Subject: Sawasdee Krab..............if you can read THAI..... :-)

[kamol_.]

If anyone can read Thai Language,

Please Translate to English............:-)

 

you will absolve from blame to me

 

I don't know Who is " Phill Kneen "

 

and I can understand English a little

 

Thank you for every kindness

 

Plese sympathize with me ;-)<div></div>

[michael_kastner]

Hi Kamol! Now you got me. I don't know a word of Thai, and your English is really okay. Nice photo you post here. Sorry I can't read it. But I love Thai food. Especially as it is often REALLY hot!!

[henk]

I personally think your posts are quite funny and if i feel i can contribute anything usefull i will, have fun, dont worry....

 

Greetings,

[manu_vermeiren]

You have my sympathy.<br>

Greetings,

[stephen_w.]

Sabai dee krap

 

Mai dee falang

[Nowhereman]

Kamol�s Thai text reads as follows, in rough translation:

 

Hello everyone. I really like this Forum a lot. There is a really lot that can be learned

from it in terms of useful information. If I have done anything wrong, please forgive

me. With love, Kamol.

 

--Mitch/Bangkok

[Nowhereman]

Michael:

 

>>> But I love Thai food. Especially as it is often REALLY hot!!<<<

 

I realize you don't mean anything by this, but let me tell you about an "ABC" friend I

have in Washington. She's "American born Chinese" and quite attractive, and once she

told me how annoying it is when she meets someone who immediately says to her,

"You know, I really I really love Chinese food." She says, "Of ourse if I were a French-

born American, people wouldn't say, "You know I really love French food." It's a type

of racism. Of course you don't mean that.

[sammer]

Mitch... I know you are just trying to raise awareness, but I believe that your friend is truly being overly sensitive. Food is often the first and easiest way that two cultures can begin to discover one another. When in Japan, upon our first meeting, most Japanese people would ask us what Japanese food we liked. Also, I am middle eastern in background and have never taken offense when someone tells me that they love middle eastern food... in fact I find it to be a great topic which usually leads to a deeper discussion of the culture.

 

Your friend's analogy to the French is particularly timely, as there are still many restaurants in the US that won't serve French wine because their government listened to its people and didn't send their sons to war. While not quite racist, this is certainly of greater offense to the French than telling them that you like the cuisine of their country.

 

Just my opinion : ).

[Nowhereman]

Sam:

 

The point that my ABC friend is making is very simple: often when people can meet

her all they can think about is that she is of a different race...and hence the "I like

Chinese" food comment. When conscious that he or she is dealing with a person of a

different race rather than with just another person, that is racism.

[Guest]

The Washington incident might well be racist, in that a presumption was made that someone's racial heritage meant they would do exactly in the US what they would do in China. Some people would, but some white Americans will eat nothing but Chinese. In a world of migration and trade, where people aren't limited to eating what they can grow themselves, the remark is more random than racist. It was about culture rather than an inherent way of behaving. Such comments are rarely malicious, but they're usually <I>gauche</I>.<P>

 

It's as gratuitous as mentioning, apropos of nothing, that a woman you know is "quite attractive." Now that sounds like a textbook definition of <I>sexism</i>. Whoops!<P>

 

Michael's comment was, if anything, <I>xenophobic</I>, because it hinged on Kamol being a Thai in Thailand, not in another country, so it was about the culture of a particular country. And at one remove, because it did not say that Kamol himself ate Thai food, which seems to be the inference that was drawn: Michael's comment and the Washington comment are radically different.<P>

 

Let's be honest. Thai food is not necessarily what all Thais eat. To talk about Thai food is as reductive, prescriptive, unobservant and bigoted as saying the French eat well or that Italians like pasta or paella is the Spanish national dish: after all, paella cuts out a lot of people whose religion or diet or squeamishness cuts out seafood. But it would be a dull world where everyone's national dish was a bit of lettuce.<P>

 

But really... Michael's comment was no more offensive than if he'd said to me "I like your beer" or - damn! I can't think of anything else the Brits do well. Custard, maybe? Gin, scotch, we do those well.<P>

 

On Kamol's previous posts, some people were very quick to say things like "how arrogant many americans are." Hmmm.<P>

 

Anyway, I like crass generalisations. I haven't always got time to analyse and qualify everything. And they can often be turned into a good joke. Not by me, though.

[vic_.]

The Wall Street Journal's website opinionjournal.com refers to Senator Kerry as <B><I>"the haughty, French-looking Massachusetts Democrat,..."</B></I><P>This from the "fair and balanced" side of the political continuum.

[Nowhereman]

Ian:

 

>>>It's as gratuitous as mentioning, apropos of nothing, that a woman you know is

"quite attractive." Now that sounds like a textbook definition of sexism. Whoops!<<<

 

Of course you're riht. I was just thinking about her fondly...it's difficult not to think

that way about attractive young women. At least I didn't call her a "girl."

[roger_michel]

do most people really believe that kamol is just a very sincere thai chap with a keen interest in leicas??

[peter_morgan1]

No! I believe firmly what Michael Kastner says, and the rest of the non-believers.

[george_b1]

"Sawadee" (sp) is offfered by almost everyone in Thailand on the original meeting. It is done with the palms of the hands touching, fingers pointed upwards, and the tops of the fingers below the chin. "Where" the palms are placed (where the fingers are located) distinguishes the person saying "Sawadee" and the person to whom the greeting is offered., then returned.

 

It is a combination of a formal and a personal greeting, with the position of the touching palms being an appreciation of the relative rank (or unfamiliarity) between the two individuals.

 

After two years, I barely began to appreciate the difference - - - but, I was forgiven, as I was a "visitor."