Why we should all get on the next plane to Thailand
I love Thailand. Always have. Always will. It holds a very special place in my heart for several reasons. Did you know they were the only South East Asian nation never to be colonized? Also, the only South East nation to have a major musical motion picture based on their (rather inaccurate) history? Did you know that they created one of the most successful resistance movements in WWII? That they are one of the most tolerant societies to the LGBT communities in the world? That their king in the oldest living monarch? That Muy Thai boxers regularly kick ass in those Street Fighter/Mortal Kombat type competitions where all the participants represent various martial arts? That it's known as the land of 1,000 smiles?*
Anyway, there's so many wonderful things about Thailand, and not in the least is the fact that it's an epicly hilarious country. One of my favorite personal anecdotes (which I can't describe in writing because it involves a lot of yelling and physical comedy) comes from my experience teaching there. So, I always pause and read any news story I come across having to do with Thailand. And I am rarely disappointed (unless it has to do with repressive, technocratic Prime Ministers or extremist muslims in the South).
Such was the case today with a story regarding the Thai practice of giving their children nicknames
I highly recommend reading the whole thing, as it is pretty damn funny/interesting. But, should you not, I can summarize:
We Latin-Saxon based peoples generally shorten our longish first names and consider that our nickname. Granted, sometimes you'll get yourself a 'Butch' or a 'Shorty' or 'Lefty' but that's sort of rare these days. Thais give their children nicknames that are occasionally physical descriptors, but more often just words that they like. In my class I had Mo (watermellon), Bank (leaf) and Bing-Bing (nothing, but it sure is a cute name). There are also many, many people named 'Porn' (blessing), which is hard not to laugh at the first couple of times you have to address the super-demure secretary in the front office.
Thais also love the English language, though they occasionally miss the boat entirely on the literal meaning (ex: I spent several ponderous minutes outside of an 'English-speaking' hair salon wondering what kind of scissor-wizzardry a "quiff" haircut might entail. I concluded that they must have meant "coiff", at least I really hope they did). So, now Thais are giving there children English language nicknames, with typically funny results:
"More than half of her students have English names, Korakoad said, offering this sampling: Tomcruise, Elizabeth, Army, Kiwi, Charlie and God. One apparently gourmand family named their child Gateaux, the French word for cakes."
Fucking hats fucking off to the family who nicknamed their child 'God'!
* no, I'm not sourcing this shit. I'm out of school for the next 2 hours and 50 minutes and you can all just kiss my ass.
