Word Games

Loyal readers,
I've been shocked by how quickly time passes here. And not in the I'm-on-vacation-and-I-can't-believe-it's-already-been-8-days way. This is more like the holy-crap-is-it-really-midterms-week-already? way. I was kind of anticipating a relaxed lifestyle that included lots of free time to read and reflect. I found a rather hectic lifestyle full of errands and activities. I love it, don't get me wrong, but when I look back at what I thought life would be like here a few months ago, I think it's amazing how off-base I was.

But it's time to take a little step back from that and play with words for a little bit. As most of you know, I've been taking Thai classes every morning, which include both spoken and written components. Then I go to work, where I hear (if I don't exactly speak) a lot of Thai, and then I leave work and hang out with mostly Thai people, white people who speak a fair bit of Thai, and other PiA fellows who are convinced I have mythical language skills and who therefore like to practice Thai with me.

Thai is fun for two big reasons: 1) It's not at all based in roots like Latin/Greek languages are, and 2) It's totally based on roots/compound words in a way that is artistic, fun, completely non-intuitive, but actually really logical.

Let me explain: We like roots. It's how we learn vocab and study for the SAT. We expect that if we know part of a word, we can figure out the rest of it from context. This does not apply to Thai. At all. Some examples:

• Pĕe means "ghost." Sêua means "shirt." What does "pĕe sêua" mean? Butterfly! (of course, flying butter isn't really sensical either)
• Dtèun is the action of waking up. Dtên is the action of dancing. Any guesses? "Dtèun dtên" means "to be excited."

This leads me to my next point, which is that literal translation of Thai can yield wonderfully simple explanations of complex feelings. How excited would you have to be to wake up dancing??

Lots of words in Thai are based around "jai," which means "heart/mind/spirit." A kind person has "jai dee" (a good heart) or "nám jai" (a heart of water). An excited or excitable person has "jai dtên" (a dancing heart). Someone who is startled has "dtòk jai" (a heart that has tripped/fallen). A stubborn and unyielding person has "jai kăeng" (a hard heart). Someone who is impatient has "jai ráwn" (a hot heart). When you understand someone, you "kâo jai," or enter their heart. There are literally dozens of "jai words" that can describe pretty much any feeling. If I were taking another 8 weeks of Thai classes (which unfortunately I'm not), I would spend several days learning about them.

What's interesting, though, is that there is nothing that differentiates between words like "Dtèun dtên" and words like "jai dee." In written Thai, there are no spaces between words, so there is absolutely nothing to clue you in to whether a pair of words that you know can each be taken separately, or whether you need to consider them as a single word.

What's even more interesting, is that native Thai speakers don't consider "jai" words (or others like them) to be two words that work together to form a single meaning: they are a single word, and have a unique definition. In Thai, being polite and showing respect to elders is extremely important, and the way that you speak changes drastically depending on your audience. But what I find crazy is that individual words can transcend their impoliteness if they are just part of a larger, compound word.

"Kêe" is possibly my favorite word in Thai. It means (in the words of Benjawan Poomsan Becker, author of the best Thai-English English-Thai dictionary around) "shit/excrement/to defecate." It is probably roughly as impolite as the English word. The guys at work like to screw with each other a lot - Thais love slapstick - which inevitably results in the tormented guy telling the others "bai gin kêe" (go eat shit).

But "kêe" also pops up in dozens of other words! There are termites that live in wood doors here that cause little brown spots to appear on your door jamb. How do you tell your 80-year old neighbor/grandmother/landlady that you have this problem? "pŏm mee kêe bpratu" (I have door shit). What's the clinical term for the gunk in your eyes in the morning? "Kêe dta" (eye shit). How about earwax? "Kêe hŏo " (ear shit).

Strangely, "kêe" is also a prefix that means "characterized by, given to, having a tendency to." This confused me for a couple of weeks, while my Thai mom kept saying to me "kêe leum" (i.e. forget shit): she was just commenting that I was forgetful. Similarly, "kêe dtèun" is someone who is excitable (prone to waking up?!), "kêe mow" and "kêe ya" (drunk shit and drug shit) are alcholics and drug addicts, and I suppose that this whole post makes me "kêe kêe."