Loss Of Face

[lovethailandlongtime]

There is no word in my dictionary for 'loss of face' or 'tremendous loss of face'

important word here in LOS i think.

Do any of you posters know the word im looking for??

thanks in advance

ltlt....

[mike_l]

เสียหน้า 'sia naa' is the most common way of saying "lose face" I think. ขายหน้า 'kai naa' or หน้าแหก 'naa haek' are similar.

[Ajarn]

In conversation, I hear 'kai naa' far more often than any other form... Most often when referring to themselves, it seems.

[sabaijai]

I hear เสียหน้า 'sia naa' most often, followed by ขายหน้า and หน้าแหก.

[meadish_sweetball]

Interesting, most often I hear หน้าแตก 'naa taek' (mainly for 'a small loss of face' (embarresment)) and เสียหน้า 'sia naa' for major face-loss.

This is the first time I have encountered หน้าแหก 'naa haek'.

[bina]

funny, i was just thinking that i would post that as a question also;

so how does one use the words; i mean, do thai themselves talk about 'losing face': as in : he made me lose face....

or is it something used as a description of a situation not with the people concerned:

'they had a big arguement about which karoake to watch which became a fist fight , and kitipoon lost the fight, lost face so now is 'pit jai' with everyone'

and which 'losing face' is used when??

in hebrew we use 'to hold up face' and 'self honour'

[sabaijai]

Mead, I see หน้าแหก a lot in Thai newspapers and magazines. แหก means to break apart, and thus หน้าแหก means the same as หน้าแตก. I get the feeling that หน้าแหก is less polite. I think you're correct that หน้าแตก is more common than หน้าแหก - probably because it's more polite. I've only heard Thai men (or, in print, male reporters) say หน้าแหก, come to think of it.

[katana]

I've also heard NA TAEK หน้าแตก the most.

I think there's also DAI NA ได้หน้า for (v) to gain face.