It is my understanding that Thai does not have a final pronounced S. However, there is one Thai word (at least I think it is Thai) that I have heard Thais pronounce with a final s. The word is 'Muns, meaning fun or enjoyable. I have heard it prounounced mun and muns. I have also seen it spelled with two types of final S in Thai. Why do Thais, or at least some of them, say this word with a final S, or at least make an attempt? Is it a foeign word--anybody know its origin? I have been wondering about this since I first heard it more than 20 years ago.

This word was recently discussed here in Tastes, mun?. The best theory was that it was mock English. However, your dating of it may re-open the discussion.

Thai does have final /s/ nowadays - if you look in the Royal Institute Dictionary, you will see that it gives [H]gaas as a possible pronunciation of ก๊าซ 'gas', besides the more traditional [H]gaat. On the other hand it doesn't accept final /f/ for either of ลิฟต์ 'lift (Am. 'elevator') or กอล์ฟ 'golf'.

Richard, thanks for your comment. I first heard the word in 1981 so it is not a real recent modification of mun. I heard it in the context of Boonmee's 2nd definition, which was 'good sex'. I think the theory that it was created by adding a farang plural s to mun sounds plausible. I have always associated it with fun in the sense of naughty fun and that it was not quite polite. I was reminded of the word when I saw it on the cover of a Thai comic book at a barber shop recently. Peculiarly, I believe the final s was not spelling with so so or so seua, I think it was sa sala or sa bo. I will see if I can find it again!