ท็อปบู๊ท

[DavidHouston]

From an interview with Sudarat Kayyurapan:

พวกดิฉันยิ่งไม่ชอบ ไม่ต้องการไปอยู่กับพรรคที่ไม่รักษาประชาธิปไตยที่ชอบเกาะท็อปบู๊ธปล้นอำนาจประชาธิปไตยอย่างแน่นอน

We really do not like and do not want to be associated with a political party which does not foster democracy and which willingly affiliates itself with the military leadership to arrest power from democratic [institutions].

My question is on the meaning of the term "ท็อปบู๊ธ" which seems to be a transcription of the English "top boot". I looked at Google and the more popular spelling is "ท็อปบู๊ท", but I could not find the definition in my dictionaries here.

Please tell me if the definition of this term refers to the top ranks of the military? Thanks.

[Rikker]

The phrase is a transliteration of "top boot", but the use of บู๊ธ is an error. ธ is often used in place of English "th", and so ท็อปบู๊ธ confuses "boot" with "booth", another English word commonly transliterated into Thai (and pronounced identically).

Google turns up the English "top boot politics", which appears to have been originally used in a series of blog postings made by "Avudh" on the Nation website in 2006-2007, in the months following the coup. "Top Boot Politics" is now the title of the blog, with seldom updates, at blog.nationmultimedia.com/topboot.

The first post in that series introduces the phrase as:

"top boot politics, a term for the jockeying for power by military leaders"

I wonder if this originated first in Thai, however, as it doesn't appear to be a common expression in English.

[RickBradford]

... as it doesn't appear to be a common expression in English.

Might that be because the military doesn't play a big role in British or American politics?

[yoot]

Please tell me if the definition of this term refers to the top ranks of the military?

Yes, it refers to the top ranks of the military or military man in general. It depends on context.

Take this headline from Thai E-News as an example;

"ท็อปบู๊ท-สีกากี ยึดกว่า 30 บริษัทจำกัด ที่จดทะเบียนใน ตลท."

ท็อปบู๊ท refers to military man

สีกากี refers to policeman

But mostly, they are high rankers.

I think the word "ท็อปบู๊ท" is used to replace the word "แข้ง" in Thai saying.

Normally, in Thai saying we have "เกาะแข้ง" (to cling to someone for some purpose) and "เลียแข้ง" (to frawn on, to flatter.). But when the military man is involved, we would face with 'top boot' instead of 'shin', that's why the word 'ท็อปบู๊ท' is used.

[Rikker]

If it wasn't obvious, I want to make clear that a "top boot" is the name for the style of boot. The Thai military, like many, wear such boots as part of their uniform.

I think the word "ท็อปบู๊ท" is used to replace the word "แข้ง" in Thai saying.

In this case it could be replaced with แข้ง, but certainly that's not true of every usage of ท็อปบู๊ท in Thai.

More generally speaking, ท็อปบู๊ท appears to be a simple metynom. A metonym is a word closely associated with some thing else, that is used to representative it.

We say "the crown" to mean monarch, "Washington" to mean the U.S. government., "plastic" to mean "credit card". And in Thai, "top boot" is a metonym for the military.

[Rikker]

... as it doesn't appear to be a common expression in English.

Might that be because the military doesn't play a big role in British or American politics?

Yes, naturally, but the English language press/community in Thailand (BKK Post, Nation, etc.) often coin their own terms based on Thai terms (another example is "bureaucratic polity", from อำมาตยทิปไตย, which is virtually nonexistent outside of the Thai context.

Clearly it's not used in the UK/US context.

[RickBradford]

^Point taken.

It's similar to the Indian press and their descriptions of 'state dacoitry' or the Philippines and their 'city solons'.