Julian2 Posted December 22, 2006 Report Share Posted December 22, 2006 How do you address a monk? There's a cheery one comes in for his cigarettes when I'm having a beer in the village and always says hello. I asked the Mrs but she was a bit 'Thai' about it and said she didn't know, she didn't normally talk to monks, meaning of course she didn't want me talking to them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khunsanuk Posted December 22, 2006 Report Share Posted December 22, 2006 Hi, You address them as 'Luung Pho' (uncle father). When talking about them you refer to them as 'tahn' (sorry, no idea how to accurately transliterate that one). Sanuk! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted December 22, 2006 Report Share Posted December 22, 2006 Depends on age. Luang Paw is an old geezer, especially one who has spent most of his life as a monk. A bit younger and he might be called Luang Pee. Ordinary monks are usually addressed as Archan. Not certain how one would address the novices, kids who aren't really full fledged monks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dddave Posted December 22, 2006 Report Share Posted December 22, 2006 Young novice monks 12 to 19: "Sah Muh Nang" or very close to that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julian2 Posted December 23, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 23, 2006 Is that Arjan, same same teacher Flash? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chlp Posted December 23, 2006 Report Share Posted December 23, 2006 In my experience, like many other social aspects of Thai life, proper usage of titles like Luung Pho depends on many complexities that many of us do not readily recognize, such as age, status, the monk's position in the hierarchy, etc. Unless you follow someone else's example of using such titles for the monk in question, it is best to use generic thaan. The word is used the same as the word khun, only it is more respectful. If you know the monk's name, e.g. Buntaa, you would adress him as thaan Buntaa. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted December 23, 2006 Report Share Posted December 23, 2006 Is that Arjan, same same teacher Flash? It comes from "ajariya" -- Sanskrit or Pali (forget which). In the not so distant past, all teachers were monks. The term for a teacher -- khru -- comes from "guru". Generally speaking, an ordinary teacher with say A level type qualifications is a khru. A teacher with a university degree is called acharn/ajarn (however you want to spell it.) But nowadays virtually all teachers have at least a BEd/BA/BS. Those teaching primary school will still probably be called khru, and those teaching secondary or higher will be called acharn. When I came to Thailand in the 1970s, being an acharn carried a lot of respect, since only about 1% of the population had a university education. With all of today's rachaphats and the private "universities" cranking out graduates, perhaps 10% have some sort of degree and the title acharn carries a lot less weight for teachers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pescator Posted December 23, 2006 Report Share Posted December 23, 2006 In my experience, like many other social aspects of Thai life, proper usage of titles like Luung Pho It is "Luang Pho" as flashermac also pointed out, used about a high ranking monk like the head of a temple etc. Luang in this context meaning great. Same word as in Sanam Luang, Nai Luang etc. cheers hn cheers hn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Hippie Posted December 24, 2006 Report Share Posted December 24, 2006 We addressthe "Abbot" at our temple as "Phra Ajarn" he is older. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samak Posted December 26, 2006 Report Share Posted December 26, 2006 snaky is once more completely right. the word luang like for luang phor (elder monk) or luang phee (falling tone please for young to middle age monk) has nothing to do with the word lung for uncle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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