Comments on: Thai Language Thai Culture: And the Honor goes to… http://womenlearnthai.com/index.php/thai-language-thai-culture-and-the-honor-goes-to/ Expat making her way through the Thai language and culture Thu, 09 Feb 2012 02:12:44 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Hugh Leong http://womenlearnthai.com/index.php/thai-language-thai-culture-and-the-honor-goes-to/#comment-2951 Hugh Leong Tue, 24 Nov 2009 13:54:41 +0000 http://womenlearnthai.com/?p=8473#comment-2951 Betti, I have 2 sons. When the second one was born we began calling our first son Pee Tangmo (his nick name) so that his brother would learn to call him that. Well, I guess he thought that was his whole name so he began to refer to himself as Pee Tangmo. His family started calling him that and he was called that by his kindergarten teachers. He is 31 years old now and his mom still calls him Pee Tangmo. I don't think this situation is unusual. It is kind of cute too. Betti,

I have 2 sons. When the second one was born we began calling our first son Pee Tangmo (his nick name) so that his brother would learn to call him that. Well, I guess he thought that was his whole name so he began to refer to himself as Pee Tangmo. His family started calling him that and he was called that by his kindergarten teachers. He is 31 years old now and his mom still calls him Pee Tangmo. I don’t think this situation is unusual. It is kind of cute too.

]]> By: Betti http://womenlearnthai.com/index.php/thai-language-thai-culture-and-the-honor-goes-to/#comment-2949 Betti Tue, 24 Nov 2009 11:53:14 +0000 http://womenlearnthai.com/?p=8473#comment-2949 I'm not a native speaker of English - maybe that is one of the reasons why a "hey you" said with a smile goes down a lot better than a grumpy "madam". And I also love the touts that are consistent and stubborn about addressing me "sir". :-D Btw, I have another nice one from school. We have a six-year-old little boy in my class who is the older of two brothers, and is called "P Ton" at home (the younger one is Nong Tang). He absolutely insists on being called "P Ton" and will totally refuse to listen if I just say "Ton". "Nong Ton" occasionally ends him up in tears. He has a bit of an obsessive-compulsive tendency anyway. So, that's how I have come to address a 6-year-old as "P Ton". .-= Betti´s last blog ..<a href="http://www.thai-blogs.com/index.php/2009/11/22/thousands-sing-national-anthem?blog=5" rel="nofollow">Thousands Sing National Anthem</a> =-. I’m not a native speaker of English – maybe that is one of the reasons why a “hey you” said with a smile goes down a lot better than a grumpy “madam”.
And I also love the touts that are consistent and stubborn about addressing me “sir”. :-D
Btw, I have another nice one from school. We have a six-year-old little boy in my class who is the older of two brothers, and is called “P Ton” at home (the younger one is Nong Tang). He absolutely insists on being called “P Ton” and will totally refuse to listen if I just say “Ton”. “Nong Ton” occasionally ends him up in tears. He has a bit of an obsessive-compulsive tendency anyway. So, that’s how I have come to address a 6-year-old as “P Ton”.
.-= Betti´s last blog ..Thousands Sing National Anthem =-.

]]> By: Catherine Wentworth http://womenlearnthai.com/index.php/thai-language-thai-culture-and-the-honor-goes-to/#comment-2939 Catherine Wentworth Mon, 23 Nov 2009 01:07:56 +0000 http://womenlearnthai.com/?p=8473#comment-2939 Hugh - “To Sir With Love” is such a beautiful classic (I haven't thought about that movie for years, but I could easily watch it again. Respect and smiles, are indeed the name of the game in Thailand. That, and lots of laughter. Hugh – “To Sir With Love” is such a beautiful classic (I haven’t thought about that movie for years, but I could easily watch it again.

Respect and smiles, are indeed the name of the game in Thailand. That, and lots of laughter.

]]> By: expatudon08 http://womenlearnthai.com/index.php/thai-language-thai-culture-and-the-honor-goes-to/#comment-2935 expatudon08 Sun, 22 Nov 2009 09:45:56 +0000 http://womenlearnthai.com/?p=8473#comment-2935 another well written an informative post its normally pretty easy to pay the correct amount of respect to meeting new people just using age that's about as in depth as i go but always with a smile and you can't go far wrong in Thailand .-= expatudon08´s last blog ..<a href="http://expat-udon-thani.blogspot.com/2009/11/best-burger-in-udon-thani-issan.html" rel="nofollow">best burger in udon thani issan thailand</a> =-. another well written an informative post its normally pretty easy to pay the correct amount of respect to meeting new people just using age that’s about as in depth as i go but always with a smile and you can’t go far wrong in Thailand
.-= expatudon08´s last blog ..best burger in udon thani issan thailand =-.

]]> By: Martyn http://womenlearnthai.com/index.php/thai-language-thai-culture-and-the-honor-goes-to/#comment-2932 Martyn Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:59:22 +0000 http://womenlearnthai.com/?p=8473#comment-2932 Hugh and Catherine - I love words and these are just poetic to me '...but in Thailand there is a small wrinkle to this rule.'...simple but poetic... Google search 'Steve Harley, lyrics'...you'll kinda know where my mind set was hatched from or possibly smacked from a baseball bat into hell. Khun or 'Hey son.' They are 6000 miles apart but it basically means the same. Respect is the name of the game. Abuse and lose, speak the spiel, basically you've gotta convince the spit you hit and turn the idle bullshit chat into ear wax. Respect, respect is what life is all about. Oh! One last wrinkle.... words...poetic..I kinda of think that the world is changing, maybe changed and the honorific is slowly being replaced by the horrific....hugging and mugging aren't words that far apart in most tabloids nowadays. A very interesting post but after a few beers and...what really messed me up was the Working Men's Club was doing G&T at £2 a hit. Thailand maybe a country that preaches respect but hey...look at the top of the banana tree and tell me....for all the respect that the Land of Smiles holds, would you buy the banana. Give it ten years and I fear khun will become son. .-= Martyn´s last blog ..<a href="http://www.thaisabai.org/2009/11/thai-bar-girls-food-phones-and-thumbs/" rel="nofollow">Thai Bar Girls – Food, Phones and Thumbs</a> =-. Hugh and Catherine – I love words and these are just poetic to me

‘…but in Thailand there is a small wrinkle to this rule.’…simple but poetic… Google search ‘Steve Harley, lyrics’…you’ll kinda know where my mind set was hatched from or possibly smacked from a baseball bat into hell.

Khun or ‘Hey son.’ They are 6000 miles apart but it basically means the same. Respect is the name of the game. Abuse and lose, speak the spiel, basically you’ve gotta convince the spit you hit and turn the idle bullshit chat into ear wax. Respect, respect is what life is all about.

Oh! One last wrinkle…. words…poetic..I kinda of think that the world is changing, maybe changed and the honorific is slowly being replaced by the horrific….hugging and mugging aren’t words that far apart in most tabloids nowadays.

A very interesting post but after a few beers and…what really messed me up was the Working Men’s Club was doing G&T at £2 a hit.

Thailand maybe a country that preaches respect but hey…look at the top of the banana tree and tell me….for all the respect that the Land of Smiles holds, would you buy the banana. Give it ten years and I fear khun will become son.
.-= Martyn´s last blog ..Thai Bar Girls – Food, Phones and Thumbs =-.

]]> By: Hugh Leong http://womenlearnthai.com/index.php/thai-language-thai-culture-and-the-honor-goes-to/#comment-2931 Hugh Leong Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:23:47 +0000 http://womenlearnthai.com/?p=8473#comment-2931 Betti, Your use of คุณแม่ or คุณพ่อ sounds fine and in fact very endearing. I use คุณแม่ when I am talking to the mother of a friend. When I was a teacher at a high school here, I taught the students not to call me "teacher" since we usually don't do that in a native English speaking environment. Way back in the early 70s there was a very popular movie here (about high school students and their teacher) called "To Sir With Love" staring Sidney Poitier (song by Lulu, still heard on the radio today). The students started calling all the farang teachers "Sir", even the women. That was fun. Betti,

Your use of คุณแม่ or คุณพ่อ sounds fine and in fact very endearing. I use คุณแม่ when I am talking to the mother of a friend. When I was a teacher at a high school here, I taught the students not to call me “teacher” since we usually don’t do that in a native English speaking environment. Way back in the early 70s there was a very popular movie here (about high school students and their teacher) called “To Sir With Love” staring Sidney Poitier (song by Lulu, still heard on the radio today). The students started calling all the farang teachers “Sir”, even the women. That was fun.

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