The meaning of life, part 1

[rocky1838]

Ok,
Now I must be getting bloody bored here, but i Have some questions I really want answered.
It's like that old one about the chicken and the egg. And the the meaning of life etc.

Ok, here's the questions...

1. Why do tourists and Thais bother to stand at zebra crossings? (white paralel lines across the road)Now, all my time here I have never saw anyone slowing down or stopping to let anyone across. In fact they normaly speed up. The Thais don't know what they are there for.

2.Why can't Japanese go out alone?
Have you ever saw one out alone? not me. They all go about in groups of at least six....why???

3.Why are Americans so loud?
Funny, when you go to America you never hear them but they seem to increase the decibels after they get off a plane.

4.Why is every Thai girl you talk to 23 years old?
They always say they are twenty three. Must have been a baby boom around that time.

5.Why do people bother exercising and taking care of themselves when all they need to do is buy a ticket to Thailand and be suddenly transformed into the Worlds sexiest Man?
Doesn't matter if your 5 foot tall and 150 kilos, your still a hansum Man..

6.Why do farangs start speaking pidgeon English to each other after arriving twenty minutes before into Pattaya?
We all hear it. Even when my friend calls me He will say "I go pattaya, where you go today" Get a grip for God's sake. No wonder the Girls find English hard when we don't speak it properly to them.

If anyone can answer these questions I would be most grateful!!

[Michaelkaran]

I am trying to find the answers here myself right now at Jomtien... let me know if you are around here... we catch up for a drink.

[mroutcall]

I can make a go at the Loud American thing, because I am really bored. I found myself doing it. My Thai, elementary school level, I often find my self having to restate and clarify before I am understood by a native speaker. Some Asian language phonemes are challenging. Maybe it’s an American thing when I feel I am not making myself understood I speak s l o w e r and LOUDER. I behave as if the person on the receiving end was the source of the miscommunication, not I. Silly yes, but perhaps it begins to explain why we can be so damn loud.

[rocky1838]

I can make a go at the Loud American thing, because I am really bored. I found myself doing it. My Thai, elementary school level, I often find my self having to restate and clarify before I am understood by a native speaker. Some Asian language phonemes are challenging. Maybe it’s an American thing when I feel I am not making myself understood I speak s l o w e r and LOUDER. I behave as if the person on the receiving end was the source of the miscommunication, not I. Silly yes, but perhaps it begins to explain why we can be so damn loud.

That's a really good explanation, and I never thought of that before.
Personaly, I have no problem understanding any American, no matter what the accent.
But I have to speak slowly for them to understand me. Mind you, Newcastle Birmingham Dundee and Aberdeen to name four UK places you would need a translator to understand.

I love to moan about Americans but secretly have very fond memories of my time spent there, warmth and genuine hospitality was second to none. Only the promises of rampant sex in Africa made me leave the US. But that's my problem, my small head always rules my big one..

[Arris Sung]

1) If you get run over, you're more likely to get a monetary settlement from insurance if it's in a designated pedestrian crossing. Otherwise the Thai police might fine you for getting in the way of the car or motoboke.

2) I've seen Japanese out alone, and it's no different than how you usually find English soccer hooligans in large packs. They congregate naturally.

3) As mroutcall explained, Americans firmly believe that speaking slower and louder will somehow cure the lack of comprehension by the listener. It's not just a Thailand condition, as I've seen it in Europe as well.

[rocky1838]

1) If you get run over, you're more likely to get a monetary settlement from insurance if it's in a designated pedestrian crossing. Otherwise the Thai police might fine you for getting in the way of the car or motoboke.

2) I've seen Japanese out alone, and it's no different than how you usually find English soccer hooligans in large packs. They congregate naturally.

3) As mroutcall explained, Americans firmly believe that speaking slower and louder will somehow cure the lack of comprehension by the listener. It's not just a Thailand condition, as I've seen it in Europe as well.

Ok, I like your explanation about the pedestrian crossings. IMO they are more likely to cause an accident. In the UK if somebody is waiting to cross at one then the approaching vehicle is obliged to stop. Now, for people who come here first time, a pedestrian crossing is very dangerous indeed if you think a Thai is going to stop, forget it.
I stop for people but get abuse from the drivers behind me.

The Japanese, still never saw one out drinking alone in Pattaya. Two nights ago saw one barfining a girl, but He was with 5 friends at the time.

Americans are loud abroad. When I worked with them in Africa they would stand up in the bus going home and shout complete bollocks about the dangers of going out at night etc.
Beats me how they knew, all they did was stay in their hotel rooms, drink and play poker.

As for English hooligans going about in groups, yes at football matches where they fight with rival supporters.
I never have seen English hooligans going about in groups in Pattaya. Only groups I see are Japs and Indians sometime. Not forgetting when the Americans come ashore to play, always in groups.

[joesport]

Most likely the bars that you see the japanese in are sort of tourist attractions. “Lets see where the Americans and the other farangs hang out” sort of thing… They have a lot of soap lands in japan and similar clubs in Thailand. So for them to go alone to a soap land is not really out of the norm but to go out to a bar where they will be the only Japanese person is kind a weird thing. Not to mention that Thai people speak English. I know I will find a lone American or a English speaking person so why do I have to fret? So if you have a huge language barrier you will take someone that knows English or thai along with you. If you were to go to the soap lands you will probably see a lot more of Boss and worker or coworker situations just relaxing at the end of the day. Also they are not as sexually repressed are we in the states.

[mroutcall]

youngyoda have a great time man! Now I know what those veterans were talking about when they said "I wish it was my first time again". I am here in the grind again and I am having physical withdrawal... ask my girlfriend.

Anyway, about this fifth question:

Ok,
Now I must be getting bloody bored here, but i Have some questions I really want answered.

5.Why do people bother exercising and taking care of themselves when all they need to do is buy a ticket to Thailand and be suddenly transformed into the Worlds sexiest Man?
Doesn't matter if your 5 foot tall and 150 kilos, your still a hansum Man..

If anyone can answer these questions I would be most grateful!!

Unless that ticket is one-way and you are having your worldly possessions sent to a quaint new Thailand abode, then you had better not say away from the gym too long. Eventually, you will have to return to the UK, US, Australia and the hunt for nookie begins again, unless you can hold out ‘til the next trip. This means you have to trick the superficial women of your country out of their panties. I have heard somewhere that chicks know whether they are gonna give you some within the first three minutes of meeting you. So you have to look “sexable” or “sexworthy” in that tiny window of time.

Truth be told, the ex-pats are my heroes. I am dreaming of the day when I am a little fatter, have a little less fur under my cap, and have divorced my second wife. I am headed to the LOS forever. But till then I will try to make it to the fitness club at least three times per week.

[Keen_Punter]

6.Why do farangs start speaking pidgeon English to each other after arriving twenty minutes before into Pattaya?
We all hear it. Even when my friend calls me He will say "I go pattaya, where you go today" Get a grip for God's sake. No wonder the Girls find English hard when we don't speak it properly to them.

That made me smile, T'English.

I "use" it when speaking to Thai girls, because the idea is to reduce the number of link words like "it" "to" etc etc This normally makes it easier for them to understand.

However, you know you have a problem when you get home after the trip and say to the taxi driver "I go home, you take <insert address> on meter"

[rocky1838]

That made me smile, T'English.

I "use" it when speaking to Thai girls, because the idea is to reduce the number of link words like "it" "to" etc etc This normally makes it easier for them to understand.

You better forget the TEFL teaching course then.

[dimitri11]

Rocky
I also have that problem after my visit in Thailand, I need about 2 weeks to start speaking decent English too!
But I am having a lot of fun talking to those little angels in their English language.
In any case if they do not understand me I make it easier on them by speaking Greek

[slacko]

We all hear it. Even when my friend calls me He will say "I go pattaya, where you go today" Get a grip for God's sake. No wonder the Girls find English hard when we don't speak it properly to them.

If anyone can answer these questions I would be most grateful!!

All the Thai girls I met spoke perfect English. "You happy I happy." now you can't get much more perfect than that.