A video clip of an American retired lecturer documenting his first experience of being sworn at in Thailand has attracted more than half a million views after one day after being uploaded to YouTube.
Thanachart Siripatrachai uploaded the video clip of 78-year-old Nelson Howe describing his first experience of being subjected to foul language after living in Bangkok for three years.
The incident occurred when the lecturer poached a taxi from another man who had been waiting before him.
Mr Howe was late for an appointment so decided to cut the queue, prompting the other man to approach him and shout in English: “Your father died.” He had earlier been travelling to the appointment by bus, but the driver failed to let him get off at the stop where he needed to alight.
The academic didn't understand that he was being insulted, so asked the man: “How did you know?”
He had not realised that the Thai translation of "your father died" is considered an expletive.
“It was eye opening for me,” Mr Howe said, adding that no American swear word relates to a person's father.
The lecturer said his experience of living in Thailand taught him that Thai people respect their parents to the point that school children will call each other their father's name as a form of insult, an act which would elicit little emotion in an American playground.
The clip goes on to discuss his broad knowledge of Thai swear words and which is his favourite.
The video was made to promote a book written by Mr Thanachart about his 'first time' experience of visiting New York.
Mr Thanachart, an assistant film director, said on his Facebook page that Mr Howe was a former university lecturer who he met accidentally in New York.
Mr Thanachart initially just wanted to promote his book using the clip describing Mr Howe's 'first time' experience in Thailand.
But the film-maker now plans to make several more videos based on the academic's Thai experiences, including Mr Howe’s first time on the No 8 bus, a bus route condemned by commuters as the most dangerous in Bangkok.
As of Monday afternoon, the clip had attracted more than 638,000 views.
A number of online commentators responded to the clip by posting “555”, which means "hahaha" in Thai. The Thai word for the number five is "haa".
However, some failed to see the funny side of the clip.
A user called "siamthbkk" denounced the American for stealing the taxi from the other man. He said Mr Howe’s friend should teach him about Thai culture of "krieng jai", which means more than “respect” does in Western culture.