siamesekitty

The general understanding here is that pots of soup can be left outside the fridge as long as it is reheated to boiling temperature first. However, after it boils, you should not stir it, otherwise it will spoil quickly.

If anyone has noticed any pattern that could help me to find the characters more easily, please let me know.

Here's a website I found that has someone's "tricks" for remembering: Mnemonics for the Kedmanee Keyboard

I wonder if it's our own Richard W?

Is there some order or pattern to the position of the letters on the Thai keyboard that I am missing?

NECTEC's history of the Thai keyboard: http://www.nectec.or.th/it-standards/keybo...ut/thai-key.htm

A Thai community college's page on the history of the Thai keyboard (in Thai): http://www.terasuk.th.gs/web-t/erasuk/type1.htm

...โดยวางตัวอักษรที่มีสถิติใช้บ่อยในตำแหน่งที่พิมพ์ได้ง่าย ซึ่งพิจารณาจากหนังสือต่างๆ จำนวน 38 เล่ม รวม 167 , 456 คำ โดยใช้เวลา 7 ปีจึงสำเร็จเมื่อปี พ.ศ.2474 และเรียกแป้นชนิดนี้ว่าแป้นแบบ “ เกษมณี ” ตามชื่อผู้ออกแบบ...

According to the Thai website, The Kedmanee keyboard layout was apparently designed to place the most frequently used characters in positions that were the easiest to type. This "frequency" was obtained after analyzing 38 books for 7 years, adding up to a total of 167,456 words studied.

So there WAS some logic to the design. However, it wasn't perfect, so a new layout (Pattachote) was designed (and, tested on a focus group, was found to be much faster), but never really caught on, as people were more used to the traditional layout already.

I actually have one of those typewriters in storage, wonder if it's worth anything?

Wandee seems good, I was considering taking their professional cook course. I called them and found that their schedule is very flexible, each student has his/her own cooking station, and the instructor walks around observing the students as they prepare the food, and provides individual instruction if you're having trouble. You also get a proper certificate from the Ministry of Education, in English. However, as mentioned above, I believe it is in Thai.

But you could always pay for my course and have me translate for you

What do you mean by your last sentence? Do you mean......pay for the wanadee course and you to translate?

Yes, live interpretation, if you pay for my enrollment in the course

<initially added a sighting, then realized I wasn't really sure on the details, sorry >

Anyway, I'd be grateful if a seasoned Thai speaker (or two) would just confirm that my elementary "pom sia naa" (I lose face) and "kun mai chorp sia naa" (you no like losing face) are reasonably on the mark.

Pretty much, although of course there might be small variations depending on the situation.

I'm not aware of any Thai people who are offended by me or other non-Thais (Farangs, other Asians, Africans) speaking Thai. Perhaps they would if someone spoke overbearing pidgin Thai in response to their English.

^ What he said

Wandee seems good, I was considering taking their professional cook course. I called them and found that their schedule is very flexible, each student has his/her own cooking station, and the instructor walks around observing the students as they prepare the food, and provides individual instruction if you're having trouble. You also get a proper certificate from the Ministry of Education, in English. However, as mentioned above, I believe it is in Thai.

But you could always pay for my course and have me translate for you

That was 2 dishes:

ข้าวผัดหมูสับ = stir-fried rice with minced pork

and

ต้มจืดตำลึงใส่เต้าหู้ = clear tamlueng (ivy gourd) soup, with tofu

here's another:

Both of these commercials are for a เก๊กฮวย drink

well if you're in Thailand I would suggest you visit one of the Thai bookstores that sell student textbooks, as they will have a range of books for schoolchildren, for their Thai language classes. Prae Pittaya at Central Ladprao (near Jatujak) comes to mind; they have several readers for the different grades. You can browse through them to see which one is most suited for your level.

back to the original post..

Often my students, my colleagues and my girlfriend use new terms that have not yet made it to the dictionary. A new one is "gek lor" เก็กหล่อ? I think it may mean something like narcissistic. Can anyone shed any light?

I happened to find the YouTube video of the TV ad that came to mind when I saw this thread. It's a visual (although admittedly exaggerated) example of เก็กหล่อ-ing:

hmm.. having trouble with the fonts too. no matter what encoding I choose, it still comes out as gibberish English characters.

Are you asking about online resources, or suggestions on what are some good books to buy in Thailand?

I usually translate "ก็..." as "well, ... "

I think they mean "behind bars" as in "jail"

like Farma, I think the OP means "fun dee na ka" (ฝันดีนะคะ), which means "sweet dreams".

fun (ฝัน) = dream(s)

dee (ดี) = good

na ka (นะคะ) conveys a meaning along the terms of "ok?" or "I believe/hope it's that way"...

It is not a "paying" issue, it is not a buying a wife issue.

For most modern Thai/Thai weddings I know of, the dowry is still there, as part of tradition (which I view as a gesture of gratitude to the bride's parents). However, in most of these situations, the couple is from similar socio-economic backgrounds, and neither party (bride's parents or groom's parents) want to keep the money; rather, they give it to the couple to help them in their new family.

Even so called Thai 'Supstars" pay obscene amounts of money and gold as a sinsod.... so not just the low classes.

yes, that's right.

lol... tsk tsk my dear dragon... แอบเหน็บแนมอีกแล้วนะ

regarding the use of the word,

while I agree that ติงต๊อง (i personally prefer ติ๊งต๊อง myself) should not be used in formal situations or with someone you are not close with, it's not really a rude word. it's just something that probably wouldn't/shouldn't come up in normal conversation unless you were teasing a friend about something or referring to someone else in a slightly derisive way. I do agree with how someone pointed out that for some reason farangs seem to be infatuated with the word and seem to take great pleasure in using it often.

P.S. would like to point out that "หมอนี่" in the RID dictionary example is not actually a doctor, it's a way of saying "this guy" (this dude, this bloke, etc.)

actually the use of the word "dead" in Thai would be more like "เด๊ด", with a different tone and sounding longer than "เด็ด"

เด็ด is a real Thai word and has no relation to the ทับศัพท์ of "dead"

แล้ว can often be quickly/sloppily pronounced to be และ or even ละ

while หรือ evolves to be เหรอ, เหลอ, หรอ, หลอ or even playfully, เหยอ or เอ๋อ!

Note: the last two are used mostly in a playful, babytalk way, so unless you're a giggly lovestruck teenager, avoid!

another one of these is the extension of "ok" to "ok cigarette". i can't offer any background though. does anyone have any info on where it came from?

all the best.

Once again this is a phrase I'm not familiar with, but I've managed to find its background.

The phrase originated from the days of World War II, when there were American soldiers in Thailand. After each meal, each soldier would receive a box of rations that included: coffee, sugar, cream, chocolate, cigarettes, matches (1 small pack of each).

Young boys (5-10 years old), carrying bananas, would run to the soldiers shouting "โอเค, ซิกาแร็ต!" ("ok, cigaratte!" - pronounced as cigarette+chocolate), asking the soldiers to trade their cigarettes or chocolate for the bananas. There would then be a negotiation, using raised fingers, over how many cigarettes or pieces of chocolate would be traded for how many bananas.

http://www.sarakadee.com/feature/2000/08/108.htm

Tip: The paste has more aroma if you pound it using a mortar and pestle rather than throwing everything into a blender. Though I understand you might have a problem with the neighbors in Farangland if you're living in an apartment.

Funnily enough, I found a post on the Andrew Biggs Academy webboard mentioning that one of his shows last year mentioned this word:

เรื่อง ตอน เด็ดสะมอเร่ ที่ออกอากาศทางช่องสาม วันที่ 23 สิงหาคม 2550

and another post on sontayamusic.com:

เด็ด-สะ-มอล-เล่ คำพูดติดปากของคนไทยมาจากเพลงนี้ ---> That's Amore - Dean Martin

I'm embarassed to admit that I've never heard this word before, and that I'm actually learning it from this farang website. or maybe I've heard it before but assumed it was just another way of playing around with English words.

Anyway, from my Googling I've found it spelled as เด็ดสมอเร่, เด็ดสมอเร, เดดสมอเร่, เดดสมอเร, เดดสมอเรย์, เด็ดสะมอเร่, เด็ดสะมอเล่, etc, all sorts of combinations.

เด็ดสะมอเล่ appears to be the most popular though.

I've noticed it as well. Thought it was 1.intentional (as people use the wrong tone markers all the time) and 2.there all along, just that I hadn't noticed it, or my previous searches happened to bring up more relevant results (so the weird results didn't show up in the first few pages)