Teu vs khun

[Guest]

I just realized that the only time a Thai g/f addressed me with the word 'teu' (Õèà¸à = sara e; tho-thong; o-aang) was in a letter that she wrote in Thai and had translated into English. In all of the other letters from her and other girlfriends, as well as in all conversations I have allways been addressed as 'khun'.

It is my understanding that 'teu' is used between people who are close, ie. girlfriend speaking to her boyfriend. (Khun is much more neutral and generic.)

There are two possible reasons I can think of. Linguistic: It could be that they tried to use 'teu' but I didn't understand it so that used 'khun' which is what I was using to address them.

It could also be that they do not want to use 'teu' with farang boyfriends (or, to be precise, customers), ie. a social reason.

Any insights?

[ July 14, 2001: Message edited by: Mad Max ]

[Guest]

"Thoe" (I guess this is the correct transliteration) implies an intimacy grown out of many years of friendship or marriage. Still, it's hardly polite. Even most better educated married couples would rather use "khun", I reckon.

I myself would prefer to be addressed with "khun", which - unlike "thoe" - implies respect. In English, how would you like to be asked to fetch a cup of coffee:

a) Eh, gimmie a cuppa coffee!

Could you please fetch me a cup of coffee?

[ July 14, 2001: Message edited by: Scum_Baggio ]

[Guest]

Khun is most often to formal for addressing a husband or boyfriend, but of course depends on context and emphasis.Ter (เธอ

is polite and very common,it can be used to address other people (not only b/f) and also used in the third person Used usually when talking about other girls.

เธอ is used for "you" in songs etc.

I think thai girls usually use khun with farangs as it is part of the way they modify their speech to make it easier to understand.

[Flashermac]

Yep, Scummy, my wife almost never uses THOER. She also thinks that CHAN sounds ridiculous when said by a man, although some language books will teach you to say that (--trying to get awy with using one pronoun for both sexes).

[hall]

G'day MM,

For what it's worth my experience with T/g's when asking about the use of "teu" or 'khun" is that they use "teu" for real boyfriends and "khun" for paying customers.Some girls seem reluctant to explain this as it tends to blow the image that you are special to them. Only once (sigh) out of many,many girls have I been called "teu" !! Oh well...

Cheers Hall

[Lamock Chokaprret]

'Teu' 'thoe' 'ter' ???

OK I'm confused. How about a consistent transliteration for those illiterate in Thai writing? Which is it and can it be used to address wife as well as husband?

And to Flashermac:

My girl gets a real kick out of it when I speak in a high voice ending my sentences with kha to sound like a katoey. Understand that I'd make one extremely ugly katoey!

[Guest]

'thoe' as the correct (standard govt. system of transliteration) and 'TER' as would be the correct phonetic pronunciation - as in 'waTER'.

I don't see a problem with this being used as a 2nd person pronoun between intimates. In my experience and knowledge of the language it is not in the slightest disrespectful or impolite but more a like a term of endearment in the same sense that we'd use cutie, darling, honey etc in English..

Its more common use is in addressing young children (boys and girls alike) as a 2nd person pronoun and also,as has been mentioned, can be used as a 3rd person pronoun referring to another female.

[ July 25, 2001: Message edited by: Dan ]

[Chanchao]

Very interesting topic this..

First of all, there IS no correct transliteration. There's many out there and the official one the Thai government uses is neither consistent nor is it particulary accurate. If there was an accurate scheme (a few come close such as the s.c.t. low ascii scheme) then it's so complicated you might as well learn the Thai alphabet. (Ter/Thoe etc is written as /thEE-/ in that transliteration scheme by the way, and no I'm not claiming this is THE way to spell it. I've given up on transliterations)

Back to the topic at hand.

A few girls have called me 'ter' but usually after I did something wrong or fooled up on something. (Tham arai na theeer!!! = "What are you doing mister!" like you would say to a young boy where the use of 'mister' is more sarcasm than the respectful term. I think men can use it freely for their girlfriends and love interests though.

Second point is that there are WAY WAY more forms of address than just ther and khun. Most common is using your first name / nick name which you can conveniently use in either the first, second or third person.

Then also common is "phee" (older brother). I'm kinda fond of that one.

Especially if you're a bit older than your love interest, you could use "noo?" (mouse) which again can be used either in the first or second person. (Some of my younger staff refer to themselves as "noo?").

It seems you can even use "phom?" (polite for I) also in the second person for "you" when an older woman is talking to a young man. My girlfriend (who's only 26) does this frequently with girls and boys aged around 20, calling them 'noo?' and 'phom?' respectively.

Overall I prefer either my nickname or "phee". I don't like "khun" as it's too formal, I don't like "ter" as it's too sweet, unless used in jest.

Cheers,

Chanchao

[ July 25, 2001: Message edited by: Chanchao ]

[Pescator]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Flashermac:

Yep, Scummy, my wife almost never uses THOER. She also thinks that CHAN sounds ridiculous when said by a man, although some language books will teach you to say that (--trying to get awy with using one pronoun for both sexes).

---

hmm, did you ever watch thai movies? "Chan" is used very frequently especially when someone older (male and of higher status) is talking to somebody younger)

Most thais realize that foreigners are not aware of the subtleties of thai language and the different levels of pronouns. Therefore they often consistently use Khun, Deechan and Phom. But for thai intimates to address themselves like Khun, Phom and Deechan in everyday conversation is rather ridiculous.

Regards

Michael

[Pescator]

Originally posted by Chanchao:

[QB]Very interesting topic this..

 

A few girls have called me 'ter' but usually after I did something wrong or fooled up on something. (Tham arai na theeer!!!.

I`ve been referred to as "ter" on numerous occasion by my wife`s friends (who are older than me) without me having done something wrong as far as I could tell anyway ;-)

Second point is that there are WAY WAY more forms of address than just ther and khun. Most common is using your first name / nick name which you can conveniently use in either the first, second or third person.

That is right, but haven`t you noticed that only girls use the "Chuu len" in first person, men don`t. Neither do men or boys for that matter refer to themselves as "noo", only girls.

Then also common is "phee" (older brother). I'm kinda fond of that one.

Especially if you're a bit older than your love interest, you could use "noo?" (mouse) which again can be used either in the first or second person. (Some of my younger staff refer to themselves as "noo?").

Overall I prefer either my nickname or "phee". I don't like "khun" as it's too formal, I don't like "ter" as it's too sweet, unless used in jest.

But still it beats "Mung" doesn`t it? :-)

Regards

Michael