I note a lot of Thais starting sentences with "actually" - leading me to believe there's a similar Thai word that's used a lot. Am I right? What is it? Whn would it be appropriate to use it? Most obvious when 'posh' service staff are telling you you've broken or

are about to break some regulation:

"Actually sir there is a dress code; no flip flops"

"Actually all those seats are full, and we usually charge, but I have assigned you one anyway"

any ideas?

Perhaps; "จริงๆ แล้ว..."

Usually "Thii jing" (ที่จริง). this is a pervasively used phrase and perfectly ok to use when you would say in English, "really" or "actually"

I can't help you with the Thai, you've had some good stuff anyway, but from the two examples you've given, certainly in English hotels/restaurants they would use the same phraseology. So maybe it comes from their training.

There are two possible reasons that come to mind as to why Thais use the term. One is that the word is used somewhat akin to a Thai particle to nuance the degree of certainty to the sentence. And the other is that Thai, especially the written form tends to be a topic centered language as compare to English which tends to be a subject centered language. In Thai they often begin a sentence with a phrase such as " as for the <noun phrase>...." Using the word "actually" in front of the sentence serves a similar purpose.

From my novel about a mythical country next to Burma: "Xantese who speak English love to start sentences with usually or actually. However, only naughty Xantese say key so much, since that sounds like the vulgar word for shit."