaew]

2 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Some time ago I read a book with an example of a car accident in Thailand. Both parties come out of their cars and smile. I don't remember the details. As far as I remember the smiles were "used" for different reasons.

 

All in all I like the smiles. I.e. if I go to a shop and ask for something and they don't have it then I am pretty sure in Thailand the sales people will smile at me.

Try the same i.e. in NY and probably there will be another kind of response... 

Smiling, or rather a facial rictus with teeth exposed is also a broadly Asian expression of shock or discomfort. Hence some become confused or offended when they see Thai people 'smiling' after they've had a fender bender or knocked someone over with their motorbike. Same goes for pictures of the 'smiling' guys from those rescue services that are first responders at nasty highway accidents. The ones pictured after being asked to point at victims aren't really smiling.

[NanLaew]

5 minutes ago, sqwakvfr said:

Only took the 12th response before circling back to Trump. 

And only double that for someone to make it appear remarkable.

 

Well done.

[Nickelbeer]

Smiles make nearly everyone look better. My landlady told me that I was very handsome when I smiled. Poor gal must be blind. ????

[mnomad]

3 hours ago, ChaiyaTH said:

It's just herd behaviour if you ask me. If you see islands where there is many farangs, who not wear masks, you also notice that many of the Thais are no longer wearing them.

 

Yet those, gov employees for examples, do all wear them, on the islands (as all their coworkers do so as well). I think a big part has to do with potentially risking to lose face too, always avoid confrontations etc etc. BKK everyone wears them, its crazy.

 

No different than with fashion, with most of the girls all wearing the same type of jeans, that look awful and the white sneakers, preferable Fila's.

I hope you are right, and Bangkok falls in line soon.

It's like the twilight zone at the moment to me, see everyone masked like we are in the middle of the black plague, you get hundreds of questionable stares a day, people cross the road to avoid the maskless farang, then you have the worst of worst - the farang mask promoters - people on this forum that try to argue that most thais were wearing masks pre-covid and virtue signal about their 6th vaccine and one-for-all, good of the community, respect for elderly and the rest of the drivel

 

[Neeranam]

there are 13 different Thai smiles, they mean different things. Took me many years to learn to spot them

[Lacessit]

I operate on the premise any smile, real or fake, is preferable to an angry countenance.

IME, the real smiles involve a crinkling around the eyes as well.