Colloquial case study: “You’re funny-looking!”

A native Thai speaker and I recently collaborated on translating one of my favorite childish come-backs:

Oh, you think you’re funny?
Well you’re not funny, you’re just funny-looking!

I want to explore this phrase is because I’ve seen Thai people laugh genuinely at the English version, so there must be some common chord that it strikes, and commonality is what we are all about here.

This is my translation of the same statement to Thai, keeping the “spirit” identical:

แกนึกว่าแกตลกเหรอ
ไอ้ที่ตลกกว่าคือหน้าแก

First, let’s review some spoken Thai techniques:

• เหรอ is pronounced อ๋อ
• ไอ้ is pronounced ไอ
• แก can be swapped with any other second-person pronoun, such as เธอ
• You can optionally append a final particle such as นั่นแหละ

One Joke, Two Languages

What is the common ground that makes both versions humorous? The answer is that both languages have two meanings for “funny”:

1. Makes you laugh (น่าขำ)
2. Abnormal (ผิดปกติ)

Both versions begin with misdirection: the words imply that a compliment is on its way (“you make me laugh”), but they rapidly devolve into an insult (“you look abnormal”). In both versions, the true meaning of the statement isn’t clear until the final two syllables, and both version pivot around the dual-meaning of “funny/ตลก.”

Now let’s compare the translations.

1. The first line is practically identical in both versions
2. The Thai version begins with ไอ้, a word for nonhuman things—no doubt starting the process of putting the victim in his place
3. While the English version denies the victim’s funny-ness, the Thai version only points out that the victim’s face is just so much funnier.
4. The Thai version uses หน้า instead of “looks.” In my opinion, Thai speakers use the word หน้า synecdochically to mean “looks,” although some may disagree and say that they really are describing the victim’s physical face.
5. My sources tell me that the Thai version sounds much more aggressive. While the English version is so juvenile that I doubt it would incite anything but laughter, the Thai version is to be used with caution.

Lessons Learned

We can learn several lessons about real-world spoken Thai from this example:

• Most importantly, Thai speakers can use very different wording to point out something comparatively greater (“bigger,” “faster,” etc.). An Anglophone learning Thai would never instinctively say “แต่ที่ (ajective) กว่าคือ…” But it makes sense, and in fact English has a very similar phrase. Ask yourself which of these statements sounds better:
  • “His presentation was interesting, but his clothing was more interesting.”
  • “His presentation was interesting, but what was more interesting was his clothing.”
• Thai speakers often prefix nonhuman objects with the particle ไอ้. I hear this very often either in reference to computer components.
• The word หน้า is a foundational word for good conversational Thai.

To be Funny-Looking

Finally, for clarity, here is an example of the duality of looking “funny,” or ดูตลก. In the film “Fargo,” a Minnesotan working girl describes gangster Carl Showalter (Steve Buscemi) as funny-looking to the police. She seems to feel that “funny-looking” sums him up accurately:

Here is the man she describes in the scene:

Profanity and Hilarity: Crossing the Line

Rikker’s post about the etymology of ทุเรศ reminded me of a phenomenon that all speakers of foreign languages should understand.

Foreigners cannot use profanity and nasty phrases to the same effect as natives. Attempting to do so only makes them look silly.

Most everybody can remember an event from back home where an irate foreigner started dropping the f-bomb or making up profane phrases on the spot. I think it’s fair to say that any time this happens, it’s pretty darn funny. And of course, when the foreigner realizes that people are laughing at him, then he will be angrier still. Recently, I watched Harold & Kumar Go to Whitecastle (I am not lazy: the ampersand is really part of the title). Harold has a slight accent while Kumar sounds native. The filmmakers clearly use Harold’s profanity for comedic effect. Another example from Hollywood is The Big Lebowski in the scenes where the nihilists use profanity to sound tough but only make us laugh.

The practical lesson here: if you are a foreigner somewhere and you become upset, do not resort to the dirty words you learned in your first six weeks here. It’s counterproductive. You want to raise your voice? Fine. You want to say something socially unacceptable? No problem. But if you use profanity, then you become a clown and that will not help you at all. You must learn that effective communication in a foreign language means profanity is off-limits.

Where is the boundary of counter-productiveness which we must not cross? Certainly, it depends on the country and culture. In Thailand, simply having the wrong color skin is enough, even with perfect pronunciation. In the United States, skin color isn’t important (native-born Americans are all colors already), but accent is.

For foreigners in Thailand, I believe that the word ทุเรศ represents the borderline of what foreigners can get away with without sounding silly to Thais. If you say ทุเรศ, you mean business, and it just barely cancels out the clown factor. Words stronger than ทุเรศ are out of reach, since the clown factor dominates over the word’s meaning. A rule of thumb: borderline words are words which parents discourage their small children (under age six) from use. โง่ is another borderline word. ไอ้บ้า ผัว เมีย กวนตีน ห่วย and all the words more profane than these are inaccessible to foreigners wishing to communicate effectively.

Eyes bigger than stomach / ตาโตกว่าท้อง

A few days back, I had the pleasure of having lunch at the Queen Sirikit Convention center. It was a spectacular buffet. Among the huge selection were all the ingredients needed to make some very inspiring turkey sandwiches. It was bliss. I ate probably my biggest meal of the year.

On my final round to the buffet tables, I saw plenty of things that I had not sampled, so I brought them all back to my table. Unfortunately, I was unable to rise to the occasion; I had to admit defeat. I had served myself more food than I was capable of putting down without being obscene.

Happily, I learned another expression that both Thais and Anglophones use to describe when a person orders more food than he can actually eat: ตาโตกว่าท้อง. This is just like the English, “Your eyes are bigger than your stomach.” Budding Thai speakers, take note that Thais use โต here instead of ใหญ่. To my understanding, both words can translate to the English “big,” although โต is connected with the concept of growth, and is often considered a verb. So I think the image Thais have with this expression is that of overgrown eyes, when compared to the stomach.

I wouldn’t go that far / ผมไม่ไปไกลถึงขนาดนั้น

How about a pseudo-cognate from current events? Bangkok Pundit addresses Privy Councilor Prem’s take on a PPP win in the election this weekend. Firstly, this is a blog about the Thai language only. I am interested only in helping people by spreading knowledge; I want my writing to be helpful for decades, not days.

You can read the Thai interview at Matichon. Check the paragraph under the second ‘@’ sign. In my opinion, Bangkok Pundit’s translation is faithful.

Firstly, this is an ideal pseudo-cognate:

• It is a long phrase
• It is composed of short, simple words most of us know already
• It has a subtle and nuanced meaning—a powerful communication tool

Both languages, Thai and English, use the metaphor of traveling some distance to mean following one’s thought process. What a great phrase! Not just for Bangkok taxi drivers anymore!

This phrase gives us all a polite way to tell somebody that we understand their thinking—basically; however, we might not reach the same extreme conclusions as they.

The Return of TLT: Request for Thai Dictionaries, Books, Etc.

Just as you all started reading this blog, I let it wither! I’m sorry; I spent the last few weeks on a side project that consumed most of my spare time. That’s complete now so it’s time to get back to work!

I have a request for readers of Thai Language Tricks. I am looking for reference material useful for English-speakers learning Thai, for example, dictionaries, encyclopedias, phrase books, and things like that. Here is what I need:

• Electronic format: PDF, HTML, plain text, or any other format that I can download
• Freely distributable: I will re-distribute it, so it should be public domain, creative commons, or otherwise permit copying

I will explain my purpose in a subsequent announcement. For now, I will say that I am seeking the most valuable electronic reference material I can find, and I will make it more accessible. Thai Wikipedia is currently at the top of my list. Any suggestions?

Compliments for ร and ล

Sometimes when I meet somebody new and I receive a compliment for my Thai, it goes something like พูด ร-เรือ ล-ลิง ชัดเจน. I think that’s funny because it’s something that is really, really easy to do if you speak English already. As if I would confuse “L” with “R”!

Presumably, the speaker (usually a taxi driver) has his own difficulties with the two. Like me, if he doesn’t concentrate, he could slip back into his own hometown accent. This shows pretty clearly that we all have our own difficulties with new languages.

New Category: Nailing Thai

I created a new category called Nailing Thai. Nailing Thai is like nailing an athletic performance. Done well, it looks graceful and easy; but any small mistake typically leads to disaster.

Here will go discussion on emulating the subtlety and nuance that a native speaker would make. For several reasons, Thai is a very strict language concerning word choice and pronunciation, and if you get it wrong, you quickly make no sense.

Some past articles have been retrofitted into this category.

…stan… and สถาน

This is something I wish I noticed before, but I just discovered the link between the names of nations ending with “…stan” and the Thai root สถาน. You see สถาน all over the place in Thai:

• สถานี – Station (police station, train station, radio station, etc.)
• สถานทูต – Embassy (place of diplomacy)
• โบราณสถาน – Archaeological site

I first noticed this when I discovered that Pakistan is called ปากีสถาน in Thai, when I expected to see ปากีสตาน. But obviously both words share the same Sanskrit root. The Online Etymology Dictionary entry for stan indicates (if I am reading it right) that not only do these countries names come from the same root, but also English stand, station, static, standard, and so on.

Moved the Blog

I moved the blog from the old location (http://www.proven-corporation.com/blog) to here. All old links and feeds are still valid but they will redirect to here. Also, I changed the name of the blog to reflect its focus. If possible, please update your links for your readers’ convenience. Thanks.

Had better (do such-and-such) / (such-and-such) ดีกว่า

English and Thai both use the word for “better” to describe a preferred action. “You had better do your homework first.” ทำการบ้านก่อนดีกว่า

Wikipedia tells me that the English usage is as a modal auxiliary verb. Just don’t get carried away: the two aren’t exactly similar. I’m not sure why, but you can’t say “The bus had better get here soon,” as รถเมล์มาแล้วดีกว่า–it’s nonsensical. (Consider รถเมล์ต้องมาเดี๋ยวนี้.) So I think it’s best say ดีกว่า when something would literally be “more good.”

Some may say that this is too common in all languages to deserve special attention; but my objective is to expose ways that good English speakers can become good Thai speakers (and, wherever possible, vice versa). Like Krav Maga, the idea is to exploit natural reflexes, except that instead of whooping ass, the idea is to communicate better.