SoiledCowboy Posted January 1, 2002 Report Share Posted January 1, 2002 Jesus Christ! I really mean Buddha! Do Thais profane in a similar way? No disrespect intended to the faithful. [ January 01, 2002: Message edited by: SoiledCowboy ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 1, 2002 Report Share Posted January 1, 2002 Something which I've noticed over the years is The Thai Hypocrisy as it applies to religion. They are usually polite then lampoon the Non Buddhist as he is walking away. How religion is reasoned by most in Thai Society remains a puzzle to me. This subject seems to have more definitions than Webster's Dictionary/Thesaurus. Sit in The Shadow Bar on Soi Cowboy early some evening and watch the bargirls pay homage to the wood penis so many customer will come to the bar. As you probably know this is a common ritual for bargirls. Non bargirls do this using MY penis. What a thought! Please pass the Bromo Seltzer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Hippie Posted January 1, 2002 Report Share Posted January 1, 2002 One BG told me she "paid her respects" to the Buddha shrine in the bar out of repect to her ancesters, and to ask for protection from anything bad happening to her. She said she also asks for forgivness because she is bad...I think this deserves some repect rather than Sarcasim. I think this is the case for a lot of them. As for hypocracy...well, it runs the gambit in every society and denomination, a lot of people who go to church every Sunday are real jackasses to their fellow man the rest of the week. And let me ask one question, if it is hypocritical or silly for a BG to show devotion to a hire power, what about her customers? I mean which is worse, being the customer, or the seller? I think a few guys are a little quick to look down on a BG for selling what we so eagerly consume...Glass houses my man...! [ January 01, 2002: Message edited by: Old hippie ] [ January 01, 2002: Message edited by: Old hippie ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Hippie Posted January 1, 2002 Report Share Posted January 1, 2002 I have heard a few of the girls say the phrase "...oh my Buddha..." in a joking manner, not sure if a hard core buddist would find that offense. I work with a guy from India who uses the phrases "...oh my vishnu...Vishnu bless you (if you sneeze) ...(or in the extreame cases), Vishnu damit...!" all in a similar vane! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 1, 2002 Report Share Posted January 1, 2002 In translations of Hollywood films Thais usually translate "Oh God!" as พระเจ้า (prajow) or Jesus! as พระเยซู (prayesu) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Hippie Posted January 1, 2002 Report Share Posted January 1, 2002 Thank you for the input! I hear prajow a lot in some movies! I think the original poster was asking is Thais use the Buddha's name as a curse, such as we in the west would say "God dammit" or oh "Jesus Christ" as an exclamation! I am not sure they do, any one ever hear it that way? What are some of the popular Thai "curses or expletives?" [ January 01, 2002: Message edited by: Old hippie ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 2, 2002 Report Share Posted January 2, 2002 Hi all &Happy New Year to all (at least for formality ) I'm an utter clueless outsider regarding Thailand but I think I can provide some different cultural perspective here (oh no! ) Japanese does not have much "cuss words" in the rich Western sense. Nobody has dogs for mother, no one is ever accused of having sex with his mother, in fact no one exclaims to have crude sex with the offending party. The usual best expletive would be "chikushou" meaning lower class animal (this is from Buddhist concept) and "kuso" which conveniently is manure, used in a manner similar to French merde (I'm trying to avoid the popular English terms here ) And probably the most popular fighting word in Japanese is to call the counterpart "stupid" (baka) or another form "stupid fellow" (baka-yarou). Pretty mild when compared to what one regularly hears here in the USA (and I suspect elsewhere in the Western world. An aside: the translator of the Czech classic "Good Soldier Svejk" bemoaned the fact the English cannot convey the colorful expletives of Czech language!) It's funny to see when the subtitlers put in the more graphical and popular expletives in Japanese films, although it's easy to see that it would be those terms a Westerner would probably be using in those circumstances. And the Japanese subtiltles of Hollywood movies usually just deal with the American expletives with the above variations. Moreover, it is usually those popular expletives that the Japanese living in USA would learn the popular American expletives first. What I'm trying to say here is that Western expletives cannot be simply translated into at least one culture (Japanese) and I suspect it could be the same for others including Thailand as well (but like I stated first, I am clueless about the Thai culture & language). Buddha's name is never mentioned in vain in the Christian Western manner -- in fact the Japanese like to make fun of the popular English exclamation "Oh my God!" (Japanese would say "oh my gaaa" : that's how the Japanese hear especially the Americans exclaiming at anything they find incomprehensible. It's quite funny when you understand Japanese perspective -- I grew up there.) So I suspect that when the BG's exclaim "oh my God" or "oh my Buddha" etc., they are just parroting what they've heard from the English speaking farangs and if let's say French or German were more dominant languages, the BG's would simply parrot the similar sayings in those languages. I'm sure the Japanese girls who frequent farang areas of Japan (Roppongi etc) would parrot the same, just because the farangs like hearing those kinds of exclamations from their companions. Just one more thing is that Buddhism in general is an inclusive philosophy as opposed to the exclusive doctrine of Judahism, Christianity and Islam. Therefore, animistic beliefs can co-exist quite harmoniously with Buddhist tenets. For instance, in Japan Buddhism has long intertwined with Shinto beliefs and I believe in China Buddhism has mixed quite well with Confusianism and Taoism. Again I suspect similar development in Thailand. Sorry to ramble on so humourlessly, I could be confused as well. Ciao! micsnee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pescator Posted January 2, 2002 Report Share Posted January 2, 2002 quote: Originally posted by Old hippie: Thank you for the input! I hear prajow a lot in some movies! I think the original poster was asking is Thais use the Buddha's name as a curse, such as we in the west would say "God dammit" or oh "Jesus Christ" as an exclamation! I am not sure they do, any one ever hear it that way? What are some of the popular Thai "curses or expletives?" [ January 01, 2002: Message edited by: Old hippie ] The closest you get to exclamations like "Jesus Christ" is "Thoo" or "Phoot Thoo" meaning My God/Oh My God. "Phoot" as in "Phra Phoot Tha Jao" = Buddha. This expression does not have much religious meaning anymore and few people if any will take offense when they hear such a term. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boo Radley Posted January 2, 2002 Report Share Posted January 2, 2002 พุทโธ่ (PHOOT TOH), โธ่ (TOH)- Alas!, Heavens!, Oh Gosh!, My goodness! One dictionary I have also translates คุณพระช่วย (KHUN PRA-CHUAY) as 'Good (My, Oh) God!' although I'm not sure if this is more literary than colloquial. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boo Radley Posted January 2, 2002 Report Share Posted January 2, 2002 Oh, looks like Hua Nguu beat me to it with PHOOT THO & THO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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