How To Address Younger Adults

[bmore]

People always address me as "Koen ..." (I'm a 56 y/o farang)

Children I can call "Nong" and then their nickname. People about the same age, call the older one "Phee ....".

My maid I call "Na ....", and the lady at my favorite food stall I call "Pa ...".

Important and older people I can call "Koen ...." or use a title related to their stature/work.

But as far as I know, among friends and people I know, I'm supposed to call the ones that are younger than I am, just by their nickname.

Specially for the 30-40 year olds, I'd really like to use some kind of title in front of their nickname.

Any suggestions?

thanks

Ben

[LazyYogi]

Why not use "nong". It's not only for children. It just means "younger sibling".

[Peppy]

Lazy Yogi's suggestion is a good one--"nong" is indeed not just for children.

However, "nong" is a family word, usually used with people with whom you have a close or informal relationship. If you wish to maintain the formality, you could simply use "koen" (more commonly romanized as "khun") with them--this title and second-person pronoun isn't only for people older/higher in stature than you; it can be used with just about anyone who you don't know well enough to assign a kinship term to.

Oh, and the issue of what to call whom in Thai isn't confined to us learners--plenty of native speakers also abuse and misuse the plethora of pronouns at their disposal.

Mrs. Peppy's aunt's boyfriend, who is seventy-six, insists on calling our neighbouring granny "yaai" (granny) despite the fact that she's a year younger than he is, and this seems to drive the neighbourhood nuts, though he's oblivious to it. He also calls fifty-or-sixty-year-old ladies "bpah" (auntie), his eighty-two-year-old father-in-law "dta" (gramps), and the twenty-something ice-cream girl "nong", which has earned him disapproving comments behind his back on more than one occasion--"How old does he think he is? Twenty-seven?!"

[bmore]

Thanks for the replies.

I tried Nong, but when I called a 35 y/o Nong ...., he started laughing.

I guess I will just stick to using only the nicknames.

[Groongthep]

(I'm a 56 y/o farang).....

........among friends and people I know, I'm supposed to call the (people) that are younger than I am, just by their nickname, but I'd really like to use some kind of title in front of their nickname especially the 30-40 year olds,

Any suggestions?

Thanks for the replies.

I tried Nong, but when I called a 35 y/o Nong ...., he started laughing.

I guess I will just stick to using only the nicknames.

Good idea. If you're 56 (I'm 54) you can safely address 30 to 40 year old Thais that you know well by using just their nicknames without causing any offence. I do it all the time and have never felt that anyone objected to me referring to them in this way. I would suggest however that if you are calling out to someone or trying to get their attention that you use the polite particle "khrab" after their nickname as it is obviously more polite and sounds a little less abrupt.

Edited September 7, 2010 by Groongthep

[rakloke]

Today I called my building contractor "Chang Ngiam", and asked him how many sacks of cement he needed. ช่างเหงี่ยมเอา(จะให้ซื้อ)ซีเมนต์กี่กระสอบ?

[Groongthep]

Today I called my building contractor "Chang Ngiam", and asked him how many sacks of cement he needed. ช่างเหงี่ยมเอา(จะให้ซื้อ)ซีเมนต์กี่กระสอบ?

We really need to know your age and Ngiam's age as well as some kind of idea of Ngiam's wealth to determine if this has any bearing on the topic of addressing younger adults. It's already been mentioned that it is common practice to refer to people by profession then name. If Ngiam was just an aquaintence and not a tradesman working for you and you are in your 50s or 60s and he in his 30s or 40s, how would you address him?

[rakloke]

bmore has already set the situation. Perhaps I have to repeat that again.

Sa-ngiam (Ngiam, his nickname) is a builder, ten years younger than me. It is proper in Thai society to call any technician such as repairman, car mechanic, shoemaker, tailor, hairdstyler, plumber, among others, just as "chang (short vowel pronounced, if you don't know his/her name)" or chang and his first name or nickname (in case you know his/hers).