Thai Attitudes To Smells

[thepanicandthevomit]

After reading the excuses and complaints here by some of the posters I now fully understand why falangs stink. You really just dont get it, or you just dont care.

What do you mean?

[thepanicandthevomit]

I think we should stay far away from labeling these kinds of cultural differences as right and wrong. However, if making a person who is suffering from an acute or chronic medical condition that smells feel even worse by blatant shunning/aggressively rude behavior is "right" I think I'd rather be "wrong." Where is the Buddhist compassion there?

You're asian, right? Why is smell so offensive to asians?

[TheLaughingMan]

Why do stinky people not know that it IS a heinous crime to be stinky? And make excuses for it? Id' want to beat you myself if I smelled you, it is NOT acceptable, stay home if you have a problem.

Ay caramba!

Not to mention those pesky wheelchair louts, or blind people lousing up the place with their sticks and dogs - what bastards!

LOL! Trying to compare bad judgement and bad hygiene to a disability?! Wow you stinkers will say anything!

[kevozman1]

Thing is mate, all people do not like smelly people......... not just Thai's.

Got a story for you, back in the day travelling on the district line there

was quite a large population of indians and pakistani people travelling.

When they got on the tube they would stink the place up with their foulness

and we would all squeeze our nose and be even more rude then the Thai

people you encountered as we would actually tell them they needed a bath.

Conclusion: move to India or Pakistan............they will not mind your stink.

[Jingthing]

I think we should stay far away from labeling these kinds of cultural differences as right and wrong. However, if making a person who is suffering from an acute or chronic medical condition that smells feel even worse by blatant shunning/aggressively rude behavior is "right" I think I'd rather be "wrong." Where is the Buddhist compassion there?

You're asian, right? Why is smell so offensive to asians?

I am not Asian or Thai. However, my opinion is that with Thais there seems to be a lot of conditioning to be offended by "different" smells. For example, Thai curry smells wonderful, Indian curry smells different, so BAD. Of course aversion to the feces smells (of others) is universal except for fetishists.

Another, much more delicate thing to discuss without freaking people out, is that there are general differences in the standard body smells (even when washed) of different races, especially when sweating. How much is genetic and how much is diet I don't know, but I think both factors come into play. So this goes back to my conditioning theory, if a white person or Indian person smells different in the hot sun even when clean, that may be seen as a BAD SMELL, when a Thai in the same condition may smell normal.

Keep in mind, Thailand does not pretend to be a multicultural society. The education and media system propagates the Thai way or the highway. It shouldn't be a big surprise that the natural body smells of different races would be shunned here.

Edited August 6, 2010 by Jingthing

[uptoyoumyfriend]

Farang do have a different odor about them...

excuse me ,but please, speak for yourself

[Jingthing]

Farang do have a different odor about them...

excuse me ,but please, speak for yourself

You might have a different smell even when clean and not realize it. Refer back to my observation about different smells from different races.

[thepanicandthevomit]

Why do stinky people not know that it IS a heinous crime to be stinky? And make excuses for it? Id' want to beat you myself if I smelled you, it is NOT acceptable, stay home if you have a problem.

Ay caramba!

Not to mention those pesky wheelchair louts, or blind people lousing up the place with their sticks and dogs - what bastards!

LOL! Trying to compare bad judgement and bad hygiene to a disability?! Wow you stinkers will say anything!

And what about my friend with the inflammatory bowel disease? Sounds like you Bottom Inspectors will shoot first and ask questions later!

[zzaa09]

The Thais are a very personal hygiene directed people, They shower on the average 3-4 times a day, I have also picked up that habit. That is one thing I do hear Thais mention about falangs is that some of then have an aversion to bathing

I once had to change seats at a bar when a falang sat down next to me and his stink was over whelming,

The reason why bar girl give you a shower before any action, make sure you do not stink and to check your body for signs of disease.

You can be poor and have great personal hygiene habits, there is no excuse for not bathing often.

Cheers:

The Thais are a personal hygiene directed people, but your statement that they shower on average 3-4 times a days is absolute cobblers.

This is generally the discipline as it applies to the country mouse, less I can speak for the city slicker.

[thepanicandthevomit]

Thing is mate, all people do not like smelly people......... not just Thai's.

Got a story for you, back in the day travelling on the district line there

was quite a large population of indians and pakistani people travelling.

When they got on the tube they would stink the place up with their foulness

and we would all squeeze our nose and be even more rude then the Thai

people you encountered as we would actually tell them they needed a bath.

Conclusion: move to India or Pakistan............they will not mind your stink.

Oh really? So you're stating categorically that you *personally* approached south asians on the district line and told them to their faces they smelled? Interesting...

[thepanicandthevomit]

I think we should stay far away from labeling these kinds of cultural differences as right and wrong. However, if making a person who is suffering from an acute or chronic medical condition that smells feel even worse by blatant shunning/aggressively rude behavior is "right" I think I'd rather be "wrong." Where is the Buddhist compassion there?

You're asian, right? Why is smell so offensive to asians?

I am not Asian or Thai. However, my opinion is that with Thais there seems to be a lot of conditioning to be offended by "different" smells. For example, Thai curry smells wonderful, Indian curry smells different, so BAD. Of course aversion to the feces smells (of others) is universal except for fetishists.

Another, much more delicate thing to discuss without freaking people out, is that there are general differences in the standard body smells (even when washed) of different races, especially when sweating. How much is genetic and how much is diet I don't know, but I think both factors come into play. So this goes back to my conditioning theory, if a white person or Indian person smells different in the hot sun even when clean, that may be seen as a BAD SMELL, when a Thai in the same condition may smell normal.

Keep in mind, Thailand does not pretend to be a multicultural society. The education and media system propagates the Thai way or the highway. It shouldn't be a big surprise that the natural body smells of different races would be shunned here.

The second person on this thread to have nailed it. Conditioning is pertinent here - our reactions to smells are LEARNED. Studies in apes have shown infants are not appalled by faecal matter - they are taught to avoid it by their parents, who know to associate it with disease. The modern obsession from cleanliness is a symptom of a paranoid society, not a reaction to a particular problem. It is also used as a device of big business, to foist yet more expensive and unnecessary resource deleting goods onto us. I'd rather smell good old fashioned natural sweat than have some halfwitted, perfume bathing, nimcompoop louse up my day.

Frankly, the wimps and the wusses around here are only doing one thing - they are saying "look at me, mummy! See what I can do! I can shower all by myself! Aren't I clever? Not like that smelly Hopkins from class 3A".

Have yourselves a wollipop.

[bkkjames]

What's the old saying, "a skunk smells their own smell first"?

Anyways my smell is more fare a monic in nature.

Translation: I once had a moose try to hump my leg. He was gay and blind apparently.

[thepanicandthevomit]

What's the old saying, "a skunk smells their own smell first"?

Anyways my smell is more fare a monic in nature.

Translation: I once had a moose try to hump my leg. He was gay and blind apparently.

Can you translate the translation please?

[bkkjames]

Hint: feramone pheramoan (you check the spelling) equals male scent, in nature is pretty self explanatory?, moose, think musky.

Still confused: take 3 heinekens and send me a pm in 3 hours.

[geriatrickid]

Farang smells; that's why I no longer sleep with them.

Separate beds then?

But does the odour preclude intimate relations?

My observation of the local entertainment venues is that the aroma of money masks the unpleasantness of faranf body odour and the lure of carnal delight makes a john's olfactory senss shut down as he drools over his renta a date.

[zzaa09]

After reading the excuses and complaints here by some of the posters I now fully understand why falangs stink. You really just dont get it, or you just dont care.

What do you mean?

Perhaps, TheLaughingMan is projecting a round-about loosely fitting metaphor: stinking equating to other character traits. As he proposes the ideal of "not getting it", this factors in quite well towards broad descriptions.

[TheLaughingMan]

The modern obsession from cleanliness is a symptom of a paranoid society, not a reaction to a particular problem. It is also used as a device of big business, to foist yet more expensive and unnecessary resource deleting goods onto us. I'd rather smell good old fashioned natural sweat than have some halfwitted, perfume bathing, nimcompoop louse up my day.

Frankly, the wimps and the wusses around here are only doing one thing - they are saying "look at me, mummy! See what I can do! I can shower all by myself! Aren't I clever? Not like that smelly Hopkins from class 3A".

Have yourselves a wollipop.

!! haha so REAL MEN dont bathe is that it? You are sounding completely insane at this point.... which makes sense since crazed people I've encountered all had no idea what hygiene was. And I dont think the cost of a bar of soap that will last you a fair while is really "big business", you need soap to clean yourself and your surroundings and your clothes... or do you live in a pile of refuse like all real men do?

[thepanicandthevomit]

After reading the excuses and complaints here by some of the posters I now fully understand why falangs stink. You really just dont get it, or you just dont care.

What do you mean?

Perhaps, TheLaughingMan is projecting a round-about loosely fitting metaphor: stinking equating to other character traits. As he proposes the ideal of "not getting it", this factors in quite well towards broad descriptions.

So, stereotyping IS de rigueur round these parts then?

Selective-stereotyper me generationists at their finest...

[thepanicandthevomit]

Hint: feramone pheramoan (you check the spelling) equals male scent, in nature is pretty self explanatory?, moose, think musky.

Still confused: take 3 heinekens and send me a pm in 3 hours.

Hmm, I did wonder about that, but concluded that that really didn't work. Oh well, it's friday evening and the chang must be flowing in bangers, so you're excused.

[Jingthing]

My conditioning theory holds for people who aren't currently clean as well with the assumption that a dirty Thai would smell better to most Thais than dirty people of other races. It's just a theory, but it seems to gel with my observations, and yes Thais who really need a bath do exist.

Edited August 6, 2010 by Jingthing

[TheLaughingMan]

After reading the excuses and complaints here by some of the posters I now fully understand why falangs stink. You really just dont get it, or you just dont care.

What do you mean?

Perhaps, TheLaughingMan is projecting a round-about loosely fitting metaphor: stinking equating to other character traits. As he proposes the ideal of "not getting it", this factors in quite well towards broad descriptions.

Wasn't being subtle... thought it was pretty clear. Falangs dont seem to understand that if you are out sweating all day you will stink if you do not bathe. It seems to escape many people, on this thread its obvious many do not "get it". Or they know and they don't care.

Wake up, shower. Go out, land up sweating from walking around in the heat or I train, shower as soon as I get home or finish at the gym. If I had 2 training sessions in one day... OMG I SHOWER TWICE! lol This just doesnt seem to make sense to people. Takes all of 3 minutes to shower and feels good too, why is this such a problem?

[zzaa09]

Alas....why can't these confounded Thai be more like us? I'm truly chagrined.....:jap:

[thepanicandthevomit]

The modern obsession from cleanliness is a symptom of a paranoid society, not a reaction to a particular problem. It is also used as a device of big business, to foist yet more expensive and unnecessary resource deleting goods onto us. I'd rather smell good old fashioned natural sweat than have some halfwitted, perfume bathing, nimcompoop louse up my day.

Frankly, the wimps and the wusses around here are only doing one thing - they are saying "look at me, mummy! See what I can do! I can shower all by myself! Aren't I clever? Not like that smelly Hopkins from class 3A".

Have yourselves a wollipop.

!! haha so REAL MEN dont bathe is that it? You are sounding completely insane at this point.... which makes sense since crazed people I've encountered all had no idea what hygiene was. And I dont think the cost of a bar of soap that will last you a fair while is really "big business", you need soap to clean yourself and your surroundings and your clothes... or do you live in a pile of refuse like all real men do?

Real men embrace all life's facets, not just the ones they are told to by advertisers. Real men just get on with it, not act as if they've been shot if they happen to stumble across a little body odor. Thankfully, there are still real men around, although I accept we're a dying breed.

This obsession with smell is a disease. Every single thing on this planet has a smell. It's frightening how vulnerable some people are to conditioning, even over something as trivial as this.

[ozzieovaseas]

There seems to be two issues here:

A. People who smell by choice..ie.poor hygiene or poor lifestyle habits.

and:

B. People who smell due to sickness,as to which, they really can't do much about it.

One interesting thing though. I once worked with a woman who had some sort of chronic gum disease.

Now if you think of all the bad smells you have experienced in a lifetime and pooled them together, that smell could be likened to a sparrows fart compared to the odour coming from this poor womans mouth.

Most people, on initial contact, would feel disdain, and even anger at why she would subject people to this, but when they learned of the realities of the situation (me included) they would often feel quite sorry for her and disgusted by their own initial thoughts and reactions.

So i guess such a person is worthy of compassion.

As to the OP's question of whether a thai would be treated the same way..Im sure a thai would have taken steps and go fix him/herself up before getting on the BTS. Surley there were steps the OP could have taken, for whatever the situation may require..least of which,visiting a mens room, using a bum gun,deodorant, chewing gum ect ect

In the case of the gentleman (whos nationality i will not say, suffice to mention NOT thai) who got on the BTS the other day, who lifted up his arm to hold the strap,and even at a distance of 3 metres away, was revealed the most nauseating stench i have experienced for some time...

Cant garner much respect for this situation and can also understand why Thais feel the same..

PHEW.. no wonder thais talk about ...... armpits

[thepanicandthevomit]

After reading the excuses and complaints here by some of the posters I now fully understand why falangs stink. You really just dont get it, or you just dont care.

What do you mean?

Perhaps, TheLaughingMan is projecting a round-about loosely fitting metaphor: stinking equating to other character traits. As he proposes the ideal of "not getting it", this factors in quite well towards broad descriptions.

Wasn't being subtle... thought it was pretty clear. Falangs dont seem to understand that if you are out sweating all day you will stink if you do not bathe. It seems to escape many people, on this thread its obvious many do not "get it". Or they know and they don't care.

Wake up, shower. Go out, land up sweating from walking around in the heat or I train, shower as soon as I get home or finish at the gym. If I had 2 training sessions in one day... OMG I SHOWER TWICE! lol This just doesnt seem to make sense to people. Takes all of 3 minutes to shower and feels good too, why is this such a problem?

Because, as has been pointed out, there are quite a lot of people who just smell. It's a medical problem and is not their fault. And there are those of us who think there are far greater crimes than sweating a bit. Those that talk loudly to no-one on hands-free mobiles. Or those that park in disabled spots when they're at sainsburys. Or people who take an age paying for their shopping?

I suppose you'd have them shot at dawn for a moment's inconvenience? If you're going down that particular route of intolerance, I'd suggest many, many more worthy candidates than someone who niffs a bit.

[thepanicandthevomit]

Alas....why can't these confounded Thai be more like us? I'm truly chagrined.....:jap:

Erm, judging from the intolerant fascism displayed on this thread, they are!

[mark45y]

In the early 1960’s I moved from Detroit to Toronto. Toronto was a very cosmopolitan city and I loved it. I liked the small stores instead of the supermarkets I was used to. The butcher, green grocer, the pastry shop and so on. I liked the convenience of the subway. Detroit didn’t have a subway. But the people on the subway were stinky. I don’t know if it was the tweeds and woolens that were worn not washed or whatever. I was young and at the time thought all British people smelled bad. The Canadians I knew showered at least once a day and did not seem to have the same odor as the Europeans living there. In Thailand I notice Europeans who wear nylon football shirts usually smell bad. I think it is the odor in the polyester. Seems to me that cotton does not smell bad.

[thepanicandthevomit]

My conditioning theory holds for people who aren't currently clean as well with the assumption that a dirty Thai would smell better to most Thais than dirty people of other races. It's just a theory, but it seems to gel with my observations, and yes Thais who really need a bath do exist.

Yes, this opens up a whole different can of worms which i won't go into. Suffice to say all these uber clean saints here on this thread turn a blind eye to their smells, or their partner's, or their children's or their dog, or, completely coincidentally, ANY smell that relates to THEM.

Everybody always loves to point the finger at everyone else...

[ozzieovaseas]

Just another note to say i can also appreciate that thais can be a little over the top on the issue..

I had a Thai GF once who would gag at the smell of a certain shirt when i wore it..

Even when freshly laundered, after 5 minutes of persperation she would be gagging on as if i were and open sewer..she reckoned it was due to the shirt not being dried properly,even though i would leave it out in the sun to dry..all to no avail.

I tried everything..and i shower 3 times a day BTW..

I soaked the shirt, even tried different deodorants,put masses of raw liquid clothes washing detergent into the arms before washing...

I could not smell anything from me or the shirt, nor could anyone else in Australia or Thailand who's opinion i'd asked.

Because the idea was locked in her head, not even reality was gonna remoove this smell that was in her head.

In the end i told her to launder the shirt as she seemed to think i wasnt able to do it properly..haha, no change!

This is about the only issue ive ever experienced from a thai in regards to smells but it was by far the most exasperating..

Finished seeing her long agio BTW...i wish i had known thai dialect for "your nose is to close to your B-UM"

[daoyai]

Panicandvomit, perhaps you should start an organization to fight this societal sickness, this creeping fascism, an organization of manly men, not affraid to make a statement with their aroma.. What to call such a group? Any ideas from forum?