Have You Ever Put Your Foot In Your Mouth In Thailand?

[spysee]

About 4 months ago, I was having a drink with my neighbour, he is a Thai man who doesn't have much money but always seems nice and offers me a drink all the time.

After talking to him a lot he told me he buy's the lottery anytime he can. I told him he is just wasting his money and we get into a long debate about it, he just kept on saying he is too broke to even bother saving and it is his only hope.

I stuck to my opinion and said he will never win it.

Then 2 or 3 weeks late the guy won it. He comes over and gives me a blue label Johnny walker saying "I give him good luck".

He said he will buy more lottery tickets and win again, but I just couldn't say he is wasting his money after his big win.

Anyone else have any stories like this?

[mca]

Not so much foot in mouth but rather embarrassing. I was at a family dinner and my sister in law (who speaks English) was talking about her kids and how lucky they are. "Computers, mobile phones, ipods. Too much" she said. "When I was a teenager I had nothing. I used to play with myself."

I burst out with a bray of laughter to a bemused look from all round the table apart from my wife who just gave me a

"That's just about your limit" look.

[pattaya_girl]

I cannot reach it, i just tried - it hurts my back.

[klikster]

I was new in TL, and my language skills dismal .. much as they are today.

Neither was my hearing all that keen.

I went into a department store to try and buy a golf umbrella .. not even knowing the word for umbrella. I pointed to a standard umbrella. "Passa Thai, arai?" I heard wrong .. "nom"

I knew the word for large so I asked the young woman if she had "nom yai". She blushed, then started giggling. Quite a lot, actually .. then called another sales girl. She asked what I wanted. "Nom yai". They blushed and giggled in unison. Again, quite a lot. That's when I realized I was providing entertainment.

Finally, they made me understand that I needed to ask for "lom".

It did seem to liven up their day .. and neither of them seemed offended. I do wonder how many times they told their friends about that incident.

[mca]

[sanook2me]

The lady in the restaurant in my condo was telling my Thai misses about another farang in the block who orders food and knowing they cannot speak English he orders in Thai but when he orders one dish he mispronounces the food dish and instead of saying "het" for mushroom he says "yet" for <deleted>!!!

something like pakpakyet instead of pakpakhet..... can't remember the exact dish...

She was in hysterics telling my misses..

so if you live in a Lumphini tower and the restaurant girls wear orange and you are a farang best check upon your food order pronounciation ;-)

I was out in the stick a few days ago at a little restaurant obviously not many farangs visit this place and i ordered namtok mu... well the woman got excited couldn't understand my Thai and repeated back to me namcock too.... not funny really but funny for me listening to this old Thai lady saying cock and scratching her head....

[krading]

I once ordered kai yeow instead of kai jeow.

urine omelet instead of egg.

[scottyd]

I was with my friends when one of them showed me a picture of a girl on her phone and asked me what I thought, I said it looked like a ghost because she was too white with make up, upon studying the reaction of my friends I realised it was one of them. The thing is the girl is naturally stunning, and the whole white/ghost white makeup thing is stupid. I felt shocking after saying it, but they did ask my opinion, and we are still friends ha.

[teddy_bare]

I once said Sawadee Khrap sam ma (3 dogs), instead of sam mair (3 mums) to the three mums who lived in my ex g/f house.

It made me smile as I realised the looks on their faces.

[Bakeman]

Not so much foot in mouth but rather embarrassing. I was at a family dinner and my sister in law (who speaks English) was talking about her kids and how lucky they are. "Computers, mobile phones, ipods. Too much" she said. "When I was a teenager I had nothing. I used to play with myself."

I burst out with a bray of laughter to a bemused look from all round the table apart from my wife who just gave me a

"That's just about your limit" look.

I just died laughing!!!!! Thanks!!!!!!!

[dimitri]

I was at a funeral in Isaan a couple of years ago, sitting outside amongst around 50 locals. I spotted a friend of my wife and shouted quite loudly, "Nok, ma nang koy" - Nok come sit and chat. I should have said, "Nok, ma nang koy gan" meaning Nok come sit and chat together, but that wasn't the problem. I mis-pronounced the "koy" so that it sounded like the Isaan word for banana and slang for dick.

I had shouted out, "Nok come sit on my dick". The whole place erupted.

[losworld]

I was at a funeral in Isaan a couple of years ago, sitting outside amongst around 50 locals. I spotted a friend of my wife and shouted quite loudly, "Nok, ma nang koy" - Nok come sit and chat. I should have said, "Nok, ma nang koy gan" meaning Nok come sit and chat together, but that wasn't the problem. I mis-pronounced the "koy" so that it sounded like the Isaan word for banana and slang for dick.

I had shouted out, "Nok come sit on my dick". The whole place erupted.

[mca]

Another one springs to mind. When I was first in LOS my Thai pronunciation was pretty grim. There was a Chinese Thai girl in our office who everybody called "Mwoy." (Some folks can see what's coming next). I was informed by one of the staff that I'd better call her by her real name as I was calling her "pubic hair" on every occasion.

[gpdjohn]

I was at a funeral in Isaan a couple of years ago, sitting outside amongst around 50 locals. I spotted a friend of my wife and shouted quite loudly, "Nok, ma nang koy" - Nok come sit and chat. I should have said, "Nok, ma nang koy gan" meaning Nok come sit and chat together, but that wasn't the problem. I mis-pronounced the "koy" so that it sounded like the Isaan word for banana and slang for dick.

I had shouted out, "Nok come sit on my dick". The whole place erupted.

That is funny....

[anonymouse]

A long while back, when my Thai was really bad [ now it's just bad] I was meeting a friend Gary in a bar in Chiang Mai who was a regular. He wasn't there when I arrived and I asked about Gary, the girls at the bar thought that I was saying the word garee - Thai for prostitute and got really angry with me, took awhile to calm things down. I'm not looking forward to my Chinese friend Kee coming to visit me in Thailand

[Mossfinn]

so I asked the young woman if she had "nom yai". She blushed, then started giggling.

[Valjean]

From Thai friends I'd learned a slang phrase that I understood to mean "my bottom is sore". I didn't understand this as really crude, just a little but OK for casual usage. Once at a conference in front of 200+ Thai's I used the phrase, because we'd been sitting for a day and a half and the shocked faces was amazing. What I learned is this is the expression for what two gay guys do to each other - and is very crude slang for just having a tired back side. At least a dozen people came up to me after that and said "never, never say that again!".

Be careful of the Thai you learn from Thai friends while drinking...

And I think it's a quite common mistake when taking about "how many children do you have" to say "song luuk" (two balls) and not "luuk song khon" (two children) and get a lot of giggles until someone explains. At least I do have two children. I can imagine the sadness if you only have one, and the amazement if more than two! :-)

[nputman]

Driving down a country road with the car full of inlaws. Woman selling Clams on the road side.

Commented to wife "Phu Ying Khi Hoi" Car went silent with jaws dropping.

Wanted some Ice cream once. Spoke out "Ohm La Du" with a wifes friend present.

Amazing reaction and a lecture to NOT speak Thai unless I knew exactally what I was saying.

[LaoPo]

Some time ago I was introduced to a girl by her mother (I knew from long time ago). The girl was around 27 and about 6 months pregnant, so I noticed.

We talked a little while when I asked her "when are you expecting the baby" ?

She looked at me and said: "I'm not expecting a baby "

:D

I wished I could have dropped in a big large and deep hole......

I told my wife a few minutes later and she said....yeah...she LOOKS pregnant

LaoPo

[IanForbes]

I've certainly made a lot of bloopers when trying to pronouce certain Thai words. Most everyone just has a laugh over it. It even happens with sayings in English speaking countries. The same word means something entirely different in another country. From what I've been told by an Aussie bloke, the word "Fanny" in Canada means someone's backside. In Australia it means a woman's privates. The Aussies all got a laugh when a Canadian nurse visiting Australia said... "My fanny has gotten a lot bigger since I arrived 2 months ago".

[IanForbes]

Some time ago I was introduced to a girl by her mother (I knew from long time ago). The girl was around 27 and about 6 months pregnant, so I noticed.

We talked a little while when I asked her "when are you expecting the baby" ?

She looked at me and said: "I'm not expecting a baby "

I wished I could have dropped in a big large and deep hole......

I told my wife a few minutes later and she said....yeah...she LOOKS pregnant

LaoPo

I made exactly the same mistake... ONCE... never again.