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	---> MORE Thai Proverbs: _________________________________ Keeping your head down Standing the World on its Head Beware of Appearances Keeping Your Head Down When the Cat's Away You've Got to be Stupid Before You Get Wise Measuring Someone's Footprint Be compliant! Snake Snake Fish Fish Bid Tong Lang Phra - To do good by stealth The Menacing Tiger Little birds nest according to their size Keeping Your Head Down The Chameleon That Lost Its Head Out of Pride Wisdom come from Stupidity Follow the old, and the dogs won't bite you LOOKING AT THE TSUNAMI DISASTER Measuring Someone's Footprint One drop of honey Keeping Your Head Down Avoiding Victory Blame and Responsibility Beware of Appearances When the cat’s away, the mice play Water, water everywhere…

Follow the old, and the dogs won't bite you.

Have you ever wondered why Thai people are so keen on waiting for the authorities to give out orders? There may be many reasons for Thai passivity, but the wisdom of teaching it to the young lies in this proverb.

A Thai father always says to warn his kid who likes doing risky things - dern dahm puyai, mah mai gat. Literally translated it means, ‘If you follow the old, the dogs won't bite you'. The underlying meaning is that it won't hurt to just do what the adults do.

This proverb is applied for any situations where you think it is unsafe for the young, or your underlings. In the past Thailand, one of our Prime Ministers once said cunningly, follow the leader and the nation will be saved.

Is it still any wonder why Thai people are so passive? This proverb, among many other cultural factors, has shaped them to be the kind of people who wait for someone to come out and say ‘Follow me and no dogs will bite you.' It is not shyness that they just fall into silence when they don't know how to respond to your questions. (And, of course, not all of them are that fluent in English!) This shyness is often confused with mute passivity - which is the better term to characterize Thai behaviour. They are just waiting for someone to show them the way that is ‘dog-proof' safe.

However, some young radical Thais might have their say against this proverb which tells them to follow the old so they are safe. That's not to say the dogs won't bite them if they try going ahead themselves, of course. But perhaps they feel it's worth giving it a try - and let's see what happens.

Nevertheless, a majority of the Thai people feel it's always safer and easier to live as their fathers did before them.