Do you refer to yourself in the third person like George Costanza?

[Dag Ekeberg]

Okay, let’s say you’re a farang guy named Dave and you get a Thai girlfriend called Nok. She refers to herself as Nok, you as Dave:

“Nok could really use an iPhone.”

“Dave is sick of shopping now. Dave wants to go home.”

After a while you realize that only girls here use their name like that, not like in NY, where it’s apparently a common Jewish phenomenon .

So do you keep using Dave in the third person when you’re alone with your GF and switch to Phii when you’re among others?

I hear some guys refer to themselves in the third person when talking to people in general—taxi drivers, bartenders etc. “Dave wants you to keep those tequila shots coming.” That sounds corny. Have any of you heard this?

What about Thai couples? Does the guy keep referring to himself as Phii even when they’re alone? (I’m guessing Yes).

Okay, that was a lot of questions. Perhaps too many.

[riceyummm]

Almost never in English but very often in Thai.

[Mole]

Most of my male friends would probably talk to their partner like this, but usually not with other people. I do have a couple of Thai male friends that I can think of who would usually always refer to themselves like this, even when speaking with me.

Most girls that I know also likes to refer to themselves this way.

Although it may sound strange to foreigners, it's not in any way corny in Thai.

You can compare it to for example in North Norwegian dialect, where they'd usually say han or ho before people's names.

For eksempel:

Kommer Dag snart? (Kjæm han Dag snart?)

Jeg skal snakke med mamma i morgen. (Æ ska ta å snakk med ho mamma imorra.)

In other Norwegian dialects, this usage would probably be corny as well. I guess some Norwegian dialects are as different as Nowegian, Danish and Swedish. Not to forget this dreadful nynorsk.

[Dag Ekeberg]

I’ve never heard a Thai guy refer to himself in the third person. Mole has met two. Anyone else?

[Mole]

What I meant with that I can think of a couple of guys who says this is that they talk like this with most acquainted people, their partner, friends, relatives etc.

But most guys don't use this so much as those 2. Usually they'll talk like this to their partner, even in public or while around other people.

Also, it's very common for guys to refer to themselves like this for example when a junior is addressing a senior. But only if they're very good friends.

The senior friend would usually call himself พี่ while the junior would use his own name.

The reason why you have never experienced this is probably because Thai people would usually code switch when they talk to a farang. So chances are that they'll never ever speak like this to you.

Another factor is that they may not be as closely acquainted with you to be able to speak like this.

[Mole]

I suddenly realized that I speak like this to my parents and my extended family. Except to my cousins since I'm the oldest grandchild in the family. I use either พี่ or เฮีย (I'm Chinese) when I speak with my cousins and they call me พี่myname or เฮียmyname when addressing me and usually use their own name when referring to themselves.

This is actually very common and everybody that I can think of talk like this with their parents and probably their family as well.

[Johpa]

When speaking Thai I don't use my given name in the third person but I will often refer to myself in the third person as uncle or achaan or phii (elder brother) or, up in the hills, Johpa (John's father). I admit that as a native Engllish speaker I found this quite awkward in the beginning, but it is now second nature.

[Dag Ekeberg]

When speaking Thai I don't use my given name in the third person but I will often refer to myself in the third person as uncle or achaan or phii (elder brother) or, up in the hills, Johpa (John's father). I admit that as a native Engllish speaker I found this quite awkward in the beginning, but it is now second nature.

When I said Third Person, I meant refering to yourself with your own name. "Dave is hungry now". Refering to yourself as Uncle, Achan etc is a given.

[Thai at Heart]

Indeed, it is a Thai female phenomenon.

Maybe they are just schizo?

[bifftastic]

I do do it occasionally, but it still feels a little weird to me maybe because I'm English. I hear quite a lot of people doing it. My neighbour (male) my brother in law, quite a few people. When talking amongst themselves, if there's a group conversation going on, it happens quite a lot. We're way up north in Chiang Rai, if that makes a difference.

When me and my wife are talking, we usually use แก ฉัน. Sometimes she will refer to herself as น้อง and me as พี๋ usually when she's asking me for something (เอาน้ำมาให้น้องอะพี่). Or when she wants me to do something,(เอารถไปเติมน้ำมันนะพี่ น้องจะถูบ้าน) or advising me that maybe I might want to do....whatever......instead of....whatever I was doing (wrong) instead

[Mole]

It may be weird for you farangs, but this is perfectly normal in Thai language (and culture).

Especially when speaking to family members, I would say this is actually the norm. As a child, you tend to talk like this and it kinda stuck into adulthood and you still keep talking like this with other senior members of extended family.

Outside family settings, I guess girls tend to talk like this more than men.

Referring to oneself like this, you can only address somebody more senior (status or age) than you. If you address somebody younger, then one must also say พี่myname ลุงmyname น้าmyname etc..

In additional it requires a level of acquaintance to be able to speak like this. One would never speak like this to a stranger.

This would be like you saying that the Northern Norwegians talk funny because of the usage of han/ho before names. Well, it is not weird for a nordlending and nordnorsk because this is just how their language works.