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The lady who lives in my place likes to watch a TV programme in the mornings that seems to be 4 or 5 Thai ladies sitting behind a desk all talking at the same time . No idea what it is about but "Ka" seems to be the most common word!
The other day it was pissing me off so I started counting - a timed 1 minute of the programme generated an amazing 44 "Ka's" !!!
Who do I contact for the Guiness Book of Records - its got to be worth a try :rofl:
^ Try and count have many times the average UK man say the word "fuck" in one minute:)
Just got back from Cambodia and it's nice to hear Thai again. I felt a bit lost not knowing any of the lingo. I'm not even going to mention the French songs...
:pat:
^ French sucks, only one good thing is related to France, and it aint the wine..:)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Happyman
There's a news program presented by a man and a woman where the woman's only function is to say Ka every time the bloke pauses for a breath. My Mrs can't understand why I find this funny.
The ka and khrap stuff was imposed and made compulsory by a dictatorship in the thirties/forties, seems to have stuck quite well as most Thais will tell you they've been saying it for hundreds of years and that it's an integral part of Thai culture. I've only met a few who know where it really comes from.
https://teakdoor.com/the-teakdoor-lou...tml#post327482
The more I understand of what the locals are talking about, the more Irealise they are mostly talking Khrap.
...more than you prefer oral sex and/or salmon?Quote:
Originally Posted by The Gentleman Scamp
I know. Try putting up with having to listen to a bunch of drunken rugby players singing that fucking 'aluetta' song.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dalton
Got loads of piccies of drunken slobs and large breasted slappers though. I got one of me taking a piss to keep DD happy, too.
I cant even imagine....Is it as bad as rap and hip-hop..:confused:Quote:
Originally Posted by Marmite the Dog
Well, no. It's not that bad.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dalton
I did not know that...but is it true or are you just repeating something you believe to be true?Quote:
Originally Posted by DrB0b
any links?
Dr Bob -----Seen that one as well - also looked at with amazement when I start laughing :rofl: so glad I am not alone ! ;)
Quote:
Originally Posted by DrAndyI did not know that...but is it true or are you just repeating something you believe to be true?Quote:
Originally Posted by DrB0b
any links?
It was Plaek Phibungsonghkram who made the use of Khrap and Ka mandatory, he took those words from the courtly written language and introduced them to the spoken language. There's not an awful lot of useful information on the web about it. It's in (I think) No 5 of Phibunsongkhram's Cultural Mandates, a series of Government publications produced during a time of increasing Thai nationalism. These mandates, along with the 1940 "National Cultural Development Act" sought to both define Thai culture and to "civilize it'. I can find no copies of the mandates on the web but they are available in book form from the Thai Government as part of the Thailand State Edicts Series, I have copies published in the 60's by the Department of Culture.
Plek Phibusongkhram promulgated a national ideology called "Ratthaniyom", probably best translated as "that which is done by civilized people". The first mandate stated that it was the duty of all Thais to "suppress' anybody bringing discredit to their nation," this is generally taken to mean the Chinese, who Plaek through his political partner Luang Wichitwarhakarn, compared to the Jews in Germany, both men being great admirers of Hitler.
Further mandates changed the name of the country from Siam to Thailand (because Siam was a "Khmer" name and had been adopted by the Chinese and the Europeans), specified that noodles were a suitable (they used all-Thai ingredients) and nutritious food for Thai people and specified recipes for noodle soup and descriptions of how to build the now ubiquitous noodle stall, not a common part of the Thai street scene before that, he also created the first recipe for Phad-Thai which was proclaimed as being not only all Thai in ingredients but also in concept (Guay Tiow being Chinese). The wearing of hats was made compulsory for both men and women. New "traditions" were created in the mandates including the use of Sawasdii as the standard greeting, the use of Khrap and Ka in conversation whereas before all three words had only ever been in used in highly formalised, written, poetic Thai (for example the description of an obeisance to royalty or your parents - the Mop Khrap), the Ramwong dance (which was adapted from a traditional Isaan dance and for which the first songs were written by Plaek's wife Laiad.), and the wearing of "appropriate" Thai national dress as opposed to the more revealing genuine traditional dress, and "good" western dress. To popularise these new "traditional" and western styles of dress and to show people how to wear them Plaek introduced beauty contests to Thailand for the first time (as an aside, the "traditional" Thai clothes we see at many celebrations today were designed by the Queen in the '60s). Among posters lauding Plaek's greatness the streets and public places of Thailand were liberally covered with posters extolling Thais to "Wear a Hat for your Country"
Plaek also instigated a list of occupations which would only be available to Thais, fundamentally the same list the Dept of Labour implements today.
He passed laws stating that men must kiss their wifes before leaving for work, that everybody must get 8 hours sleep, that people must wear shoes, and against loud talk on the streets and pushing and shoving to get on buses or trains. He also mandated severe punishments for men who beat their wives.
As I said there's not much on the web about this, this is pretty much what I've got in my bookmarks;
There's an excellent article (which first made me interested in Plaek as an originator of Thai culture and tradition) at
Thailand and the Second World War 1941- 45
Wiki has some good stuff on the Plaek Phibunsongkhram page
Plaek Pibulsonggram - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Google books also have some interesting reads related to this subject online,
Abortion, Sin, and the State in Thailand
Materializing Thailand
Politeness in Language: Studies in Its History, Theory and Practice
I also got a lot of interesting information from here;
NUS: ARI > Publications
and here;
http://www.peteranthony.org/Thailand...ific%20War.pdf
And also here, though you need a login it's probably possible to find the publication online somewhere;
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0021-9118(199405)53%3A2%3C649%3ANIAIDT%3E2.0.CO%3B2-3
And for those who find the subject of Plaek genuinely interesting there's a huge bibliography of Thai politics at:
kpien - Thai Politics Bibliography