According to my Benjawan Becker English-Thai dictionary app หอยนางรม and หอยมุก are equivalent, but when I was with Thai friends and ordered some fresh oysters in a restaurant using the latter term, everyone found that somewhat amusing although I never got a clear explanation (at least one I could comprehend) on the difference.

Googling หอยมุก seems to bring up things to do with "pearl oysters, " which then compounds my ignorance of Thai with my ignorance of oysters.

Is the former term the correct eating/restaurant term and the latter a reference only to oyster that have produced a pearl??

Yes

They're amused at you trying to talk Thai but hey, at least your trying and good on you. Hoy nung lom is what a Thai would order.

They're amused at you trying to talk Thai but hey, at least your trying and good on you. Hoy nung lom is what a Thai would order.

I've become totally accustomed to my Thai causing amusement, more so amongst friends than waitresses who tend to be more stunned than amused. In order to level the playing field in the language struggle I ask my amused companions to say things like Arnold Schwarzenegger, cheese and prestidigitation.

No one's more amazed than I am when waitresses/waiters and others comprehend what I've asked for. Usually I'm with someone who can rescue me if needed and translate my Thai into waitress accessible Thai, but with less common things like oysters, communications in English or Thai tends to run into a snag ... which is why many restaurants have pictures for you to jab at.

Edited April 10, 201313 yr by Suradit69

Hmm.. I believe most English native speakers would most likely pronounce Schwarzenegger wrong according to the correct German pronunciation.

I hear most say shwarts-negger

Hmm.. I believe most English native speakers would most likely pronounce Schwarzenegger wrong according to the correct German pronunciation.

I hear most say shwarts-negger

How's it pronounced?

The former is oyster and the latter is pearl. That's why the Thais found it amusing.

shwart-sen-eg-ger

shwartsn-egger

Edited April 11, 201313 yr by Mole

Another thing to remember about หอย is that it's slang for a certain part of the female anatomy, so there are some situations where that could cause a chuckle.