Massage Parlor Billionaire Chuwit Makes Political Comeback

[CosmicSurfer]

There you go..

Thanks. That one's pretty low-key for him.

The ones I've seen over the last couple of days have him making a kind of grimace, bearing his teeth as if he's doing an impression of some kind of bulldog, holding up his hand like a paw, signifying '5' (his election number) with his fingers.

I thought it quite scary at first, then realized it must be a joke. Surely.....

Chuwit actually has a bunch of "English" Only (no Thai) posters up around the Chitlom BTS station.. no Photo on them...

His named, spelled CHUVIT on the poster is the most predominant thing.

CS

[Thaddeus]

His named, spelled CHUVIT on the poster is the most predominant thing.

CS

Is his name pronounced 'Shove It'?

[CosmicSurfer]

His named, spelled CHUVIT on the poster is the most predominant thing.

CS

Is his name pronounced 'Shove It'?

.... Just in case, I'll give you the Straight answer!

Thais pronounce the letter "v" as a "w" sound!

CS

[warfie]

His named, spelled CHUVIT on the poster is the most predominant thing.

CS

Is his name pronounced 'Shove It'?

No, I believe it should be pronounced "show it"

[MaiChai]

These Thai parties come up with naff names. Love Thailand rak pratet thai, he should have called his party rak nuwt bratet thai (Love massage Thailand)! Slight insert of an additional syllable totally changes the meaning!

As a matter of interest, which massage palours does he own?

Edited June 4, 2011 by MaiChai

[rubl]

These Thai parties come up with naff names. Love Thailand rak pratet thai, he should have called his party rak nuwt bratet thai (Love massage Thailand)! Slight insert of an additional syllable totally changes the meaning!

As a matter of interest, which massage palours does he own?

AS far as I know k. Chuwit sold all stakes in massage parlours, like the OP said. Probably in 2004 / early 2005 before he joined Chart Thai. His assets declaration would have shown those details.

From 2003-07-31 "Candid sex tycoon threatens to name names"

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/07/30/1059480406385.html

From 2005-09-22 "Thailand: MP who owned massage parlours now wants the whole business eliminated

Deputy Chart Thai party leader Chuwit Kamolvisit on Tuesday called on Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to stamp out the prostitution-riddled massage business within the next few years, ..."

http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/burmanet/20050922/000793.html

2008-10-03 "Thai sex tycoon runs for governor"

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/thai-sex-tycoon-runs-for-governor/story-e6frg6t6-1111117648319

Edited June 4, 2011 by rubl

[Thaddeus]

His named, spelled CHUVIT on the poster is the most predominant thing.

CS

Is his name pronounced 'Shove It'?

.... Just in case, I'll give you the Straight answer!

Thais pronounce the letter "v" as a "w" sound!

CS

Well, colour me dumb, I didn't know that.

(If you think that was a serious comment, or the one before it, put on your wen tar and think again)

[Heng]

These Thai parties come up with naff names. Love Thailand rak pratet thai, he should have called his party rak nuwt bratet thai (Love massage Thailand)! Slight insert of an additional syllable totally changes the meaning!

As a matter of interest, which massage palours does he own?

He sold Emmanuelle and Hi-Class (probably mostly because he didn't own the dirt underneath), both buildings are leased from the State Railway of Thailand.

He's... let's just say that 'they say' he is now a silent partner in the Lord Group.... which owns the Lord (I'd say the nicest place in town... and an <deleted> for his nemesis Goh Lak, who owns Amsterdam... the former Champs Elysee, who tried to build a massage parlour a few doors down but was blocked because it was too near a school.... well the Lord is just as close but everyone has a price), Copa Cabana, Victoria (his first massage parlour and my guess would be he held on to that for sentimental reasons as it's probably the least profitable nowadays... he's also on site there an awful lot for someone who doesn't 'own' it anymore), and Long Beach (rebranded from Honolulu). All former Davis Group massage parlours.

[TAWP]

As an opposition party he would probably punch someone in Parliament like he did with the reporter...

Luckily most seated in the Parliament deserves it...

[lanna2011]

He and Suthep would make a find combination - and Abhisit could be the squeaky clean front man 'I don't do anything wrong I'm a gentleman'

[Mole]

.... Just in case, I'll give you the Straight answer!

Thais pronounce the letter "v" as a "w" sound!

CS

I beg to differ...

It depends on the vovel associated with the letter "ว" which is the only letter for "v" sound.

With most vovels, it is pronounced as "light" "v" and not "deep" "w".

The reason why "Chuvit" may actually sound as if it's pronounced as "w" is because of the "u" vovel before the "vit" which makes it sound like "wit". If you only write "vit" (วิท) it will be pronounced as "vit" and not "wit".

[CosmicSurfer]

.... Just in case, I'll give you the Straight answer!

Thais pronounce the letter "v" as a "w" sound!

CS

I beg to differ...

It depends on the vovel associated with the letter "ว" which is the only letter for "v" sound.

With most vovels, it is pronounced as "light" "v" and not "deep" "w".

The reason why "Chuvit" may actually sound as if it's pronounced as "w" is because of the "u" vovel before the "vit" which makes it sound like "wit". If you only write "vit" (วิท) it will be pronounced as "vit" and not "wit".

Sorry... as I told my Students.

When you write in English you Must use English pronunciation rules...

"Ple" is NOT Peun because Apple is mispronounced as "Appeun" by Thais... Nor is Central > "Centrum"!

And a voWel is never a voVel...

There are no transliteration rules that are universally followed in Thailand.

So Chiang Mai is spelled 5 different ways on signs, and so is Thong Lor.

But the prize winner and everyone's favorite is.....

Suvarnabhumi.... Better know as >>>> Suwanapoom!!!!!!!!!!!!

CS

[Mole]

.... Just in case, I'll give you the Straight answer!

Thais pronounce the letter "v" as a "w" sound!

CS

I beg to differ...

It depends on the vovel associated with the letter "ว" which is the only letter for "v" sound.

With most vovels, it is pronounced as "light" "v" and not "deep" "w".

The reason why "Chuvit" may actually sound as if it's pronounced as "w" is because of the "u" vovel before the "vit" which makes it sound like "wit". If you only write "vit" (วิท) it will be pronounced as "vit" and not "wit".

Sorry... as I told my Students.

When you write in English you Must use English pronunciation rules...

"Ple" is NOT Peun because Apple is mispronounced as "Appeun" by Thais... Nor is Central > "Centrum"!

And a voWel is never a voVel...

There are no transliteration rules that are universally followed in Thailand.

So Chiang Mai is spelled 5 different ways on signs, and so is Thong Lor.

But the prize winner and everyone's favorite is.....

Suvarnabhumi.... Better know as >>>> Suwanapoom!!!!!!!!!!!!

CS

OK, <deleted>, I spelled vowel wrong, but I am still correct regarding what I wrote.

Also, Thai's pronounce "Central" as cen-tan not m.

I know there are no transliteration rules for Thai characters to Latin characters but I was merely correcting you when you said that Thai's pronounce the "v" sound as "w" which is wrong.

(But this depends if you are Gernam because Germans pronounce the letter v and w quite different from English)

So, the Thai v or "ว" is pronounced as English v or German w. But not English w.

For example "วี" would be read according to English rules "vii" (long i vovel) not as we or wii (like the Nintendo console).

If you are German, "วี" would be read as "wi" and definately not as "vi" since it would be read like "fii" in English. (As you probably should know)

(like the difference between victory and wing)

The Thai ว sound would be the same as victory.

But as I already said in my previous post, some words, the preceeding vowel will make it sound like "w".

Also, the reason why "Suvarnabhumi" is spelled the way it is, is because it is written Sanskrit meaning "suvarna" which is gold and "bhumi" which is land. This is also how it is written in Thai "สุวรรณภูมิ". This word is sanskrit written using Thai characters and Thais will read it in their "special" way.

However you can replace each letter with devanagari (which is used to write Sanskrit today) and it can be read according to sanskrit pronunciation which is suvarnabhumi.

Thai reading is suvanna-poom "สุวันนะพูม"

This is also the reason why many persons names and place names are written a bit differently in latin characters than it is pronounced in Thai simply because it is transliterated according to their original Sanskrit pronounciation.

Also, lastly, it is not written in English as you pointed out, but written in Latin characters from original Thai characters. (which makes it even more complicated since the Thai word may be sanskrit/pali in origin)

How it is then read again can vary whenever you are British or American English, or German, French etc etc.

Similar situation about the Thai sanskrit words which are read differently than how they are spelled are for example words of French origin but read (and perhaps even written) differently in English.

I'm too lazy to come up with any examples, but I think you probably understand.

Edited June 6, 2011 by Mole

[Mole]

Also, ironically, your "worst" example of Latin characters transliteration is in fact exactly correct according to the rules of Sanskrit to Latin transliteration.

The Thai characters have the same origins as all the different Indian scripts and characters are in the same order and there is a exact match between the different scripts.

This is the reason for example why there are so many characters for the aparent "t" sound in Thai.

ท ถ ธ ฑ ฐ ฒ all are "t" as in "tom" in Thai.

But their equivalent character in the other Indic scripts have different "t" like sounds which are slightly different but in Thai is all pronounced as "t".

Similar situation would be "sh" sound which does not exist in Thai and Thais would pronounce it like "ch". (she is pronounced as chi)

ซ ส ศ ษ are all "s" as in "see"

For example ศ which is श in devanagari is originally pronounced as "sh" as in "she".

But in Thai, it is pronounced as simple "s". But if you transliterate any words with ศ, the correct rule is sh. All Thai words using this character are of Sanskrit in origin.

All Thai words which are Sanskrit & Pali in origin are written in such a way that every Thai character can be replaced with it's correct devanagari character and read and transliterated according to the rules of Sanskrit to Latin characters.

On the other hand, there are also many sounds in Thai which you farangs have difficulty pronouncing correctly. On top of that, you need to say it in the correct tone as well.

I have yet to meet a farang who can pronounce the fullmoon-party island "koh phangan" correctly. I think the initial "ng" sound can be a bit tricky for many farangs.

Edited June 6, 2011 by Mole

[CosmicSurfer]

.... Just in case, I'll give you the Straight answer!

Thais pronounce the letter "v" as a "w" sound!

CS

I beg to differ...

It depends on the vovel associated with the letter "ว" which is the only letter for "v" sound.

With most vovels, it is pronounced as "light" "v" and not "deep" "w".

The reason why "Chuvit" may actually sound as if it's pronounced as "w" is because of the "u" vovel before the "vit" which makes it sound like "wit". If you only write "vit" (วิท) it will be pronounced as "vit" and not "wit".

Sorry... as I told my Students.

When you write in English you Must use English pronunciation rules...

"Ple" is NOT Peun because Apple is mispronounced as "Appeun" by Thais... Nor is Central > "Centrum"!

And a voWel is never a voVel...

There are no transliteration rules that are universally followed in Thailand.

So Chiang Mai is spelled 5 different ways on signs, and so is Thong Lor.

But the prize winner and everyone's favorite is.....

Suvarnabhumi.... Better know as >>>> Suwanapoom!!!!!!!!!!!!

CS

OK, <deleted>, I spelled vowel wrong, but I am still correct regarding what I wrote.

Also, Thai's pronounce "Central" as cen-tan not m.

I know there are no transliteration rules for Thai characters to Latin characters but I was merely correcting you when you said that Thai's pronounce the "v" sound as "w" which is wrong.

(But this depends if you are Gernam because Germans pronounce the letter v and w quite different from English)

So, the Thai v or "ว" is pronounced as English v or German w. But not English w.

For example "วี" would be read according to English rules "vii" (long i vovel) not as we or wii (like the Nintendo console).

If you are German, "วี" would be read as "wi" and definately not as "vi" since it would be read like "fii" in English. (As you probably should know)

(like the difference between victory and wing)

The Thai ว sound would be the same as victory.

But as I already said in my previous post, some words, the preceeding vowel will make it sound like "w".

Also, the reason why "Suvarnabhumi" is spelled the way it is, is because it is written Sanskrit meaning "suvarna" which is gold and "bhumi" which is land. This is also how it is written in Thai "สุวรรณภูมิ". This word is sanskrit written using Thai characters and Thais will read it in their "special" way.

However you can replace each letter with devanagari (which is used to write Sanskrit today) and it can be read according to sanskrit pronunciation which is suvarnabhumi.

Thai reading is suvanna-poom "สุวันนะพูม"

This is also the reason why many persons names and place names are written a bit differently in latin characters than it is pronounced in Thai simply because it is transliterated according to their original Sanskrit pronounciation.

Also, lastly, it is not written in English as you pointed out, but written in Latin characters from original Thai characters. (which makes it even more complicated since the Thai word may be sanskrit/pali in origin)

How it is then read again can vary whenever you are British or American English, or German, French etc etc.

Similar situation about the Thai sanskrit words which are read differently than how they are spelled are for example words of French origin but read (and perhaps even written) differently in English.

I'm too lazy to come up with any examples, but I think you probably understand.

The Point of my OP was that Chuwit has produced an Electoral Poster that is in ALL ENGLISH.. not any other language, so obviously the Spelling of his Name on the Poster is in all ENGLISH... not another language.

(Sorry, I searched for a photo of this poster, but I couldn't find one online.. If it is important that I prove this, I will take a photo tomorrow and post it. Or go to the Corner of Chitlom and Pleonchit (Sukhumvit) and see for yourself.)

His Poster is ENGLISH.. The Language He is using to Communicate with is ENGLISH... It is Read in ENGLISH...and Transliteration into any other language or rules of Pronunciation are irrelevant to this Discussion.. Which is again about ENGLISH.

In ENGLISH.. a "W" is a "W"... and a "V" is a "V".. and can not be read or pronounced any other way... Unless you are a stubborn Buffalo... and the same Pronunciation rule applies in British ENGLISH, American ENGLISH, Indian ENGLISH, Australian ENGLISH.. or any other English speaking place on the globe!... any other pronunciation is WRONG...

I don't care if Thais pronounce 'Central' as Centrum or Centrun.. Both are Equally WRONG!!! and Suwanapoom is spelled Suwanapoom... Period!!!

(well maybe 'Suwhanapum')

Suvarnabhumi is NOT Suwanapoom in English... and never will Be... Except to Buffaloes in Thailand.

Which is exactly why I stopped Teaching!

... Enough said.

CS

Edited June 7, 2011 by CosmicSurfer

[metisdead]

Discussion of Thai language and pronounciation would be better suited for the Thai Language forum, back to the topic please.