Family Relationship Titles

[Mekong]

Even though this is a language issue it pertains more to family matters so I decided to post it in here. Ever since my wifes elder sister passed away we have been spending more time with the the Nephew and I picked up on how he was adressing people. I would have expected him to address my wife naa (mothers younger sister) and myself loong (I am / was older than his mother).

 

I was picking up on him calling me, what sounded like kung M*** and at first I thought it was a mispronunciation of Loong but then I realised he was addressing my wife what sounded like ei which is far away from naa.

 

Discussing it with the wife last night I realised he was calling us Jueng (丈) and Yi (姨) respectivley, which is cantonese for "Mothers Younger Sisters Husband" and "Mothers Younger Sister". I later found out that within Thai-Chinese families when there are no "outsiders" present that they always refer to realtions using Chinese titles (of their dialect) rather than the Thai equivalent even though the rest of the conversation is in Thai, and the fact that he refers to me as Jueng means he accepts me as a close relative.

 

You learn something new everyday.

 

 

[WorldFun]

Interesting & good on you

While also interesting, but realizing my poor memory especially on names/relatives etc I've long giving up on even English titles like nephew & upfront skipped the Thai ones in class also, so I won't even consider various Chinese ones LOL!

What's wrong with just saying the name or hey 'you'

[Julian2]

I suppose it's because it matters where you/they rank in the family.

My wife calls her brother's wife nai, even though she works for us.

 

[WorldFun]

OK I suppose rank means more to some families than others & within families to some members more than others.

Respect where respect is due & such.

Cheers!

[Guest]

Yes, those [Tiechieu] Chinese kinship terms see such high-frequency usage in Thai that they can be said to BE Thai at this point (or rather, loanwords from Chinese).

 

Non-Chinese Thais use them regularly with Thais they perceive to be part-Chinese; listen to Thais talk to vendors and restaurant owners and you'll regularly hear terms like "chae" (older sister) and "hia" (older brother), etc.

 

Many Thais are not even aware of how many commonly used words in Thai come from Tiechieu, for example, the words used for "mall," "store," "table," "chair," "to cure," "dish," "pair," "to brew coffee," "cuttlefish/squid", etc.

[Nervous God]

 

jok

[Flashermac]

<< "hia" (older brother) >>

 

Try that one next time on a mo'cy boy.

 

 

[khunsanuk]

Hi,

 

Hahahaha, you'd better make damn sure you get the pronunciation spot on

 

There's a lady in my area who refers to me like that. Odd thing is she's at least 20 years my senior

 

Sanuk!

 

[Pescator]

What's wrong with just saying the name or hey 'you'

 

I experience how titles of addressing one another are more related to perceived status than acual family relations or age.

This is a never ending source of confusion, to this farang anyway.

 

My brother in law is a newly appointed Poo Yai Baan, his name is Som Sii.

At one point I adressed him using his name.

That didn`t go down too well. He repeated the word while muttering something unintelligible.

He wanted me to adress him Poo Yai Baan, I was left in little doubt that using the appropriate honorific prefix Khun would also be appreciated.....

Geez.

Friend of his, who is 10 years his junior addresses him as Por Sii. "Por" as in father, they are not related.

 

These titles are one big mess. You never know if the person referred to is an actual family member or just someone familiar. Never know if they are actually older or not.

Several are unisex, so you cannot even tell if they are male or female. Add to that so are many thai nick names, unisex.

Confusion is complete.

 

[LizardKing]

Ya, in my gals family I am called Jeun ___ (å°Š) as well by the younger ones. This is the character I think you are looking for; it means respected one. Sounds similar to what you posted, but different tone.

 

My gal is called Je ___ (家).

 

And you're correct: never in public, just amongst the family. Interesting. I never put that together before.