THAI WOMEN ARE EUPHEMISTIC
For generations we girls have been taught to be polite and have good manners from birth. We have learned to speak softer and end our sentences very politely with the word “Kha”. As this is added to almost all our sentences, we’re almost always being polite. Though, it’s not like we don’t swear at all, we do! It’s just generally not in public places and would only use profanity with our close friends or whenever someone rubs us the wrong way like an unexpected encounter with rude Chinese tourists.
For most of us girls, our parents grew up in wooden houses and it was these wooden houses that we were raised in. Ever since we were little, we were asked to walk around the house slowly and softly. Essentially tip toeing. We weren’t allowed to run around and play loudly inside as the running would shake the house itself and the noise would pierce the thin walls disturbing everyone within. Even upstairs, we would need to walk with the balls of our feet placed down to the floor first, followed by our heels to not cause a ruckus. This is how we were asked to walk, unbeknownst we were being asked to catwalk around the bedroom during our childhood!
Our Thai culture teaches us that our head is the most sacred part of the body, where our feet are considered the most unclean and least important part. This is part of Thai etiquette and is ingrained not only in our brains but also in our behaviour. You should never see a Thai girl with our feet up high like on tables. I would say it is also rare to find one of us with our bottoms sitting on the table as we were told and grew up putting them where they belong – on chairs.
Thai girls are not only euphemistic in speech; it is part of our culture and reflects in our behaviour whether we are at home, or in public.
