Photos of foot waving foreigner criticized in Phuket

[malt25]

I still think he was just waiting for a tow truck. 

[AGareth2]

• Don't point your feet: Pointing your feet at someone, raising your feet higher than someone's head, or simply putting your feet onto a desk or chair are considered extremely rude in Thailand. The bottoms of feet are dirty: don't show them to people! Avoid pointing feet at Buddhas. When sitting on the ground, try to sit in a way that doesn't show others the bottoms of your feet.

[AGareth2]

4 minutes ago, malt25 said:

I still think he was just waiting for a tow truck. 

maybe waving?

[roo860]

• Don't point your feet: Pointing your feet at someone, raising your feet higher than someone's head, or simply putting your feet onto a desk or chair are considered extremely rude in Thailand. The bottoms of feet are dirty: don't show them to people! Avoid pointing feet at Buddhas. When sitting on the ground, try to sit in a way that doesn't show others the bottoms of your feet.

Would you reckon the average tourist knows this?

Sent from my SM-G920F using Thaivisa Connect mobile app

[impulse]

30 minutes ago, kannot said:

ask them why its  offensive, wonder if theres any Thai astronauts? that could be entertaining

 

I'll ask them, right after you tell me why flipping someone off is offensive.  It's only the middle finger, after all.  How could that possibly offend anyone?

 

 

[chiang mai]

13 minutes ago, malt25 said:

Who's trying to save face. Just another unintelligent Thai idiosyncrasy foreign to most educated people.

Whether or not a person is intelligent is irrelevant, the simple fact is that it's a feature of local culture and custom and needs to be respected, ignoring it and saying that locals aren't sufficiently intelligent is hardly an intelligent approach to the issue! It's like saying that women visitors who show too much flesh and dress provocatively in Middle Eastern countries are in the right and that local customs mean nothing, try that and see what happens.

[LannaGuy]

it is a bit rude (anywhere to be honest) but I see thais do the same but i guess their feet are special

[AGareth2]

25 minutes ago, malt25 said:

Who's trying to save face. Just another unintelligent Thai idiosyncrasy foreign to most educated people.

shouldn't that read uneducated?

[rkidlad]

19 hours ago, impulse said:

 

According to the Thais I work with, showing someone the sole of your foot is about the equivalent of giving them the finger.  

 

Imagine someone driving through your home neighborhood with their hand out the window, middle finger at attention.  It would be considered disrespectful by the locals. even if that person came from a planet that had no clue what shooting someone the middle finger means.

If someone was driving around my hometown flipping everyone the bird, I'd think nothing of it. I'd probably find it quite funny as I'm not 8 years old and it's meaningless to me. I'd probably laugh for a few seconds, and then I'd get on with life. I don't know the person and their action literally doesn't change anything in the world of physics. 

 

If things like this offend you, you've got way too much time on your hands and way too thin skin. Seek happiness and not sanctimony. We are all merely 1 in billions of people. Getting busy living or getting busy dying. 

[impulse]

2 minutes ago, rkidlad said:

If someone was driving around my hometown flipping everyone the bird, I'd think nothing of it. I'd probably find it quite funny as I'm not 8 years old and it's meaningless to me. I'd probably laugh for a few seconds, and then I'd get on with life. I don't know the person and their action literally doesn't change anything in the world of physics. 

 

If things like this offend you, you've got way too much time on your hands and way too thin skin. Seek happiness and not sanctimony. We are all merely 1 in billions of people. Getting busy living or getting busy dying. 

 

You may not be offended.  Neither would I.

 

But I guaranty you it would make the rounds on social media.  And that's all the OP is about.   It's a fluff piece.

[AGareth2]

the fact that TV posters are not offended is immaterial

Thais are offended and the chap is a guest 

Guests should not offend their hosts as a rule

 

[kannot]

48 minutes ago, AGareth2 said:

• Don't point your feet: Pointing your feet at someone, raising your feet higher than someone's head, or simply putting your feet onto a desk or chair are considered extremely rude in Thailand. The bottoms of feet are dirty: don't show them to people! Avoid pointing feet at Buddhas. When sitting on the ground, try to sit in a way that doesn't show others the bottoms of your feet.

dirty? whats  the problem with dirty?, whats in that dirt that causes a problem, the air we breath is dirty, its  all nonsense does that dirt fly off their  feet into the offended persons face, whats the range of this offence ? is a foot   pointing at you dirty at 100 metres? 50? 10? 5? within sight

[impulse]

1 minute ago, AGareth2 said:

the fact that TV posters are not offended is immaterial

Thais are offended and the chap is a guest 

Guests should not offend their hosts as a rule

 

We're about 90% aligned here, but rather than suggest that guests shouldn't do anything, I'd just state that guests should understand that there are consequences to their actions, in line with local customs and not the customs back home.  Have at it (whatever "it" is), but be prepared to man up and accept the consequences.

 

Fortunately, in this case the consequences are just some virtual tongues wagging.  Sometimes, it's a trip to the cop shop or to the hospital- or worse.

[kannot]

43 minutes ago, impulse said:

 

I'll ask them, right after you tell me why flipping someone off is offensive.  It's only the middle finger, after all.  How could that possibly offend anyone?

 

 

no idea why "flipping a finger"  is offensive, doesnt offend me its merely a gesture it  will cause me ZERO harm, now if their finger was covered in their shit and shoved onto my body somewhere

[kannot]

3 minutes ago, impulse said:

 

We're about 90% aligned here, but rather than suggest that guests shouldn't do anything, I'd just state that guests should understand that there are consequences to their actions, in line with local customs and not the customs back home.  Have at it (whatever "it" is), but be prepared to man up and accept the consequences.

 

Fortunately, in this case the consequences are just some virtual tongues wagging.  Sometimes, it's a trip to the cop shop or to the hospital- or worse.

whats worse showing the soles of your feet to someone causing no physical harm or that  person  who then   beats you senseless causing you physical harm

[kannot]

1 hour ago, chiang mai said:

If you pay attention you'll notice that Thai's who take off their shoes and sit cross-legged are not pointing their feet forward at the people they are facing, ditto when Thai's take off their shoes in the temple and sit, they all do so with their feet pointing backwards, not pointing in the same direction as they are facing. Are you slowly getting the picture yet! BTW post 41 wasn't an intelligent response so I've ignored it.

so if im sitting next to this Thai or behind this Thai their feet will be pointing at me,which should be deemed offensive

[impulse]

5 minutes ago, kannot said:

no idea why "flipping a finger"  is offensive, doesnt offend me its merely a gesture it  will cause me ZERO harm, now if their finger was covered in their shit and shoved onto my body somewhere

 

So, basically, you're just out on a Sunday morning troll?

[LannaGuy]

Look the truth is Thais have a myriad of 'rules and laws' invented to make sure the Lo-So's are kept in check and are deferential to their 'betters' the Hi-So's.  The list is huge from the three different 'wais' to all the different names and ways of addressing people.

 

Thais think they are very polite but actually they can be some of the rudest people I have come across (not all of them I'm speaking generally). When I am asked i always use the flashing lights whilst driving example. In most countries flashing lights means 'after you'  or 'thank you' here it means 'get out my ****ing way'. The feet thing is a bit rude but it's not exactly treasonous and, of course, it's always the unruly and impolite farangs never the oh-so-special Thais. One day they might break out of the shackles but it won't be in our lifetime as it's only a little bit more advanced than feudal Japan with their Shoguns stamping all over the country.

[AGareth2]

2 minutes ago, impulse said:

 

So, basically, you're just out on a Sunday morning troll?

maybe too hot for walking

[outsider]

19 hours ago, cornishcarlos said:

As long as he had his seat belt on, I don't see the problem !!!!

 

How can people get offended by a foot but be happy to gawk and take photos dead people in road crashed ????

 

This is typical behaviour of the herd of keyboard/cyber-warriors who get on their high-horses and act all high-and-mighty when it suits them, but otherwise are generally just as guilty of some form of misdemeanours as those they accuse.

[malt25]

47 minutes ago, AGareth2 said:

shouldn't that read uneducated?

Nope ! Educated know it as an idiosyncrasy to most older Thais & some Arab countries. This is the 21st century. Most old, odd ball, customs & idiosyncrasies die a natural death over time.

The "foot guy" wasn't directing his feet at anyone in particular, no intended insult. This thread is being hijacked by the holier than thou brigade.

[AGareth2]

1 minute ago, malt25 said:

Nope ! Educated know it as an idiosyncrasy to most older Thais & some Arab countries. This is the 21st century. Most old, odd ball, customs & idiosyncrasies die a natural death over time.

The "foot guy" wasn't directing his feet at anyone in particular, no intended insult. This thread is being hijacked by the holier than thou brigade.

or those out for a Sunday s troll

[outsider]

18 hours ago, Bluespunk said:

Not sure inviting is the word.

 

I often see people in Starbucks remove their shoes and 'air out' their feet.

 

Never seen one attacked yet.

 

And yes I am aware of the cultural issues surrounding waving feet at someone.

 

This person's feet don't appear to be aimed at anyone.

 

Very true. The Thais do love to remove their shoes and sandals and air their feet and this is done even in nice cafes and restaurants. Of course they don't put it up on the table or delibrately use it as a pointing device, but they do cross their feet and sometimes, in more casual (but no less nice) cafes, actually sit cross-legged on the sofas. When this is done, the soles of their feet face up and out, for everyone to see. I don't see anyone, much less a Thai, being offended by that?

 

My colleague in the office loves to sit on her folded legs, Japanese style, on her office chair and when she does that, the soles of her feet is like an open book to the rest of the office. I once asked her and another Thai friend, if that was considered rude if done outside, and they both asked where I heard that from! They did add that it IS rude, if you delibrately show the sole of your feet at/to someone else, or worse, use your foot to call out to other people i.e. nudge the person next to you with your foot. It's also rude to delibrately touch anything with your feet. But it's ok if you're just exposing your feet to get some air in between the toes.

 

Back to this offending tourist's foot. To be fair, there is a lack of courtesy on the part of the tourist if I'm honest, and it's damned unsightly, if I must, but I personally don't think it's downright disrespectful or insulting. I've seen Thais themselves do it, sticking their feet out the windows of their vans and lorries while catching a power-nap or something.

 

As I mentioned in my earlier post, this 'uproar' is typical herd behaviour of the internet/keyboard warriors who put on this holier-than-thou cloak and get on their high-horses whenever they're anonymous behind their laptop screens, but are otherwise just as guilty of causing, in some form or manner, minor irritations to their fellow humans when they're out and about. A herd that should be largely ignored, in my opinion.

 

 

[malt25]

5 minutes ago, outsider said:

 

Very true. The Thais do love to remove their shoes and sandals and air their feet and this is done even in nice cafes and restaurants. Of course they don't put it up on the table or delibrately use it as a pointing device, but they do cross their feet and sometimes, in more casual (but no less nice) cafes, actually sit cross-legged on the sofas. When this is done, the soles of their feet face up and out, for everyone to see. I don't see anyone, much less a Thai, being offended by that?

 

My colleague in the office loves to sit on her folded legs, Japanese style, on her office chair and when she does that, the soles of her feet is like an open book to the rest of the office. I once asked her and another Thai friend, if that was considered rude if done outside, and they both asked where I heard that from! They did add that it IS rude, if you delibrately show the sole of your feet at/to someone else, or worse, use your foot to call out to other people i.e. nudge the person next to you with your foot. It's also rude to delibrately touch anything with your feet. But it's ok if you're just exposing your feet to get some air in between the toes.

 

Back to this offending tourist's foot. To be fair, there is a lack of courtesy on the part of the tourist if I'm honest, and it's damned unsightly, if I must, but I personally don't think it's downright disrespectful or insulting. I've seen Thais themselves do it, sticking their feet out the windows of their vans and lorries while catching a power-nap or something.

 

As I mentioned in my earlier post, this 'uproar' is typical herd behaviour of the internet/keyboard warriors who put on this holier-than-thou cloak and get on their high-horses whenever they're anonymous behind their laptop screens, but are otherwise just as guilty of causing, in some form or manner, minor irritations to their fellow humans when they're out and about. A herd that should be largely ignored, in my opinion.

 

 

Amen !

[rkidlad]

How many times have I seen someone sat cross legged on a chair with no shoes on. Someone else then has to sit on that chair. If you're gonna have silly rules, at least make them consistent. 

[Fookhaht]

I don't know which is the most repulsive.  The More-Thai-Than-Thou or the Less-Thai-Than-Thou brigade.

 

 Both exude arrogance and are more repulsive than a bare foot, IMHO.

[impulse]

4 minutes ago, Fookhaht said:

I don't know which is the most repulsive.  The More-Thai-Than-Thou or the Less-Thai-Than-Thou brigade.

 

 Both exude arrogance and are more repulsive than a bare foot, IMHO.

 

I'd vote for the guys who shoot the messenger.  But that's just me.

[Fookhaht]

3 minutes ago, rkidlad said:

How many times have I seen someone sat cross legged on a chair with no shoes on. Someone else then has to sit on that chair. If you're gonna have silly rules, at least make them consistent. 

Four-star Bangkok hotel:  my Thai friend criticizes me for propping my weary bare feet up on a low footstool in the private hotel room.  

Three-star Michelin restaurant in Singapore (yeah, dress code and all):  the same Thai friend kicks off their shoes and sits cross-legged on the chair like they were attending some damn weeny-roast at a boy scout campfire.    

 

[Fookhaht]

12 minutes ago, impulse said:

 

I'd vote for the guys who shoot the messenger.  But that's just me.

 

P.S.  Great reputation count vs. posts, by the way. I see others appreciate your wit as well.  

 

Edited February 19, 2017 by Fookhaht

[kannot]

1 hour ago, impulse said:

 

So, basically, you're just out on a Sunday morning troll?

nope, it  causes me no physical harm so why should it offend me