On 2017-04-20 20:21, John B Slocomb wrote:
On Thu, 20 Apr 2017 08:01:21 -0700, Joerg
wrote:

On 2017-04-19 19:52, John B Slocomb wrote:
On Wed, 19 Apr 2017 07:04:46 -0700, Joerg
wrote:

On 2017-04-18 20:04, John B Slocomb wrote:

[...]

For example, of my wife's immediate family, Starting with her
father and his two brothers, say a hundred people, some of whom
are very rich, some are collage professors, some are middle class
and some are poor as church mice, I doubt that a single one could
fix anything mechanical.


That is strange. My ancestors were middle class yet they could all
repair stuff, including many of the women. When there is an issue with
our watering system in the yard my wife often doesn't mention it to me.
Instead, I see her heading out the back door with a tool box.

Is your wife Thai?


No, from Europe. Just wondering why this should be so different with
Thais. The ones I met here do not shy away from repairs at all.

In short "face". People who are someone do not get their hands dirty,
they hire others to do that.

The Asian term "face" is a direct translation from most of the local
languages and sounds a bit strange to Westerners so in the West it is
referred to a "preeminence".


That isn't much different here in the Wild West. He who has the dough,
and a Mercedes Benz in the driveway, and a McMansion, and a 60" 4k TV,
hires out everything. At least until the repo man shows up in the night.

Then there are those who feel pride in accomplishing something with
their own hands even if they are engineers, doctors or whatever. Mostly
those who were brought up in that philosophy. Those are also the people
who do not become stuck in the wilderness because their ride broke down
and there is no cell signal for the next 100 miles or so. I have met a
lot of well-to-do Asians like that as well. Most impressive are usually
Russians. No matter how wealthy, when something breaks they often react
like "Let's take apart and fix".

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/