Showing soles of feet

[sipi]

2 hours ago, SgtRock said:

 

Flock me

 

When did the piccalilly line move to Thailand ?

So pointing your smelly feet at a fellow passenger on the bus between Phon Cheroen and Wongchumpu is ok?

[Morakot]

4 hours ago, dcnx said:

 

Thais point with their feet all the time.

 

The problem is foreigners doing it. The same with foreigners touching the heads of children, buying Buddhist stuff, and so on. Thais do that crap all day long, and it's OK.

 

Most of these so called rules are for us, not them. 

 

"Us" versus "them"? Culture clash, you're experiencing; may I ask?

Edited September 8, 2016 by Morakot

[Xircal]

On 8/18/2016 at 11:43 AM, Peterw42 said:

Its nothing to do with the soles of your feet, its pointing with your feet. I am always getting in trouble for it.

 

 

Does that mean you have to walk down the street backwards?

[richard_smith237]

As with all manners and polite behaviour there is a time and a place.....

 

Sitting in a pub with my close Thai friends, they wouldn't care where my feet are pointing.

Sitting a business meeting it would seem extremely impolite to sit cross legged so the soles of my feet are visible, but perhaps not mentioned. 

Sitting in an upscale restaurant it would seem quite uncivilised to sit cross legged on the chair.

Sitting on the floor at a picnic or country side house eating snacks etc it would be impossible for someone not to see the soles of your feet and therefore considered quite normal, but not with your feet pointing towards the food.

 

Pointing with your feet is probably a big no no, but I do it sometimes when there are no other alternatives such as a nod or an elbow point or even a 'knee point' (which I have seen) - much like the one handed Wai (when hands are full) or when a Wai should have been made but isn't - its not really handled with great offence by those Thai's I know well. 

 

However, there are some Thai's and Westerners who take great offence and make a big song and dance feigning huge insult at a foreigner who's made an innocent social faux-pas...  The Westerners who do this, well, its just funny, they are trying so hard to be more Thai than the Thai's !!!.... And the Thai's who respond in such a manner are hardly being polite themselves.... 

 

In short - When the social idiosyncrasies of life in Thailand are dented its not a huge deal.... and it doesn't need to be made a huge deal...  But those who intend to spend a great deal of time here wouldn't be doing themselves any harm by learning what is expected of them socially..... 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[balo]

Rural Thais do not need furniture, only a mattress and mats to sit on .  A farang I knew bought lots of furniture for the house but they would sit on the floor anyway . Try to teach them different , it is a lost case.  

 

 

 

[berybert]

I am trying to remember the last time I pointed at something with my feet. And I cant.

[Morakot]

On 11/09/2016 at 11:23 PM, richard_smith237 said:

As with all manners and polite behaviour there is a time and a place.....

[...]

Sitting on the floor at a picnic or country side house eating snacks etc it would be impossible for someone not to see the soles of your feet and therefore considered quite normal, but not with your feet pointing towards the food.

 

To be honest, directly exposing the soles of one's feet (or shoes) to another person---who is participating in the picnic---would require some rather unusual al fresco seating arrangements. Unless of course one is a contortionist or the likes. 

 

Edited September 14, 2016 by Morakot

[BuriramDevelopers]

On 21-8-2016 at 10:20 AM, dick dasterdly said:

Try stamping on a bht note in front of Thais, and then come back and tell us that it is only the 'stuck up' Thais that care about these things.

Yes indeed the king is a different thing. But thought it was about soles of feet and the common people.  Pat my whole families kids on the head too. mai pen arai. 

[nausea]

It's a no no. Believe me Thais get very upset if you start moving stuff about with your foot. As an example of Thai idiosyncrasies let me relate this little anecdote. A mate and I were sitting on the floor in a hotel room, chewing the cud, as you do. Two Thai ladies were sitting on the hotel bed. They were showing distinct signs of discomfort. It turned out they just felt wrong being higher than us. Such is life, you live and learn.

[BuriramDevelopers]

Guess it's like anywhere else in the world then. people are different. never had any problems with all of this and i do not really bother to take care of these things at all, so am pretty sure it has happened a lot already. i asked my wife and family and all said the same thing mai pen arai.

[kannot]

On 8/22/2016 at 5:52 PM, Rorri said:

It's not that long ago that western countries did the same thing, and guess what, we survived, our gut culture, hope you understand biology, was much better. How many thais suffer from food poisoning, out of 65million people, not many.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB1013719576572770000

from 2002 and hes a Thai doctor

Edited November 1, 2016 by kannot

[thehelmsman]

On 8/18/2016 at 8:31 PM, Thian said:

 

I see, so it's about high and low...

I have a nice couch for sitting but our guests (Thai) like to sit on the floor with their back against the sofa. Then they push the sofa against the steel windowbars so the leather gets damaged. Also they let their kids jump on the sofa and even when they tell her to stop it the kid won't listen at all and keeps on jumping. It's a lazyboy so it really annoys me...

 

Also the lazyboy recliner, they like to sit on it with 2 or 3 people together, it's not designed for that and the rocking mechanism will damage from it. I told them about it but next time they do it again.

 

Or they put their purses/bags on my leather lazyboy, i don't like that but warning them doesn't help at all.

 

When people sit on the floor i always step over them with my size 13. I'm very tall so it's easy for me, they have never told me to not do that.

 

When i'm eating in a restaurant i don't like to see soles of feet, clean or not for me they are all dirty.

 

In the skytrain i also see Thai with their bare feet on the chairs and even picking their feet between the toe's...after that they pick their nose again or squeeze a pimple...brrrrr.

 

Also some shops (like my motobike dealer) want their customers to take their shoe's off when entering the showroom. I always forget it and also think it's dirty to walk there on bare feet.  Their dogs also walk there and also don't take their shoe's off.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The very reason I haven't replaced our old sofa.