Why Thai people always smile?

[Danil Ishimov]

In your opinion why Thai people always smile? Is it because of Buddhism? Or there is some other reason?

[NCC1701A]

because farang pay 100% more.

[user68677878]

Well it certainly is not Buddhism- or the local version.

Saving face is important to most Thais. Instead of showing an emotion like anger or anxiety, for example, some locals will simply slap on a yim and act as if all is well. 

[Puchaiyank]

If you want to see what a Thai looks like when not smiling...ask to get your money back...????

[StreetCowboy]

I try to smile at people because generally it makes them happier and me happier. I’m fortunate that I generally have a smile to spare. 

 

I don’t know why Thais smile, but I suspect it might not be so different

[swissie]

How about sending surplus (fake) Thai Smiles to Europe where there is not enough of it?

[mike787]

 thai smile = BULL S**T

[AlexRich]

It's a cultural thing ... Thais smile, Russians don't smile.

[Gecko123]

It is a vestige of hunter-gather society from a time when the central government was unable to project police and judicial authority into remote areas, thus putting conflict avoidance and resolution skills at a premium. Smiling, the 'mai pen rai' philosopy, and not meddling in your neighbor's affairs are plain and simply interpersonal behaviors to avoid being killed or wounded in areas where a police presence or judicial system was not immediately available or dependable. The Thai smile mainly signifies that you are a non-threat. It has nothing to do with Buddhism, elevated seratonin levels, or a cultural tendency towards extrovert behavior.

 

The Thai smile only rarely signals a genuine interest or opennesss to exploring a more lasting or deeper friendship. Most Thais' social circles are insular built around family, relationships forged early in life in small villages and towns, and to a much lesser degree - as urbanization and industrialization has increased - around relationships forged at school or in the work place. Interest in meeting new people to learn about the world or explore different cultures, in my opinion, is fairly limited. In the past, the Thai smile towards foreigners was primarily driven by the novelty of their foreignness and because they were seen as potential opportunities for financial gain. As foreigner's novelty and reputation for presenting opportunities for financial gain has gradually faded, the Thai smile towards foreigners too has faded.

 

I'm sure there are some who will quickly dismiss the above comments as overly-cynical and not applicable to the urbane, well-educated, middle to upper class Thais in their social circles. In defense of my claim that the Thai smile is a vestige of a hunter-gather conflict avoidance skill set, I would point to how Thais behave when the likelihood of immediate retribution for anti-social behavior is reduced or removed from the equation. For example, consider rates of aggressive driving, road rage, hit-and-run driving, on-line bullying and scams, gang activity, stealth property crimes and personal attacks, homicide rates, even anonymous reporting to police, where the chances of retribution are perceived as having been minimized. All these 'just-below-the-surface' social issues belie claims that Thais are just naturally 'happy-go-lucky' affable people.

 

Thais are not exempt from the human condition. They know it, and the sooner you figure it out, the better off you'll be.

 

[marcusarelus]

With neighbors; Burma, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam the Thais smile because they have all the money and beautiful women and fancy cars.  

[LennyW]

The Thai smile is a mask......

Fear.....Smile

Uncertainty.......Smile

Dont know......Smile

Dont care......Smile

It wasn't me.........Smile

Not my problem.......Smile

etc, etc, etc

[Chazar]

Theyve been trained to avoid confrontation..............it doesnt work though

[Chazar]

4 minutes ago, marcusarelus said:

With neighbors; Burma, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam the Thais smile because they have all the money and beautiful women and fancy cars.  

Yet are a mix  of all those races

[garrya]

Showing anger and strong emotions is not acceptable in Thailand. For instance, if a driver almost mows you down, (s)he will smile, you will get angry and everybody will deem you as an impolite person. Farang jai-ron. (Hot-headed farang)

People do smile all over the world, but Thais are one of the peculiar ones that smile any time in any situation. Whether the one smiles to hide embarassment, express happiness, or politeness, or try to be friendly etc, we don't know. There is too much debate about this and farangs often read into "Thai smiles" too much.

 

 

 

 

 

[uhuh]

On 7/3/2019 at 7:13 AM, Gecko123 said:

I would point to how Thais behave when the likelihood of immediate retribution for anti-social behavior is reduced or removed from the equation. 

More examples:

Thais don't normally smile towards their parents. 

Nor to boyfriend/girlfriend.

They smile at strangers. 

 

"The king never smiles" because he doesn't have to. 

[Odysseus123]

On 7/3/2019 at 10:13 AM, Gecko123 said:

It is a vestige of hunter-gather society from a time when the central government was unable to project police and judicial authority into remote areas, thus putting conflict avoidance and resolution skills at a premium. Smiling, the 'mai pen rai' philosopy, and not meddling in your neighbor's affairs are plain and simply interpersonal behaviors to avoid being killed or wounded in areas where a police presence or judicial system was not immediately available or dependable. The Thai smile mainly signifies that you are a non-threat. It has nothing to do with Buddhism, elevated seratonin levels, or a cultural tendency towards extrovert behavior.

 

The Thai smile only rarely signals a genuine interest or opennesss to exploring a more lasting or deeper friendship. Most Thais' social circles are insular built around family, relationships forged early in life in small villages and towns, and to a much lesser degree - as urbanization and industrialization has increased - around relationships forged at school or in the work place. Interest in meeting new people to learn about the world or explore different cultures, in my opinion, is fairly limited. In the past, the Thai smile towards foreigners was primarily driven by the novelty of their foreignness and because they were seen as potential opportunities for financial gain. As foreigner's novelty and reputation for presenting opportunities for financial gain has gradually faded, the Thai smile towards foreigners too has faded.

 

I'm sure there are some who will quickly dismiss the above comments as overly-cynical and not applicable to the urbane, well-educated, middle to upper class Thais in their social circles. In defense of my claim that the Thai smile is a vestige of a hunter-gather conflict avoidance skill set, I would point to how Thais behave when the likelihood of immediate retribution for anti-social behavior is reduced or removed from the equation. For example, consider rates of aggressive driving, road rage, hit-and-run driving, on-line bullying and scams, gang activity, stealth property crimes and personal attacks, homicide rates, even anonymous reporting to police, where the chances of retribution are perceived as having been minimized. All these 'just-below-the-surface' social issues belie claims that Thais are just naturally 'happy-go-lucky' affable people.

 

Thais are not exempt from the human condition. They know it, and the sooner you figure it out, the better off you'll be.

 

Brilliant post..somewhat analogous to the Western handshake,ie "I do not have a weapon in this hand" or the Western salute for that matter..

[Odysseus123]

Double post.

[RasiMike]

They smile because ignorance is bliss ????.

[BritManToo]

Because the guys all have hair triggers and often carry a gun or knife.

[fishtank]

It is not smiling. It is wind.

[geronimo]

They always smile because they live in the moment .....

[Gecko123]

3 hours ago, Odysseus123 said:

Brilliant post..somewhat analogous to the Western handshake,ie "I do not have a weapon in this hand" or the Western salute for that matter..

Thank you very much. I kind of lost track about this, but believe it or not, it was in a quest to answer this very question: "Why do Thais smile so much?' which led me to begin studying Thai in 1994. In some ways, my post can be thought of as a "final report" answer to that question.

 

I would only like to add that I believe Thai people remain some of the most uniquely approachable and easy to engage with people in the world, and that their smile is a big part of the reason for this. I encourage all visitors to Thailand to respect and emulate this charming cultural trait as much as possible. I would also like to give a huge amount of credit to Jared Diamond's books which provided much of the anthropological framework for the insights shared in my post.

 

 

[Matzzon]

On 7/2/2019 at 11:55 AM, Danil Ishimov said:

In your opinion why Thai people always smile? Is it because of Buddhism? Or there is some other reason?

Ok Danil, stight of the bat (had to clean the splatter off first). The first thing you must know, otherwise you will be very naive, is that all Thai´s don´t smile. This is just a phrase that goes long time back and are still used out of some reason.

Now down to the pure reason why they smile. Here it can be many reasons. It can actually be out of happiness and that they really like you and what you are doing or contributing with to their business our family. In other cases, when there is a question of a smile to hide something else they do not want to show. Then there is usually fear or a missing capability to engage in a logic or psychologically correct discussion or work that really leads to a result a person can be proud of. Hence there is also a lack of pride in the work beeing done many times.

[BobBKK]

On 7/3/2019 at 12:35 AM, AlexRich said:

It's a cultural thing ... Thais smile, Russians don't smile.

Yes they do. Ever been to Russia? anyway Thais smile normally hides some lie or ulterior motive.

[Berkshire]

On 7/3/2019 at 12:41 PM, garrya said:

Showing anger and strong emotions is not acceptable in Thailand. For instance, if a driver almost mows you down, (s)he will smile, you will get angry and everybody will deem you as an impolite person. Farang jai-ron. (Hot-headed farang)

People do smile all over the world, but Thais are one of the peculiar ones that smile any time in any situation. Whether the one smiles to hide embarassment, express happiness, or politeness, or try to be friendly etc, we don't know. There is too much debate about this and farangs often read into "Thai smiles" too much.

 

Largely agree.  The Thai smile is just a friendly gesture and usually helps to alleviate even tense situations.  It's certainly better than a menacing growl....which is what some farangs seem to prefer.  

 

On a related note, I've been told by more than a few Thai females that they prefer men who smiles frequently.  It just demonstrates friendliness, openness, good temperament, good attitude, and generally good manners.  There's a time and a place, of course, but I've advised farang friends from the states seeking Thai female companionship that smiling more is better than the alternative.   

[BritManToo]

8 minutes ago, Berkshire said:

I've been told by more than a few Thai females that they prefer men who smiles frequently.

My gf prefers men who hand her money frequently.

The smile while you hand it over is optional.

[Odysseus123]

Well..you will miss 'em once you return to your home country and eyeball the scowling,tattooed, woolly mastodons sloathing about...the West is aesthetic Hell on Earth.

 

There is a moral in that somewhere..the above applies universally-supremely ugly males and females alike..

[thaibeachlovers]

Thais don't smile anymore. Sure there is the fake "business" smile people put on like bank touts and airhostesses, but the genuine smile most Thais had 20 years ago has gone.

My second long term Thai GF had the most wonderful smile- it was like seeing the sun come up in a blaze of glory in the morning, but I never saw that smile from Thais in the last few years. 

[thaibeachlovers]

4 hours ago, Gecko123 said:

Thank you very much. I kind of lost track about this, but believe it or not, it was in a quest to answer this very question: "Why do Thais smile so much?' which led me to begin studying Thai in 1994. In some ways, my post can be thought of as a "final report" answer to that question.

 

I would only like to add that I believe Thai people remain some of the most uniquely approachable and easy to engage with people in the world, and that their smile is a big part of the reason for this. I encourage all visitors to Thailand to respect and emulate this charming cultural trait as much as possible. I would also like to give a huge amount of credit to Jared Diamond's books which provided much of the anthropological framework for the insights shared in my post.

 

 

I found your first long post very "real", Thank you.

You are right about approachability. I meet some citizens of a close to LOS country that are working here ( not Thailand ) frequently and they are rather closed and unwilling to engage, even after many weeks. I doubt that they are different from most of their fellow citizens. I certainly never felt that about Thais, except con wo/men, and other bad people.

[thaibeachlovers]

4 hours ago, Odysseus123 said:

Well..you will miss 'em once you return to your home country and eyeball the scowling,tattooed, woolly mastodons sloathing about...the West is aesthetic Hell on Earth.

 

There is a moral in that somewhere..the above applies universally-supremely ugly males and females alike..

Indeed. PC has eliminated femininity, decorum and good manners. Not sure why so many look like <deleted> though. Perhaps the new "reality" that all men are scum has made them unhappy and they eat too much to compensate.

NB, the above is my opinion.