Embarassing Things Westerners Do

[eldragon]

On 8/2/2016 at 4:25 PM, NanLaew said:

The ubiquitous and perpetual wai-er of the waitress, shoe shine brat, somtam seller...and  just about anything with a pulse.

 

I see your point, but I don't consider it embarrassing b/c even people that have lived here for several years can't seem to figure it out. And I can't say two Thais have ever explained it to me the same way.

[eldragon]

On 8/2/2016 at 5:35 PM, Thian said:

What makes me feel very embarassed is a westerner on a bicycle trying to move it's way between all the taxi's and minivans. Or Westerners in BKK driving motobike without helmet.

 

I bet they'd rather ride their bicycles on the sidewalks, but they're taken up by hawkers, street stalls, and... motorcycles.

[Fabricus]

10 hours ago, Theron Ware said:

Apostrophes are not needed for possessive pronouns like its and ones.

 

Wrong.

 

The word "its" when used as a possessive is the exception.

 

An easy way to spot pretentious fools is to monitor their grammar. A common mistake these guys make is to use "ones" as a possessive and miss the apostrophe.

 

They use "one" and "ones" in the hope it'll make them look clever or educated; the truth is that it makes them look rather silly and lacking.

Edited August 3, 2016 by Fabricus

[ozyjon]

These young guns walking around Vientiane shirtless, then walking

through a temple to take a short cut, at least i tend to respect local

culture and laws, i felt embarrassed.

[canuckamuck]

8 hours ago, Fabricus said:

 

Wrong.

 

The word "its" when used as a possessive is the exception.

 

An easy way to spot pretentious fools is to monitor their grammar. A common mistake these guys make is to use "ones" as a possessive and miss the apostrophe.

 

They use "one" and "ones" in the hope it'll make them look clever or educated; the truth is that it makes them look rather silly and lacking.

Whether or not someone decides to be the grammar police and makes statements like the above is the true test of pretentiuos forum behavior

[gk10002000]

Walking down the street and they just toss their cigarette butts down the sewer grate along with some other trash.  Just blatant disregard

[Theron Ware]

9 hours ago, Fabricus said:

 

Wrong.

 

The word "its" when used as a possessive is the exception.

 

An easy way to spot pretentious fools is to monitor their grammar. A common mistake these guys make is to use "ones" as a possessive and miss the apostrophe.

 

They use "one" and "ones" in the hope it'll make them look clever or educated; the truth is that it makes them look rather silly and lacking.

You are correct sir.  Thanks for the info.  P.S. - Between you and I (sic), "pretentious fools" is a little harsh.

[AGLV0121]

9 hours ago, canuckamuck said:

Whether or not someone decides to be the grammar police and makes statements like the above is the true test of pretentiuos forum behavior

 

Entirely disagree. Without acting as a grammar police, I find it bothersome to see posts where people have written: I here you instead of "I hear you", then instead of 'than' and vice-versa, effect instead of 'affect' and hundred more. And Your welcome denotes the writer does not know that "You're " is contraction of "You are". It's respectful to others to use "good English", proper orthograph and punctuation.

Instead of considering the "grammar police", they might consider thanking him, because they've learned something actually.

Does anyone learn, here?

Of course, this message is not entirely related to the original post, other than by proximity and coincidence.

[Thian]

3 minutes ago, AGLV0121 said:

 

Entirely disagree. Without acting as a grammar police, I find it bothersome to see posts where people have written: I here you instead of "I hear you", then instead of 'than' and vice-versa, effect instead of 'affect' and hundred more. And Your welcome denotes the writer does not know that "You're " is contraction of "You are". It's respectful to others to use "good English", proper orthograph and punctuation.

Instead of considering the "grammar police", they might consider thanking him, because they've learned something actually.

Does anyone learn, here?

Of course, this message is not entirely related to the original post, other than by proximity and coincidence.

 

It should be: "Does anyone learn here?" 

[bannork]

33 minutes ago, Thian said:

 

It should be: "Does anyone learn here?" 

He might have meant, 'Does anyone learn here as opposed to learning hear.' In which case perhaps a colon would have been preferable, 'Does anyone learn:here?' 

It's really not worth being a member of the grammar police on TV  because for many members English is not their first language and even when it is there are still plenty of howlers, ' the manager needs to reign in his unruly players,' etc

At least the Thais have an excuse, the secretary at my school told a tourist in Nong Khai to 'turn left at the conjunction.'

Back on topic-,farangs getting on Bangkok buses, backpacked to the hilt and then standing in the doorway at the top of the steps holding both rails so it's impossible for anyone to get on or off. 

[Thian]

1 minute ago, bannork said:

He might have meant, 'Does anyone learn here as opposed to learning hear.' In which case perhaps a colon would have been preferable, 'Does anyone learn:here?' 

It's really not worth being a member of the grammar police on TV  because for many members English is not their first language and even when it is there are still plenty of howlers, ' the manager needs to reign in his unruly players,' etc

At least the Thais have an excuse, the secretary at my school told a tourist in Nong Khai to 'turn left at the conjunction.'

Back on topic-,farangs getting on Bangkok buses, backpacked to the hilt and then standing in the doorway at the top of the steps holding both rails so it's impossible for anyone to get on or off. 

 

Well i do learn english from this forum but i also learn wrong english here. You guys should show if you are nativ english speaker or not. I'm not so don't learn from me.

 

Those farang with backpacks also like to use the riverboats in BKK but they are allready overloaded full and narrow. I don't blame the farang for it though, Bangkok needs better boats.

 

I don't understand why the grammarpolice is in Thailand, i never met a Thai person who was really fluent and perfect in english.

[bannork]

14 minutes ago, Thian said:

 

Well i do learn english from this forum but i also learn wrong english here. You guys should show if you are nativ english speaker or not. I'm not so don't learn from me.

 

Those farang with backpacks also like to use the riverboats in BKK but they are allready overloaded full and narrow. I don't blame the farang for it though, Bangkok needs better boats.

 

I don't understand why the grammarpolice is in Thailand, i never met a Thai person who was really fluent and perfect in english.

I think the British Council and AUA need to start sending grammar police on patrol in Bangkok, a bit like the farang tourist police assistants in Pattaya. When they overhear some faulty grammar they could demand to inspect the passports of the offenders, once it's established the suspects are native speakers they could be paraded before the press, made to reenact their crime and then sent to   a boot camp for grammatical readjustment lessons.

[SoiBiker]

38 minutes ago, bannork said:

He might have meant, 'Does anyone learn here as opposed to learning hear.' In which case perhaps a colon would have been preferable, 'Does anyone learn:here?' 

It's really not worth being a member of the grammar police on TV  because for many members English is not their first language and even when it is there are still plenty of howlers, ' the manager needs to reign in his unruly players,' etc

At least the Thais have an excuse, the secretary at my school told a tourist in Nong Khai to 'turn left at the conjunction.'

Back on topic-,farangs getting on Bangkok buses, backpacked to the hilt and then standing in the doorway at the top of the steps holding both rails so it's impossible for anyone to get on or off. 

I don't think I've ever seen a backpacker on a Bangkok bus. I can pretty much count on one hand the number of times I've seen another farang on the bus, and they generally seem to be seasoned expats. 

[bannork]

13 minutes ago, SoiBiker said:

I don't think I've ever seen a backpacker on a Bangkok bus. I can pretty much count on one hand the number of times I've seen another farang on the bus, and they generally seem to be seasoned expats. 

no 3 to Morchit, no 9 to Sam Sen railway station, no 30 to the Southern bus station no 203 passing the 'Overstay Guesthouse.' no 53 to Hualamphong.

[The manic]

On 8/1/2016 at 2:03 PM, johnnygimbo said:

Can you expand on that?

Shorts indoors - mankinis in the street - Floppy rubber sandals -topless in shops and malls -  vests/singlets - Armpit hair - baseball caps - dirty clothes - unpressed clothes - The whole urban squalid look..heavy smoking and especially english prison roll ups..........Buddha tattoos and amulets and on a different tack constant waiing.

[toofarnorth]

Back to ones topic.   I don't like ladyboys putting ice in my lager . A triple dislike. In England I never drank lager and I never put ice in anything but scotch. OK I can accept LBs  but I will never ever get used  to Chang with ice.

[dick dasterdly]

On 8/3/2016 at 11:43 PM, Fabricus said:

 

Wrong.

 

The word "its" when used as a possessive is the exception.

 

An easy way to spot pretentious fools is to monitor their grammar. A common mistake these guys make is to use "ones" as a possessive and miss the apostrophe.

 

They use "one" and "ones" in the hope it'll make them look clever or educated; the truth is that it makes them look rather silly and lacking.

Its not quite that simple....

 

My education taught me to say 'one', but later I realised this made me sound pretentious and so stopped using the term - even though sometimes its a far better descriptor .

[JJGreen]

Its not quite that simple....

 

My education taught me to say 'one', but later I realised this made me sound pretentious and so stopped using the term - even though sometimes its a far better descriptor [emoji20].

One might think it so...

[JJGreen]

Most embarrassing?

Speaking baby Tinglish ... when speaking to me

[SoiBiker]

Filling the most prominent online forum for expats in Thailand with bigotry,  petty bickering and juvenile sexual innuendo.

 

That's pretty embarrassing. 

[JJGreen]

Filling the most prominent online forum for expats in Thailand with bigotry,  petty bickering and juvenile sexual innuendo.

 

That's pretty embarrassing. 

That's entertainment

[MyFrenU]

On 02/08/2016 at 1:04 AM, canuckamuck said:

I may be inclined to agree with you on a few points. but this is a tropical holiday destination. What you are describing is basically what people pack to wear on a tropical vacation.

And why do cargo shorts get such a bad rap. There are some good versions and some bad ones.

Actually cargo shorts are very healthy,as the lower pockets can house your mobile phone instead of unnecessarily irradiating your gentleman's vegetables with side pockets,which have been proven to lead to a low sperm count a lot like cycling.

Probably a moot point to the people complaining about them though?

[balo]

16 hours ago, JJGreen said:

Speaking baby Tinglish ... when speaking to me

 

No can do, go me now? 

[JAFO]

15 hours ago, JJGreen said:

That's entertainment

 

Actually Soi Biker, It is not really embarrassing as much as it is pathetic to a great degree. There is clearly a "click" of posters who's life is this site.  I know I would never refer any close friends to join due to the behavior. But in fairness 99% of my friends are Thai's, both at work and home so no need for them to come here. 

 

But to JJ Green's comment, I do at times find reading posts somewhat entertaining which is why I drop by and post.

[ukrules]

On 02/08/2016 at 6:48 AM, neverdie said:

Really a lot of folk just do a disservice to their people by leaving their own country.

Passports should only be issued to folk who can pass certain basic tests.  Most of the quality tourists that lob in LOS would be flat out printing their names in the appropriate place on the test yet alone passing the exam.

 

You're making the assumption that the idiots who would not pass such a test are actually wanted in the country where they come from.

 

If I was in charge of a country I would encourage them to leave.

 

[MissAndry]

1 hour ago, ukrules said:

 

If I was in charge of a country I would encourage them to leave.

 

 

If I were in charge of a country, I would shoot them.

[NanLaew]

3 hours ago, JAFO said:

 

Actually Soi Biker, It is not really embarrassing as much as it is pathetic to a great degree. There is clearly a "click" of posters who's life is this site.  I know I would never refer any close friends to join due to the behavior. But in fairness 99% of my friends are Thai's, both at work and home so no need for them to come here. 

 

But to JJ Green's comment, I do at times find reading posts somewhat entertaining which is why I drop by and post.

 

We are a clique, not a click.

 

Thanks!

[SoiBiker]

3 hours ago, JAFO said:

 

Actually Soi Biker, It is not really embarrassing as much as it is pathetic to a great degree. There is clearly a "click" of posters who's life is this site.  I know I would never refer any close friends to join due to the behavior. But in fairness 99% of my friends are Thai's, both at work and home so no need for them to come here. 

 

But to JJ Green's comment, I do at times find reading posts somewhat entertaining which is why I drop by and post.

 

Agreed, it is sometimes funny to see the nonsense people post here.

 

The reason I think its embarrassing, though, is because this site is one of the first places people interested in Thailand will come across when they search for information online. What must they think of us expats when they read some of the moronic trash that this forum is full of?

[pgrahmm]

1 hour ago, NanLaew said:

 

We are a clique, not a click.

 

Thanks!

Uniquely so.......

 

In some cases bordering on bizarre....In other cases bizarre was passed - long - long ago.....

[JAFO]

1 hour ago, SoiBiker said:

 

Agreed, it is sometimes funny to see the nonsense people post here.

 

The reason I think its embarrassing, though, is because this site is one of the first places people interested in Thailand will come across when they search for information online. What must they think of us expats when they read some of the moronic trash that this forum is full of?

 

 

Good point. Honestly I am more embarrassed when people Google and start to search around to visit Thailand and it links them to a bunch of crap about Pattaya and bar girls. I have been asked by quite a few planning a trip is it as bad as it shows up on Google search. I answer in Pattaya and Phuket, YES. But it is localized to that very small area and most tourists and poor behaving men go hang out there. I never ever recommend those places for people wanting to come here.