Southeast Asia: I really enjoyed it despite all the Swedish people

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Tourism & Travel > Southeast Asia: I really enjoyed it despite all the Swedish people

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raton: Jul 28, 2003; by FactsAreUseless

Negligent posted:

First world problems. But literally no Thai person has ever adequately explained what to do if the person is about the same age as you and age based honourifics just need to die already.

If it's a girl I yell nong, a guy pee. If it's a girl about my own age that I'm trying to flirt with I call her auntie -- baa.

SEA negs bro

Seriously though at about 35 Thai girls go through a transition where teenagers sometimes start calling them baa instead of pee and it causes them consternation and this is funny to me because I have brain damage. In general if you don't know and there's no easy to way to dance around it you go with pee because it's slightly more honorific and you're Thai so you have to be unfailingly polite.

raton fucked around with this message at 23:39 on Apr 2, 2015

# ? Apr 2, 2015 23:36

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# ? May 28, 2024 17:23

caberham: Mar 18, 2009; by Smythe; Grimey Drawer

Thai commercials are awesome and tear jerking. Lots of people are just apolitical or have lovely political opinions which happens to not align to mine.

And I finally saw bogans in Australia gently caress em.

# ? Apr 2, 2015 23:47

raton: Jul 28, 2003; by FactsAreUseless

caberham posted:

Thai commercials are awesome and tear jerking. Lots of people are just apolitical or have lovely political opinions which happens to not align to mine.

And I finally saw bogans in Australia gently caress em.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmL72sgVdAQ

# ? Apr 2, 2015 23:52

Shammypants: May 25, 2004; Let me tell you about true luxury.

I've always been under the impression that if someone is close enough to your age that you don't know if they are older or younger you just call them their name..

My experience with very young Thais is limited but young kids always call me Baa because I am usually younger than their dad.

# ? Apr 3, 2015 02:03

ReindeerF: Apr 20, 2002; Rubber Dinghy Rapids Bro

In my experience, which may be wrong, technically waiters are nhong unless they're considerably older or the owner / manager. If it's an old school shophouse place and it's the older owner it can be bpa for a woman and lung (loong) for a man, otherwise pii will usually do if you're not sure.

If in doubt just raise your hand and yell "khoor thot krab/ka" and that'll do it.

# ? Apr 3, 2015 08:32

ReindeerF: Apr 20, 2002; Rubber Dinghy Rapids Bro

If the staff are skillfully ignoring you as is done here sometimes, just stand up and politely get them, heh. It's so shocking that they won't ignore you again ^__^

# ? Apr 3, 2015 08:33

FortMan: Jan 10, 2012; Viva Romanesco!

XyrlocShammypants posted:

I've always been under the impression that if someone is close enough to your age that you don't know if they are older or younger you just call them their name..

Or just use Khun (คุณ). Polite, non-descriptive way to call someone.

XyrlocShammypants posted:

My experience with very young Thais is limited but young kids always call me Baa because I am usually younger than their dad.

Huh, Bpaa (ป้า) means your dad or mom's older sibling in familial terms. They had to think you're older than their dads in order to call you that.

ReindeerF posted:

In my experience, which may be wrong, technically waiters are nhong unless they're considerably older or the owner / manager. If it's an old school shophouse place and it's the older owner it can be bpa for a woman and lung (loong) for a man, otherwise pii will usually do if you're not sure.

If in doubt just raise your hand and yell "khoor thot krab/ka" and that'll do it.

That usually works, yes. Just raising your hand works most of the time in not-crowd restaurant for me too.

# ? Apr 3, 2015 11:15

Negligent: Aug 20, 2013; Its just lovely here this time of year.

I don't really recommend the Friday night AirAsia from Macau to Don Muang.

In front of me were Chinese Americans speaking loudly in English, behind were Thais, and across the aisle a mainland Chinese group. Noise cancelling headphones can only do so much.

# ? Apr 3, 2015 16:56

Negligent: Aug 20, 2013; Its just lovely here this time of year.

And while I'm bitching, 7-11 have introduced a new procedure for buying a sim card that involves taking a photo of your passport or in my case, my Australian drivers licence.

# ? Apr 3, 2015 17:25

Shammypants: May 25, 2004; Let me tell you about true luxury.

FortMan posted:

Huh, Bpaa (ป้า) means your dad or mom's older sibling in familial terms. They had to think you're older than their dads in order to call you that.

Which would make sense since they are all nieces and nephews :P

# ? Apr 3, 2015 17:30

Sneaky Fast: Apr 24, 2013

After 6 months toolin around SE Asia I leave tonight for Australia :confuoot:

. I'm really going to miss dollar meals, great Muay Thai training and the wonderful geography. However i am ready to leave the lovely beer ( ya i said it), lack of recycling and the leaded gasoline behind.

Sneaky Fast fucked around with this message at 05:01 on Apr 4, 2015

# ? Apr 4, 2015 04:55

ReindeerF: Apr 20, 2002; Rubber Dinghy Rapids Bro

Negligent posted:

I don't really recommend the Friday night AirAsia from Macau to Don Muang.

In front of me were Chinese Americans speaking loudly in English, behind were Thais, and across the aisle a mainland Chinese group. Noise cancelling headphones can only do so much.

This weekend is Ching Ming and the airports were like *especially* nuts with Chinese/Diaspora Chinese. I've never sat on the u-turn ramp from the Don Muang Expressway to the airport for 10-15 minutes before. My friend is like a bajillion miler super-whatever Cathay guy and even he ended up delayed out of HK for four hours on the way to Phnom Penh. In Thailand there's also a weird thing where a number of people take leave and begin Songkran a week and a half early. Not that many, but combined with the Ching Ming traffic and Monday being a holiday it's nuts this weekend.

# ? Apr 4, 2015 06:19

FortMan: Jan 10, 2012; Viva Romanesco!

XyrlocShammypants posted:

Which would make sense since they are all nieces and nephews :P

There are actually different words for aunt that's older or younger than your dad/mom, actually.

If the person is older, then its Bpaa regardless of which way she's related with you.

If younger, we'll look whether she's related to you on your dad's side, or your mom's. If on your dad's side, use Aah (อา). On your mum's side, use Naa (น้า). Note it doesn't matter if that person is male or female, you use Aah and Naa.

It's a little weird, I know. Then again, so is English *-removed cousin thing.

# ? Apr 4, 2015 08:04

ReindeerF: Apr 20, 2002; Rubber Dinghy Rapids Bro

FortMan posted:

There are actually different words for aunt that's older or younger than your dad/mom, actually.

If the person is older, then its Bpaa regardless of which way she's related with you.

If younger, we'll look whether she's related to you on your dad's side, or your mom'

And, as I have had to learn (and am still learning), inside the Thai-Chinese subculture there are about 4,000 more words for Aunt and Uncle alone depending on about 3,999 factors. Is he Go Kai or Djek Kai or do I address him with that word for respected family elder and what is that oh God my brain, it hurts.

The massive emphasis on social hierarchy and titles or honorifics even in informal situations is absolutely dizzying coming out of, say, Texas.

FortMan posted:

It's a little weird, I know. Then again, so is English *-removed cousin thing.

This is true, though we don't use any of those in conversation (or almost ever) and you know how informal we are with family titles in most cases in the West, heh. I don't think I used those phrases from the time I learned them as a kid until I moved here and had to use them to try to sort out the tangled web of "She's your sister? I thought you only had one?" "Oh, she's not REALLY, she's my Aunt's cousin's niece who come stay with us for university one year and we close with her."

ReindeerF fucked around with this message at 08:13 on Apr 4, 2015

# ? Apr 4, 2015 08:11

Ringo R: Dec 25, 2005; ช่วยแม่เฮ็ดนาแหน่เดัอ

Sister me

# ? Apr 4, 2015 08:55

Pirate Radar: Apr 18, 2008; You're not my Ruthie!
You're not my Debbie!
You're not my Sherry!

I honestly don't even know how to use the *-removed whatever cousin thing so I just don't. I don't have a ton of cousins.

# ? Apr 4, 2015 09:18

ReindeerF: Apr 20, 2002; Rubber Dinghy Rapids Bro

Ringo R posted:

Sister me

Sister-me twice removed.

# ? Apr 4, 2015 09:34

Negligent: Aug 20, 2013; Its just lovely here this time of year.

English hasn't really dealt well with non-nuclear families.

So I can't really blame people using it as a secondary for just calling everyone sister, especially when in a lot of cases 'bastard' would be literally if not contextually correct.

# ? Apr 4, 2015 12:29

ReindeerF: Apr 20, 2002; Rubber Dinghy Rapids Bro

Here, it's more like "Anyone who I or my family are extremely close to." Doesn't have to be a relative, exactly. My impression is that it's also more common among working class and poorer people, which would mirror all the extra, non-related "Uncles" the same folks would have back home (I'm from a poorer, rural area). In fact, now that I think about it, that misuse of uncle is probably the most analogous I can think of.

# ? Apr 4, 2015 14:17

FortMan: Jan 10, 2012; Viva Romanesco!

ReindeerF posted:

And, as I have had to learn (and am still learning), inside the Thai-Chinese subculture there are about 4,000 more words for Aunt and Uncle alone depending on about 3,999 factors. Is he Go Kai or Djek Kai or do I address him with that word for respected family elder and what is that oh God my brain, it hurts.

It kinda help if you know what each word means. Like,

Guu (กู๋) is like Lung (ลุง), which is uncle-who-is-older-than-your-dad/mom.
Ii (อี๊) is basically aunt (might be just on your mother's side)
Go (โก) is also aunt, but (iirc) on your dad's side
Djek (เจ็ก) is uncle-who-is-younger-than-your-dad/mom.

This is from my memory, so you might want to verify again just to be sure.

You probably already know that most of what you call Thai-Chinese descend from Teochew (Chou Zhou) speaker, and the language will reflect that. Keep in mind, though, that there are Thai-Chinese who speak other dialects, Cantonese and Hainanese being the more common one. In that case, just follow whatever your introducer use.

ReindeerF posted:

The massive emphasis on social hierarchy and titles or honorifics even in informal situations is absolutely dizzying coming out of, say, Texas.
This is true, though we don't use any of those in conversation (or almost ever) and you know how informal we are with family titles in most cases in the West, heh. I don't think I used those phrases from the time I learned them as a kid until I moved here and had to use them to try to sort out the tangled web of "She's your sister? I thought you only had one?" "Oh, she's not REALLY, she's my Aunt's cousin's niece who come stay with us for university one year and we close with her."

I'll concede to that. I guess it's a lot easier when you grow up in the idiosyncrasies.

# ? Apr 4, 2015 14:41

Pirate Radar: Apr 18, 2008; You're not my Ruthie!
You're not my Debbie!
You're not my Sherry!

ReindeerF posted:

Here, it's more like "Anyone who I or my family are extremely close to." Doesn't have to be a relative, exactly. My impression is that it's also more common among working class and poorer people, which would mirror all the extra, non-related "Uncles" the same folks would have back home (I'm from a poorer, rural area). In fact, now that I think about it, that misuse of uncle is probably the most analogous I can think of.

Hell, I'm not from that background and I have a couple non-blood "Uncles." They're cooler than my blood uncles, honestly

# ? Apr 4, 2015 14:43

ReindeerF: Apr 20, 2002; Rubber Dinghy Rapids Bro

FortMan posted:

It kinda help if you know what each word means. Like,

Guu (กู๋) is like Lung (ลุง), which is uncle-who-is-older-than-your-dad/mom.

Ii (อี๊) is basically aunt (might be just on your mother's side)

Go (โก) is also aunt, but (iirc) on your dad's side

Djek (เจ็ก) is uncle-who-is-younger-than-your-dad/mom.

This is from my memory, so you might want to verify again just to be sure.

You probably already know that most of what you call Thai-Chinese descend from Teochew (Chou Zhou) speaker, and the language will reflect that. Keep in mind, though, that there are Thai-Chinese who speak other dialects, Cantonese and Hainanese being the more common one. In that case, just follow whatever your introducer use.

Yeah, I always hear "Dtachiew" in Thai, but the Singaporeans taught me the transliteration - confusing! It's difficult to keep track and it doesn't stop there - my extended family are only half Teowchew, so there's "Ee-Wan" and other Aunts/Uncles with titles I can't remember. The oldest sibling seems to get another honorific as well sometimes, or the oldest male sibling, but I don't think it's familial so much as general - "Lao" something. I actually have asked for the explanation about Go vs. Djek even again in the car from the airport to the hotel this trip, heh, but it wasn't explained well. I think it ended up with a lot of crosstalk and then, "You just wouldn't use that!" This is with like very Chinese, no upstream Thai relatives, Mandarin-speaking Thai-Chinese people too so I lol'd. You're right, of course, that actually knowing the language and understanding what it means helps heaps. I'm basically an idiot in that regard. No doubt about it.

EDIT: Ah poo poo, the font is bad, did you write capital I-little-i there for the Aunt? Ii? Sorry.

FortMan posted:

I'll concede to that. I guess it's a lot easier when you grow up in the idiosyncrasies.

I'm sure dealing with a Western style business meeting is just as flipside crazy the first few times coming from the opposite side. In most things I just find differences, not better/worse, honestly (though not the meeting styles lol). "Oh my God they are openly disagreeing with the boss - OH poo poo THEY ARE YELLING AND TALKING OVER EACH OTHER!!!"

Chantilly Say posted:

Hell, I'm not from that background and I have a couple non-blood "Uncles." They're cooler than my blood uncles, honestly

Are they named things like Steve and Bruce and do they drive fast 1970s cars and smoke a lot of weed? Your answer is crucial.

ReindeerF fucked around with this message at 16:31 on Apr 4, 2015

# ? Apr 4, 2015 15:26

raton: Jul 28, 2003; by FactsAreUseless

Chantilly Say posted:

Hell, I'm not from that background and I have a couple non-blood "Uncles." They're cooler than my blood uncles, honestly

In Latin there were different words for the paternal and maternal uncle. These words were used to describe people's characters outside of a family context. The father's brother would share your name but you had no familial responsibility toward him so he was a stern prick who looked at you like someone who was going to gently caress things up for him by smearing his name. The mother's uncle was the guy who took you to the brothel and got you wasted and didn't give a poo poo. You read stuff like "Pubilius, a true mother's uncle...".

# ? Apr 5, 2015 01:30

ReindeerF: Apr 20, 2002; Rubber Dinghy Rapids Bro

Currently at the airport in Trang awaiting my flight back to Bangkok. Dinky airports are awesome.

I'll know when my flight is ready because the entire place can fit one plane and there are seven flights a day total. Great view of the runway and "gate" from the lovely cafe upstairs!

# ? Apr 5, 2015 11:23

Negligent: Aug 20, 2013; Its just lovely here this time of year.

Nok's bird livery is not reassuring but they have a better answer to the question "have one of your planes plunged into the sea recently?" Than AirAsia.

# ? Apr 5, 2015 11:59

ReindeerF: Apr 20, 2002; Rubber Dinghy Rapids Bro

I've had several clients ask why there's a fortune cookie painted on the tail.

# ? Apr 5, 2015 16:25

Pyrolocutus: Feb 5, 2005; Shape of Flame

Any recommendations for free VPNs from Vietnam?

# ? Apr 6, 2015 04:47

raton: Jul 28, 2003; by FactsAreUseless

ReindeerF posted:

I've had several clients ask why there's a fortune cookie painted on the tail.

For lucky!

# ? Apr 6, 2015 09:22

Bardeh: Dec 2, 2004; Fun Shoe

Pyrolocutus posted:

Any recommendations for free VPNs from Vietnam?

Depends what you need it for. If it's just for watching Netflix or iPlayer or something, just use Hola unblocker. I'm not sure if there are any reliable free 'proper' VPNs.

# ? Apr 6, 2015 11:35

Negligent: Aug 20, 2013; Its just lovely here this time of year.

The sausages were actually delicious.

# ? Apr 6, 2015 15:05

eviljelly: Aug 29, 2004

You know what other food item party you need to find next.

# ? Apr 6, 2015 18:09

Negligent: Aug 20, 2013; Its just lovely here this time of year.

This is Bangkok I'm sure it can be arranged.

# ? Apr 6, 2015 21:04

Negligent: Aug 20, 2013; Its just lovely here this time of year.

Still disconcerting that Asian kids wear essentially the same uniform from the time they start school until their twenties.

# ? Apr 7, 2015 13:17

Senso: Nov 4, 2005; Always working

Police in Pattaya forced to shoot out cars tires as American tourist refused to stop driving the wrong way.
Which one of you was it?

# ? Apr 7, 2015 15:11

Negligent: Aug 20, 2013; Its just lovely here this time of year.

Car related, holy poo poo are Bangkok drivers bad at clearing a way for ambulances. I'll assume the guys cutting it off every time space opens up are just dumb rather than actively trying to impede the helping of someone, who I hope is never me.

# ? Apr 7, 2015 16:52

CronoGamer: May 15, 2004; why did this happen

Senso posted:

Police in Pattaya forced to shoot out cars tires as American tourist refused to stop driving the wrong way.
Which one of you was it?

I love this.

quote:

The blonde woman was quickly put into the back of a police vehicle � to protect her from an irate group of witnesses that had formed while the police chase ensued.

...and then the photo shows that that vehicle was a pick-up truck and she's just sitting in the bed.

# ? Apr 7, 2015 18:25

Shammypants: May 25, 2004; Let me tell you about true luxury.

..after the police arrived, the witnesses, once irate at the immorality shown by the American tourist, retreated back to their boy bars and gogoclubs to have various cocktails of drugs.

# ? Apr 7, 2015 18:43

Negligent: Aug 20, 2013; Its just lovely here this time of year.

I first encountered this dog in January, and you know what? Still there as of yesterday in the exact same place, giving no fucks.

# ? Apr 7, 2015 19:16

Shammypants: May 25, 2004; Let me tell you about true luxury.

My favorite dog is the one eyed leader of the pack at the 7-11 on the Srinakharinwirot University campus. Biggest balls you've ever seen and stinks like hell but still the king.

# ? Apr 7, 2015 19:23

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# ? May 28, 2024 17:23

Negligent: Aug 20, 2013; Its just lovely here this time of year.

this fukkin dogge

# ? Apr 7, 2015 19:33

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Tourism & Travel > Southeast Asia: I really enjoyed it despite all the Swedish people

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