{"id":564,"date":"2011-05-29T10:30:36","date_gmt":"2011-05-29T10:30:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/thai\/?p=564"},"modified":"2014-08-27T14:13:38","modified_gmt":"2014-08-27T14:13:38","slug":"thai-body-language-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/thai\/thai-body-language-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Thai Body Language, Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pointing with the feet<\/strong><\/p>\n

You\u2019ve probably also read that the feet is the most disrespectful part of the human body. To show the bottoms of your feet to someone else is just rude. At first it seems a bit odd, but you\u2019ll agree when someone with rancorous feet does this while sitting next to you. Anyway, let\u2019s say you\u2019re having an argument with someone. She\u2019s smiling trying to appear polite and respectful of you, but at the same time covertly pointing her feet back at you. You walked away thinking you won the argument, and you didn\u2019t even notice her feet did you?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Gesturing someone to come over<\/strong><\/p>\n

In western culture, there are several \u2018come over here\u2019 hand motions you can perform. For example, curling your index finger a few times. Thais do something similar. I figured this out right away, but some farang find it confusing. Hold your arm outwards, at a 45 degree angle pointing towards the ground. Have your palm facing the ground, and curl in your fingers (not the thumb) several times. If you have a Thai girlfriend, she\u2019s bound to do this when she needs your money<\/span> you for something.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The confirmation grunt<\/strong><\/p>\n

This one is hard to describe, but one way you can give a confirmation \u2018yes\u2019 is to make a grunting sound. It\u2019s informal, so only do it with your friends. The pronunciation of the grunt is something like \u2018ugh\u2019, or \u0e2d\u0e48\u0e2d<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The subtle confirmation nod<\/strong><\/p>\n

Only those who have been with Thais for a very long time would be familiar with this one. It\u2019s extremely subtle and takes years of practice to notice. This nod means \u2018yes\u2019, or \u2018I agree with what you said\u2019. I personally don\u2019t like this gesture because if you blink, you\u2019re likely to miss it. And if you miss it, you\u2019ll think they just ignored your question \u2013 leading to a host of other misunderstandings.<\/p>\n

An example of the confirmation nod . . . let\u2019s say you\u2019re at a restaurant waiting for the food to come, and your Thai girlfriend is busy chatting away on Facebook on both of her cell phones simultaneously (no joke, they do this). You ask, \u2018it\u2019s really hot today, no?\u2019 Now watch her face very carefully, and you\u2019ll notice that without moving her eyes away from her phone she extends her chin out towards you a bit and then back. You\u2019ve just witnessed the confirmation nod. You might also see her eyebrows slightly go up.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The manly confirmation nod<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is much more common, and is just like the above subtle confirmation nod but much more pronounced and easy to notice. It\u2019s always combined with the confirmation grunt. Only do this with your friends as it can come out a bit rude otherwise.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The smile<\/strong><\/p>\n

The smile carries many more meanings here in Thailand. Hey, it\u2019s the land of smiles, eh? A smile could mean embarrassment, happiness, flirting, or just a friendly greeting. But it can also be used as a means of subtle insult \u2013 let me explain. Let\u2019s say you directly insulted a Thai. If he is civilized, he isn\u2019t going to insult you back. Instead, he\u2019ll smile and simply say \u2018thank you for your thoughts\u2019, or perhaps \u2018that\u2019s ok, is there anything else I may help you with?\u2019 He simply brushed you off like dirt on his shoes (which are pointing directly at you). Funny how one can be rude by being polite . . .<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Do you know of any other Thai body language not mentioned here?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Learn Thai body language.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[49696],"class_list":["post-564","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-culture","tag-body-language"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/thai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/thai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/thai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/thai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/thai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=564"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/thai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1964,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/thai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564\/revisions\/1964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/thai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/thai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/thai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}