Talking to Thais, have you ever had "Pow Wow" moments?

[marin]

23 hours ago, georgegeorgia said:

On 1/18/2025 at 10:47 AM, Yagoda said:

Yeah I despise racists, anti semites, anti americans and socialists. I think they are backwards, barbaric and primitive.

Seems strange , usually the people ( leftists)  who despise racists are ok with people who are Anti American?

 

I guess you are calling the pot kettle black though and are transphobic and homophobic ?

Two or our "sharper" members using all their intellect to get their points across.  5555

[scorecard]

On 1/17/2025 at 5:24 PM, Jingthing said:

So what's the consensus? Typical Thais wouldn't have understood the Pow Wow thing? Haven't they been exposed to a lot of American pop culture like westerner movies with cowboys and Indians?

I doubt that, en masse, they have had much exposure to American pop culture. I had a loud know it all American, about 23 years old, from New York, who used way too much American slang etc., when he spoke to his Thai class mates. 

 

He was quite arrogant and he was convinced he was the post popular male in the class. Numerous times he would suddenly talk over the top of what I was reading / explaining to the class insisting that he should explain anything / everything about the US. (And he did the same to other professors, one prof. refused to teach him.).

 

Many times other class members interrupted his interruption saying 'I didn't join this course to learn about America'.  

 

 

aas. HE WAS CONVINCED HE WAS THE MOST POPULAR MALE IN THE CLASS (M/F. 50/50) wS XONVINCED HE AD QUITE ARROGANT 

[Flyguy330]

I just stumbled on this thread and it's a weird coincidence that I happened to be reading up on the etymology of the word 'Indian' today (in reference to 'Red Indians').

The term 'Indian' is apparently not 'PC' nowadays, and instead 'Native American' is the proper term.

My reading led to a monologue by George Carlin (US comedian, deceased), wherein he argued that the term 'Indian' is in fact right and proper. Ye see the 'non PC'ness of the term 'Indian' lies in the popular belief that when Chris Columbus set off west out of Spain he expected he'd find a route to East Asia (India in particular) rather than a whole new continent.

Many historians now consider that nomenclature totally wrong, because (they say) India was not known as 'India' in 1492, but rather as Hindustan. So Columbus couldn't have named it 'India' nor its denizens 'Indians'. Except maybe for a laugh.

Carlin said that the first 'tribe' Columbus encountered on making landfall were such nice people, thriving so happily in nature (according to Columbus' memoirs), that he dubbed them 'People of God', or 'People in God'. That translates into Spanish as 'Gente in dios'. 

In Dios. Get it? Not an insult or misnomer - but a noble handle.

Then he proceeded to wipe them out.

 

But apparently many etymologists say that's rubbish too.

The history of the word remains in dispute. 

[Jingthing]

28 minutes ago, scorecard said:

I doubt that, en masse, they have had much exposure to American pop culture. I had a loud know it all American, about 23 years old, from New York, who used way too much American slang etc., when he spoke to his Thai class mates. 

 

He was quite arrogant and he was convinced he was the post popular male in the class. Numerous times he would suddenly talk over the top of what I was reading / explaining to the class insisting that he should explain anything / everything about the US. (And he did the same to other professors, one prof. refused to teach him.).

 

Many times other class members interrupted his interruption saying 'I didn't join this course to learn about America'.  

 

 

aas. HE WAS CONVINCED HE WAS THE MOST POPULAR MALE IN THE CLASS (M/F. 50/50) wS XONVINCED HE AD QUITE ARROGANT 

Thanks for sharing.

[georgegeorgia]

16 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

Thanks for sharing.

And please add Thankyou for your service

[Jingthing]

2 minutes ago, georgegeorgia said:

And please add Thankyou for your service

Yes. I feel your peen. I mean pain.

[novacova]

On 1/17/2025 at 5:07 PM, Jingthing said:

I did something surprising (to myself) recently.

I was talking to a Thai who had limited English and wanted to express a thought about native Americans, what others might call American Indians, indigenous people, First Nations, etc.

But my first impulse in order to actually effectively communicate the thought was to first say Indians but realizing that sounds like from India to a Thai so I then put my hand to my mouth moving it back and forth and said POW WOW Indians! OMG -- what had possessed me?

So racist. I don't think I've ever said or gestured POW WOW Indians before in my life. But he understood immediately, smiled and didn't try to cancel me. 

I have no regrets. Sometimes you just want to communicate. But still a bit surprised that I did that.

 

Have you had such POW WOW moments talking to Thais?

 

 

It’s okay, nobody here cares especially Thais, so you can be yourself and stop walking on eggshells. 

[Jingthing]

1 minute ago, novacova said:

It’s okay, nobody here cares especially Thais, so you can be yourself and stop walking on eggshells. 

The eggshella don't stand a chance.

[stat]

On 1/17/2025 at 11:52 AM, Jingthing said:

That's sort of funny because a racist white westerner doing that would also refer to Thais that way. Asians are Asians, right?

Only some people care about this nonsense. If a black guy tells me "white Men Can't Jump" so what? Besides he is right most of the times 🙂 The only problem is when you tell someone there is not any white man that can jump, that is simply factual wrong. Like when I see a 7 foot man I assume that it is likely he plays ball. Same when I see a bodybuilder likely he is not an m.d. it is simple probabilities. Vice versa it works even more a thin guy is not a body builder and only very few m.d. are Body Builders. So chill

[Jingthing]

3 minutes ago, stat said:

Only some people care about this nonsense. If a black guy tells me "white Men Can't Jump" so what? Besides he is right most of the times 🙂 The only problem is when you tell someone there is not any white man that can jump, that is simply factual wrong. Like when I see a 7 foot man I assume that it is likely he plays ball. Same when I see a bodybuilder likely he is not an m.d. it is simple probabilities. Vice versa it works even more a thin guy is not a body builder and only very few m.d. are Body Builders. So chill

I'm chill.

This topic is only for discussion and entertainment purposes. 

[rumak]

On 1/17/2025 at 6:51 PM, Jingthing said:

One thing I'm definitely NOT gonna do is ever ask him whether he did understand what I meant. That's because to ask that I would have to do the pow wow thing again!

 

If you want to "do something with him" ...... imitate flying a kite .   🤪