Mun

[RedBullHorn]

ช่างมันเถอะ Chang Mun Ther ~

Mole, the timing couldn't be better to use THE word.

[Mole]

Besides, Aphisit spent major parts of his life in BKK, so his claims of being a Bankokian is as good as majority of it's residents today.

I also spent 15 years in Bangkok, so I'm sure both Aphisit and I are as proud of being Bangkokian as well.

It'd be like questioning Aphisit's Britishness despite being a citizen as well as having English as one of his native tongues.

Edited September 16, 2013 by Mole

[rgs2001uk]

Yes i agree... A hotel is different from a farm as they operate on customers/guest base and social etiquette is of outmost important.

The staff weren't talking to the customer, the OP. The relevant point is that they should assume that any customer may have some knowledge of Thai and therefore be careful what they say.

Sorry disagree with the above.

The fact is the staff were referring to the customer, whether the customer speaks Thai or not is a moot point, they sure as hell wouldnt have referred to some Bkk HiSo in the same manner for fear of the consequences.

[Richard W]

I was actually born in Chiang Mai and also spent my childhood there.

My father is Thai with Chinese ancestry.

But I moved with my mother and brothers when I was 7 to Norway. I still kept speaking muang with my mom in Norway though.

So, how much of a "native" am I now?

Sorry. I'd got the impression you were born in Norway, and has been impressed that you has managed to acquire both standard Thai and kam mueang. (Scandinavians are very good at English, so that is less outstanding.)

I may have got the impression from http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/550067-chinese-most-popular-foreign-language-for-thai-students/page-4, where you say:

Being a "native" speaker of Norwegian, it is true there are "tones" in these languages.

If that's the source, I overlooked the quotes. (I wasn't compiling a profile of you - I've just read a lot of your posts.) I also very definitely missed the autobiographical details you gave in July this year.

As to how much of a 'native' you should be regarded as, it may depend on the number and relative ages of your brothers. It is possible that your mother's idea of what is right might have had a strong influence on you, because you had no non-family school mates to beat bad usage back into you.

[Richard W]

As to how much of a 'native' you should be regarded as, it may depend on the number and relative ages of your brothers. It is possible that your mother's idea of what is right might have had a strong influence on you, because you had no non-family school mates to beat bad usage back into you.

I missed the 15 years in Bangkok, which makes you older than I thought, so there's been time for your mother's influence to be diluted, so your view on มัน need not have been affected by your time away from a large Northern Thai community.

[Mole]

I was born in 1976, in case you wondered.

I spent nearly 14 years in Norway, and moved back to Thailand when I was 20, so I guess I'm about as native Norwegian as Aphisit is British.

[StChris]

I've got a part-time job teaching English in China (helps pay the bills while I'm studying Chinese). Since I've got lots of students (and a poor memory) I've starting keeping a little file for each person, recording personal details and study history etc. For the sake of secrecy and to practice my Thai I write these in Thai (if for example I noted that their reading is good, but their spoken English is terrible, they might take offence if they happened to see it written in Chinese or English). It wasn't until I read this post that I decided to look at my notes a little more carefully. When I did I noticed that I often used มัน when referring to my students! Most of them are younger than me, and the only time I used เขา was for a student in her 40's. This was all subconscious and I certainly don't mean any disrespect to my younger students. I've been away from Thailand for a couple of years now, so all my Thai listening comes watching Thai films and TV. I was in Bangkok for most of my time in Thailand, and the people I associated with all seemd to be pretty nice and polite people. I must have picked it up from them.

Lots of Thai textbooks and teachers go a bit too hard on words like กู and มึง in my opinion. Yes, they should definitely warn beginners against using these words, but sometimes they go a bit too far. I remember being a little taken aback the first time a friend referred to me as มึง (this was a one-to-one conversation), but it's a sign of intimacy.

I wouldn't take much offence if I were you, but if you really don't like it, then next time call them out on it immediately. Tell them you feel referring to you as มัน is ผิดมารยาท, and that you'd prefer เขา in the future.

Next time this happens