Ahh, those little misunderstandings which can result in some rough chuckles. Like when you tell a holy man you’re “fine,” and he decks you because he heard “idiot.”
An English-language teacher who was bitch-slapped by a strong-armed Buddhist monk last week on a Bangkok-Phitsanulok train due to a li’l misunderstanding said Satuday that he’s just fine and still loves Thailand.
Actually, to make it painfully clear, he said he was “sabai sabai,” and was, fortunately, not slapped by anyone for this.
In footage posted Friday, the teacher, identified only as “Jeff,” is seen recoiling from one of three strong, open-palm whacks by the monk who towers over the seated foreigner.
The encounter happened Dec. 3 after two foreign women asked Jeff to give up his seat for them and sit beside the monk, as the women understood it would be forbidden for them to touch or sit with the monk.
The monk asleep when Jeff sat next to him, and as he woke up, Jeff tried to explain why he was there.
“I don’t understand you. What the fuck are you saying?” the monk reportedly said in Thai.
User Pui Pupriew, who posted the video, said in Jeff’s explanation, he said something like “Fine, fine” to the monk which sounds like fai, a polite form of khwai, or “buffalo.”
Calling someone a buffalo in Thai is equivalent to calling them a moron.
“He insulted at me. Buffalo!? I’ve been sitting here entire ride,” the monk said as a railway employee intervened.
On Saturday, Jeff’s neighbor posted this video of him talking about the incident, in which Jeff says he’s ‘sabai sabai’ and still loves Thailand.
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