Grover

Anyone know the difference between theva, thevada and thep? My Thai friends assure me there is a difference. I think I've also heard thevaburoot and thevathida while watching Chinese TV series.

You're right with the basic meaning of celestial beings, or heavenly beings. It's a word coming from sanskrit, and its similar to english words like "divine", "divination", "pop diva" etc. For a book definition your best bet is to get the small green thai-english-pali dictionary by the famous scholarly Buddhist monk, forgot his name... or even better, the thai translation of the Pali-English-Dictionary by the Rydds fellow (its a massive, comprehensive 8-10 volume dictionary, the BEST but hard to locate).

as the virus would be present in the mucus lining the various membranes in the nose, the oral cavity and the vaginal passage.

Excuse my ignorance, but can HIV really be transferred through mucus? Or is it through the blood splattered particles in the mucus?

For example, if someone with HIV were to blow their nose into their hands, then rub this handful of mucus vigorously into an open wound on someones arm, would this person then have a high risk of contracting HIV?

IMO the Mary Haas T-E dictionary has the most precise definitions on common words & idioms.

There is also an excellent grammar book by James Higbie & Snea Thinsan that gives detailed definitions on common & tricky words like HAI.

*FWIW, someone at the Royal Institute told me it was an office goof that got the RID printed on such thick paper, but then someone else told me it was Thai patriotism, not wanting to have to order the paper from abroad, since the thin "bible" paper can't be had in Thailand. Either way, it kind of hurts usability.

Some time ago I saw one of the earlier editions of the RID printed on the thin 'bible' paper, sitting in a library. Probably the office goofs fault.