Why is this girl smiling?

[Aforek]

Where I live in rural Khampaeng Phet probably 95% of Thai females smile with/for/at me.

Very few of them want anything from me. I get this in the shops, on the street, almost anywhere.

They range from young girls to grannies.

Perhaps it is the attitude I have in smiling first or smiling back, making poor jokes in my poor Thai (being partly deaf doesn't help me much either) and generally enjoying life the best that I can.

Me too, I smile easily, I have what we can say a friendly face and Thai people look me first in the eyes and they smile, even young pretty girls, even if they have never seen me before ; no need to say that in Europe nobody smiles like this to me

I know farangs who say " thai smile doesn't exist anymore", but when you know these people, they are sad , never smiling people and they are Thai bashers ; Thai people, who are not stupid feel it and have no reason to smile to them

[siamcrut]

Many a Thai Smile will be out of embarrassment.

Ask why they're "smiling", the "smile" will disappear very quickly.

I prefer "grumpy" foreigner face. More realistic, more natural.

we do not have to be clever and witty here.

But that stupid, it's amazing ...

Well, some people do have to play their game...

[happy pattaya man]

I always smile when I've got a cold glass of beer in my grubby mitts..

hpm.

[Inyourendo]

This has to be a set up

Who is the idiot who writes this stuff?

The Fijians & Thai ladies just do it

Or the desperate new owners of TV

[BuaBS]

She's smiling, because she serves Chang beer in a Stella cup...

OR , she's smiling because she is holding real Belgian beer , not that horse piss Thai call beer.

[Pui]

Thailand's has strict hierarchical structures in every area of life from socializing to the work place, even the bar staff. Someone who recently joined the company will be walking on egg shells. I've seen 3 year olds being taught to Wai 4 year olds. its very much a "Know your place" kind of culture. Thailand can be a brutally violent place for anyone who dares to criticise, even if its for constructive reasons. When people seem to be overly ingratiating by western standards I think they are going out of their way not to offend. Its just became an inherent cultural trait.

Reminds me of the Chris Rea song "The road to Hell".

And the perverted fear of violence
Chokes the smile on every face

[evilebxxx]

http://www.thetraveltart.com/thai-smiles-land-of-smiles-good-bad-ugly-and-the-10-in-between/

[NOWHERE]

This has to be a set up

Who is the idiot who writes this stuff?

The Fijians & Thai ladies just do it

Or the desperate new owners of TV

Why desperate..........?

Usually when a business changes hands, the new owners are expected to increase profits. But what do I know.....

[ujayujay]

This approach is more profound racist. Designating smiling thais as idiots, says enough about yourselve.

Rather smiling thais as these permanently grumpy and nagging expats.

[Tchooptip]

Many a Thai Smile will be out of embarrassment.

Ask why they're "smiling", the "smile" will disappear very quickly.

I prefer "grumpy" foreigner face. More realistic, more natural.

In a mirror maybe?

[mesterm]

The more you pay, the bigger the smile gets.

[DrTuner]

I too grin in a semifriendly way when I have a full glass of cold Stella in my grip.

[ggt]

This girl is smiling because she was just handed a hand-full of baht...a glass of beer...and an invite up to the penthouse...

[1FinickyOne]

Have you considered that maybe different smiles have different meanings? Smiles can be greetings, they can say I am sorry, I don't know what to do, I am confused, I am happy, I am embarrassed, I am being polite, I don't want a confrontation, just hello, or hello I am very glad to see you, and even the common western meaning of flirtatious - and even those smiles can have differing meanings, I am glad you noticed me, I am interested, I am very interested... and many more...

Thai tend to have a strong sixth sense and not all communication is verbal. It is part of living in a culture that is not the same as the one you came from. different abilities and differing value systems as to what is important...

[AlQaholic]

More Thai bashing ! For heaven sakes all you bitter farangs get over yourselves !

+1 Well said. Ypu would normally say "if your not happy here then find somewhere that you can be happy in." I would imagine some on here could not be happy anywhere. If they won lottery they would complain that the payout was in the wrong denominations. "Wanted all 500 baht notes not these bloody 1000s".

Yahh! if ya don't like the Thai smile go home from where ya came! Nobody asked you to come here! Gaaahh!

[bazza40]

Some Thai smiles cover embarrassment, some are genuinely spontaneous. It's a charming national trait, whatever the reason, and I'm just wondering why some posters on this thread are getting their knickers in a twist about it. Get a life.

[nickcar]

Wow, wow people complaining about to much smiling. What sort of people are they? Ones who never smile? I love it, i smile all the time becuase in general they are happy people.

[thai3]

Maybe she won the lottery, or somebody gave her a bus ticket out of pattaya?

[Happy Grumpy]

Don't automatically connect smiling with happiness.

[MyFriend You]

"Why is she smiling??" Someone just bought her a nice cold Beer .................. why analyze, enjoy it!!

[tandor]

Think of it as a cult. They do what they're conditioned to do.

...best to start with a smile.

[BKResort]

Because she is Thai. If you smile to any Thai they will smile back., If you smile to foreigners most will not smile back..and may think that you are weird. Anyway....Thai smiles are really beautiful!

[ToS2014]

because some (most?) have a farang sending them money as you are spending money on them! Ok....i apologise for the (not)intended sarcasm

[nausea]

I remember reading an article in the Bangkok Post with some relevance to this issue. Apparently, western Tsunami survivors reported Thais smilng at them whilst they ran for their lives, a response the survivors found totally inappropriate. When questioned the Thais said they were trying to comfort the people. At the end of the day I think it's just a good old fashioned cultural difference, like the horror moving something with your foot engenders, or covering the mouth when using a toothpick. It's just learned reflexive behaviour a la Pavlov, like Waiing (for them) or shaking hands (for us). It ha no real significance, moral or otherwise. In fact, the conditioning factor is so strong, that if you are here for some time and live among Thai people, you start to adopt Thai behaviours quite unconciously, even with Western friends.

[Thechook]

All the overseas cheques are rolling in?

[tandor]

All the overseas cheques are rolling in?

...click go the catches on the copy LV bags...vroom...vroom go the new motor cys...

[mrfaroukh]

You say that you have come from a country where people are polite and say hello to each other bla bla bla.

This is what you wrote “What’s wrong with these smiling idiots?”.

Well this shows how polite you and probably your country fellow are.

No matter why they smiling , I really enjoy it. It make me happy and I don't question the reason. You must keep your eyes open so no body cheat you by fake smile but even a fake smile make people around them more happy.

[Inyourendo]

She just got a sight of my love log ..

[Shiver]

There seem to be many variations. I haven't worked them all out, but some of the easy ones are:

• Smiling because they're happy to see you.
• Smiling as a courtesy.
• Smiling because someone is making them uncomfortable (eg. if someone is crying because a friend died, and they're not sure of the appropriate response).
• Smiling because they did something silly by accident such as lock the door when leaving the house, then realising they've left the television on and having to go back inside.
• Smiling because you're annoying them, and the more you continue to annoy them the harder they smile, as in "does this idiot not know how to read me? If he doesn't apologise or at least stop doing that, there will be a machete gang dealing with this within the next 6 weeks".

Then of course there is the outright raucous laughter where they're close to rolling on the floor holding their stomach and gasping for breath before more laughter. E.g. if you slip on a banana skin in front of a group of that would almost certainly do it.

[neverdie]

Rather be confronted with smiles than scowls and miserable faces as is often the case elsewhere.

In the UK it is very rare to see someone smile. Miserable bunch of people. Yes I am a Brit and no I don't like the people in the UK, happy?

The hardest thing about the UK, is trying to understand what the buggers are talking about, can never understand em......I don't even think they're speaking English.

Why's the girl smiling? She probably spat in the pint 5555