Outrageous Thai. T. F. Rhoden
just happened here?
Have ya eaten? Where ya off to? Hello!
Another very traditional way to make a greeting in Thai is to ask whether someone has eaten yet. Most of the time the person asking the question isn’t really so much interested in whether you have eaten or not or what you have eaten, instead think of this greeting in the same way that you might start talking about the weather when you meet someone or when an American will say What’s up! In this sense the speaker really doesn’t care so much about the weather nor does he really want to know every new thing that’s happening in your life. A simple Yep, looks like it’s gonna rain today or Nothin’, just hangin’ are good enough responses and the two persons may continue to go about doing whatever it was that they were doing before they bumped into each other and had to exchange pleas-antries. So when a Thai asks you กินข้ าวรึ ยัง [gihn kâo réu-yung] or กินข้ าวยั ง [gihn kâo yung], which means Have you eaten yet?, the best response is กินแล้ ว [gihn láeo], which means Yep, I’ve eaten. I think to respond in any other way would just throw the rhythm of the entire conversation off. In fact, these two phases are so common that you’ll be forgiven if you begin to wonder whether or not Thais are interested in anything other than the current state of your stomach. Just remember that when you are confronted with กินข้ าวยั ง [gihn kâo yung], you’ll know that nine times out of 10, it just means Hi!
• พี่ กินข้าวยัง
pêe GIHN KÂO YUNG
Have you eaten yet?
Two other similar phrases that are often used as greetings are ไปไหน [bpǎi nǎi] and ไปไหนมา [bǎi nǎi mah]. The direct translation for these two are Where ya going? and Where’d ya come from? More often than not, these two phrases are used as simple greetings much like กินข้าวยัง [gihn kâo yung] is used to mean Hi! Though Thais ask you where you are going or where you have been, it’s better to think of these greetings as just your regular Hello! I’ve learned that it’s probably best not to give an overly detailed description of where you are going, but instead to just mention something quickly and be on your way. If you can’t think of anything to say and you want to be polite just say that you’re on your way to the market or that you’ve just come back from the market like this: ไปตลาด [bpai dtà-làht], I’m heading to the market or ไปตลาดมา [bpai dtà-làht mah], I just came from the market. You can also just say that you’re going home, กลับบ้าน [glùp bâhn]. This way you can answer their question without really having to answer it, which I think is what they want anyway. Too much information is rarely good for anyone and will probably just get you into trouble—similar to this book.
What’s up?! So what!
Another useful phrase that you will hear often used as a greeting is ว่ายังไง [wâh yung ngai]. This translates most easily to What’s up? or What’s new? This is the least formal of all the greetings that have been presented so far. If you are going to use any of these with your good friends I think that this phrase sounds the most natural and casual. Similar to the other greetings you can also tack on the ครับ [krúp] or คะ [ká] to show additional respect. However, if politeness is your goal you are probably just better off saying สวัสดีครับ [sà-wùt dee krúp]. The phrase ว่ายังไง [wâh yung ngai] is often shortened to just ว่าไง [wâh ngai]. This phrase can also be used in a host of other situations, but the translation What’s up? is probably the most common usage of ว่ายังไง [wâh yung ngai] or ว่าไง [wâh ngai].
• ว่าไง อ่ะ
WÂH NGAI ’à
What’s up?
The last one for this chapter before we get physical in the next chapter is not so much of a greeting but just another useful phrase you should know. I often hear this one and you should use it whenever you want to be both direct and laconic. The next time someone comes up to you making excuses about this or that use the phrase แล้วไง [láeo ngai]. In this context this phrase means So what?! and is just a sharp enough set of words to get your point of indifference across admirably.
• แล้วไง
LÁEO NGAI
So what?
CHAPTER THREE
The Physical
Now that we covered the slang basics and greetings we can move on to something a little more fun. Like English the Thai language has a plethora of words to describe how one looks. In this chapter I’m going to give you a broad selection of slangy words. Some of them will be nice, some of them are not so nice, but all of them are cool. As soon as you get the vocabulary down for making the delineation between physical appearances like a girl who’s hot and a girl who’s homely, or a guy who’s fine and a guy who’s a fat tube of lard, we’ll move on to the next chapter for character traits.
Goodlooking, Cute and Hot
There are a lot of different ways to say that someone is pleasing to look at in Thai. The big mistake I see beginners make is overusing the word for beautiful in Thai: สวย [sǒoi]. This would be about as lame as it would in English if you were only to use the word beautiful to describe someone who might just be goodlooking, or may be cute, or just pretty, or perhaps totally hot. Here’s a list of trendier words to supplement your arsenal.
The easiest way to say someone is goodlooking is to refer to them as หน้ าตาดี [nâh dtah dee] as in their face and eyes are nice, or a little more cool sounding is to say that they are ขึ้ นกล้ อง [kûen glâwng] as in they are photogenic. Both of these can be used with either sex. You are probably already familiar with น่ารั ก [nâh rúk] or cute, so let’s learn two new ones. The word จ๊าบ [jáhb] can mean cute as well, but this one can also have the feeling of cool or trendy. The second one comes from Japanese and is คิกขุอาโนเนะ [kík-kòo ’ah-noe-náy] or more often just อาโนเนะ [’ah-noe-náy]. This is an innocent type of cuteness, so imagine one of those little Japanese girls in the Catholic school girl outfit; that’s this type of cute. A newer way to call a girl fine or hot is ห่าน [hàhn].
• พูดไม่ ค่อยเก่งแต่ หน้าตาดี
pôot mâi kôi gàyng dtàe NÂH-DTAH-DEE
He’s not such a good speaker, but he is goodlooking.
• เค้าน่ารักแต่ ไม่ ขึ้นกล้อง เลย
káo nâh-rúk dtàe mâi KÛEN-GLÂWNG leri
She’s cute but doesn’t look good in pictures at all.
• พวก เค้า จ๊าบ สุดๆ เนอะ
pûak-káo JÁHP sòot-sòot nér
They’re totally cute, no?
• สไตล์ อาโนเนะ ก็ ชอบ มาก เลย
sà-dtai ’AH-NOE-NÁY gâw châwp mâhl leri
I really dig that innocent, school-girl type of cute style.
To call a girl fine or hot use the English word เซ็กซี่ [séhk-sêe]. If she’s hot because