Land of (lotsa) Thai Smiles ...
Jan 8, 2007, 9:51 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Hua Hin, Prachuap Kiri Khan, Thailand
Posts: 16
Land of (lotsa) Thai Smiles ...
The official hype from the Tourist Board of Thailand, as well as most tourist pamphlets, travel agent's offices, airline advertising etc etc etc is that Thailand is "The Land of Smiles".
Well, that's the spin, and you can take it with as many grains of salt as you wish ... understanding that it is obviously a bit of a cliche, and harmless.
And in fact, Thai people DO smile a lot. They will smile if you fall on your face into a pot-hole in a sidewalk while running! (It's happened to me).
Thai people are generally very laid-back, and see humour in many things which westerners will not. But in Thailand, a smile can mean many things . . . not least of all defensive mechanisms in a culture which is highly structured along lines of "place" and "status".
I found this webpage devoted to the many types and nuances of Thai smiles, and thought it might be of interest to first-timers to the Land O' Smiles ( LoS
)
THE 13 THAI SMILES: http://www.into-asia.com/thailand/culture/smile.php
Cheers ...
Well, that's the spin, and you can take it with as many grains of salt as you wish ... understanding that it is obviously a bit of a cliche, and harmless.
And in fact, Thai people DO smile a lot. They will smile if you fall on your face into a pot-hole in a sidewalk while running! (It's happened to me).
Thai people are generally very laid-back, and see humour in many things which westerners will not. But in Thailand, a smile can mean many things . . . not least of all defensive mechanisms in a culture which is highly structured along lines of "place" and "status".
I found this webpage devoted to the many types and nuances of Thai smiles, and thought it might be of interest to first-timers to the Land O' Smiles ( LoS
)THE 13 THAI SMILES: http://www.into-asia.com/thailand/culture/smile.php
Cheers ...
Last edited by Nongkhai; Jan 8, 2007 at 10:29 am
Jan 8, 2007, 4:42 pm
#2
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Business class, aisle seat, in Bangkok, Thailand
Posts: 161
Jan 9, 2007, 4:17 am
#3
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 1999
Posts: 12,375
Interesting but all those smiles exist in many, if not most, other countries/cultures. I know I've seen those 13 smiles in the U.S.A. so nothing really unique to Thailand. And certainly nothing unique about misunderstanding/misinterpreting body language when in a foreign country. Obviously the context tells all.