The Land of Smiles

2010-04-22 - Eileen Edwards

Smile, Please!

Idly watching TV a while ago, I noticed an advertisement intended to encourage tourists to visit Malaysia. Splashed across the screen in bold type were the words, “Where the smiles are still genuine”. Ouch.

That less than subtly negative reference to Thailand’s long held nickname, “The Land of Smiles”, set me thinking. I’d already began to wonder if foreigners really understood the “Thai Smile” as, several weeks earlier, a friend had told me that her housekeeper had announced the death of her much loved mother with a grin on her face which would have done justice to a beauty pageant winner!

The same topic was brought to mind again recently, when a UK friend forwarded me, amazingly, an actual analysis of the famous Thai smile, (or, in this case, smiles plural), which explained everything, although unfortunately it did not include photos of the various types of smiles!

It would seem that, whatever situation occurs in a Thai person’s life, to smile is the only appropriate reaction. As a result, it’s easy to understand why a smile when announcing bad news would need to appear different than, say, a smile when announcing a lottery win. Smiles can be used to show or hide almost any emotion, be it joy, misery, embarrassment, anger, sorrow, confusion, disagreement or even fear.

I remember a supreme example of this, witnessed during a hospital visit to a good friend who had just undergone a spinal operation and was in a great deal of pain. Her teenaged Thai “granddaughter”, a very talented and very tiny girl, had realised that my friend required stronger painkillers and had asked to see a doctor who, when he arrived, refused her request.

Astonished, I watched the tiny girl stand up, face right on to the doctor, raise her arms high in the air and tell him, in a stream of obviously very emphatic and sharp-voiced Thai, exactly what he had to do! All with a huge smile on her lovely little face. I was even more astonished to see the doctor scuttle out and return in double quick time with the necessary medicaments. Unbelievable.

The “smileometer” tells that there are 13 different types of smile (yim, in Thai). The first, and most familiar is the “yim tak tai” – the polite smile used to greet a stranger or distant acquaintance. No problem there, then. Also recognisable is the second type, the “feun yim”, the “I don’t want to smile but I’m being forced to” version. A quick look at the roadside during the monthly check on non- helmet-wearing motorcyclists by local traffic police should provide plenty of examples!

The third smile, the “yim cheuat chauan”, could probably be referred to in the West as a smug grin, as it’s used by a winner to a losing rival. Suitable, therefore, for politicians the world over. The fourth example, the “yim tang nam dtah” is the real thing, the “I’ve just won the lottery” smile. It might be useful to be able to identify the fifth, the “yim tak tan”, as it’s the “Sorry, but you’re wrong and I’m right” version – do any particular occasions spring to mind? Think about it…

The next few smiles are the difficult ones—for various reasons. Firstly, the
“yim sao”, used, as my friend found out with her housekeeper, to mask feelings of unhappiness, grief or sadness. Western women have a similar concept--the sad little smile accompanied by the words, “nothing, really”, when we’re asked “What’s the matter?” by a person who hasn’t yet realised that we’ve spent the previous hour howling our eyes out.

This next is the one we expats really do need to be able to recognise—the
“yim mee lay-nai” --, the worst of the lot! It’s used to conceal evil intention, particularly in the sense of “I’m about to rip you off, and you don’t know it because I’m smiling”. Live and learn, guys! The next example isn’t good news either, as the “yim yor” is used to mock, taunt or laugh in an unpleasant manner at another person.

Having got the bad news over with, the last five are at least not threatening! The “yim cheun chom” is used when a person is really impressed with or admires another person; the “yim mai ork”, literally translated as “smile not go out”, means just that--I really want to smile, but I just can’t.; the “yim yair-yair” is the apologising smile, used to defuse potentially upsetting or embarrassing situations, and the “yim hairng”, the dry smile, is the really nervous apologetic smile used with words such as “I’m sorry, I know that’s one of your favourite vases I’ve just broken, but please don’t get angry with me…”

However, the smile that we foreign residents should take lessons in how to use is the
“yim soo”- “ everything’s hopeless, so I might as well smile” – very useful at immigration, the auto shop, or in any situation where one’s rudimentary Thai simply can’t cope!

The above should give us at least some idea how to evaluate the famous ‘Thai Smile’, and realise that not everyone who is smiling at us is either happy or friendly, and that, on rare occasions, there may be a number of other less pleasant motivations. As a result it’s often a good idea to keep one’s guard up in unfamiliar situations.

I recently read that nowadays in Bangkok and Pattaya, the beautiful, genuinely welcoming smiles are seen far less often; here in Chiang Mai, most of us would, I suspect, agree that there are still plenty enough of the right kind of “Thai smiles” to go around!