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OUTRAGEOUS
THAI
OUTRAGEOUS
THAI
SLANG, CURSES AND EPITHETS
T. F. Rhoden
A book of all those words and phrases that Thais would rather you not
know—and can’t find in mainstream dictionaries or books!
TUTTLE PUBLISHING
Tokyo • Rutland,Vermont • Singapore
Published by Tuttle Publishing, an imprint of Periplus Editions (HK) Ltd., with editorial offices at 364 Innovation Drive, North Clarendon, VT 05759 USA and 61 Tai Seng Avenue #02-12, Singapore 534167.
Copyright © 2008 Periplus Edition (HK) Ltd.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior written permission from the publisher.
ISBN: 978-1-4629-1031-1 (ebook)
Distributed by:
North America, Latin America & Europe
Tuttle Publishing
364 Innovation Drive
North Clarendon, VT 05759-9436
Tel: 1 (802) 773 8930; Fax: 1 (802) 773 6993
Email: [email protected]
Asia Pacific
Berkeley Books Pte. Ltd.
61 Tai Seng Avenue #02-12
Singapore 534167
Tel: (65) 6280 1330; Fax: (65) 6280 6290
Email: [email protected]
www.periplus.com
Japan
Tuttle Publishing
Yaekari Building 3rd Floor
5-4-12 Osaki, Shinagawa-ku
Tokyo 141 0032, Japan
Tel: (81) 3 5437 0171; Fax: (81) 3 5437 0755
Email: [email protected]
First Edition
11 10 09 08 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in Singapore
TUTTLE PUBLISHING® is a registered trademark of Tuttle Publishing, a division of Periplus Editions (HK) Ltd.
Contents
Introduction
One of the more frustrating things about learning a new language is that what you get from a textbook or a language instructor is often not what you’ll hear on the street or in everyday life. The Thai language is no exception. This book was designed to help bridge that gap. Whether you’re a volunteer, businessman, aid worker, English teacher, diplomat, exchange student, tourist, journalist, or visiting professor—this book’s for you!
This book takes a lot of liberty in the way of grammar, both in English and in Thai. The English is definitely American and meant to reflect that accent. The Thai is central and meant to reflect the general “twenty-something” and younger generation. For both English and Thai translations, the goal is to express feeling much more so than to provide a literal translation. This leaves much open to interpretation, and I expect this will help to generate further conversation on how best to use these words and phrases. However, any constructive criticism is welcome in the hope of making the next edition even better.
As for putting these types of words and phrases into action, do I really need to stress caution? It’s like the gun salesman reminding his customer, “Guns don’t kill people. People do!” There are some powerful words in this book that could easily get you punched in the face—probably worse. So instead of writing impolite or vulgar next to every other word, I remind the reader to be CAUTIOUS in applying what has been learned here. That said many Thais would seriously object to a book like this being published at all. In a lot of ways a book as direct as this simply just goes against many aspects of Thai culture. I really can’t imagine a Thai ever writing something like this text of his or her own accord. But
